Demon Cycle: Goodread 5-Star Reviews!
Posted by Karen
Hey everyone!
Scott and Stephen both gave the Daylight War glowing reviews. You can check out what they had to say here and here!
Here are a few others by five-star raters of The Demon Cycle!
brb Ordering the sequel on Amazon so it’s waiting for me when I get home because it’s THAT GOOD -Kristi
Lost count of how many times i have finished this series -Nicholas
Not what I expected and so much more.
The characters were quite messed up, but in a good way.
The plot was really messed up, but again, in a good way.
The ending was definitely messed up, in a sort of promising way.
This review is just as messed up, but I will not hide behind my wards… I mean words! -Bcvs
This longer review was written by Liz:
After sunset, the world is not safe anymore. People have to draw wards to protect themselves. One mistake, one tremor in the hand while drawing can be lethal.
After sunset, the corelings rise. Demons, various kinds of them, whose goal is but to extinguish man-kind and who know nothing but thirst for blood.
It has been like this for hundreds of years.
But it used to be different. Long ago human kind had fought them and now that the demons seem to grow both stronger and bolder and humans retreat further and further into their fragile shelters somebody has to dare. Somebody who is fed up with hiding, with fearing, with accepting the horrendous death that the corelings bring…
“Let others determine your worth and you’re already lost, because no one wants people worth more than themselves.”
This is what I like about the High Fantasy genre, it is somewhat darker and more thorough when it comes to characters and the world-building.
Needless to say, the world-building of this one was magnificent . The different cultures that had just enough resemblances to the cultures of our world, the cities that depended on each other and still could not live in peace thanks to the greed of human kind, the wild and savage and merciless landscapes – they were mesmerising in a very dark way. Perfect for me in every way since I am fond of darkness and violence without too much gore, for the Game of Thrones-gore-fans it may be boring because I’d say that this one puts the stress on different topics and problems than GoT.
This world, despite all its violence, was surprisingly decent and not too detailed when it came to bloodshed and battle.
Plot-wise, the book was just as strong. There was not too-much dwelling and just enough descriptions if you take into account that this is a high fantasy book. Thanks to the corelings even the most content moments of the book were mixed with suspense, violence and most importantly – fear .
A sidenote here, this book dealt with the fear and cowardice of humans on many levels depicting next to every kind of it in various situations, an aspect I noticed only after I re-read the book and analysed different situations and the parallels between them.
Back to the plot, it was balanced with the character development and world-building, there were no plot-holes at least no major ones which could have annoyed me or which I payed attention to, the way the characters’ lives intertwined the further the book proceeded was well conceived and artfully done.
Another quite refreshing aspect was the lack of politics in this one, instead the reader gets adventures and real battles against evil.
“I don’t pretend to see the path, but I know it’s there all the same. One day, we’ll look back and wonder how we ever missed it.”
Fed up with the cowardice of their kind three protagonists choose a different path to walk in life.
First, there is Arlen. In my opinion, the perfect protagonist despite all his imperfections. He refuses to be a coward, refuses to accept the life that is prescribed to him. Arlen has one goal and he studies and works for this goal, there is nothing but this one goal truly important for him. It is his first priority. He forgoes the more or less safe life he could lead and sets off to the dangerous road determined to fight corelings, maybe even to defeat them or at least die trying. Of course he has more than enough flaws, but his flaws made him easier to connect with. Arlen is the type of person whom I would love to have as a friend.
Then, there is Leesha. Definitely a woman of her time, so to say. Healer and herb gatherer who lives in a morally limited village, and has her trouble coping with the patriarchal society. Her will to live the way she thinks is right is Leesha’s main strength, she is brave enough to go against the men, to fight them and the corelings if she has to. But somewhat I thought her rather whiny and indecisive as well as much too fearful.
Finally, there is Rojer. A young insecure and much too careless and reckless jongleur who can charm the corelings with his own, very special and unexpectedly non-violent way. He is the total opposite of Arlen in everything. Where Arlen is all violence and mercilessness Rojer is soft and understanding and naive. I still liked him and his talent very much. Unlike Leesha, seriously, she was just…not good.
There are enough authentic secondary characters who are as interesting to read about as the protagonists, the book is beautifully written and the only thing I would wish for is less Leesha and more Arlen, otherwise everything about this book was just perfect for me.
All in all a splendid high fantasy book which I would highly recommend. -Liz
Thanks so much to all the lovely people at Goodreads for reviewing! The feedback really does help a lot (plus it lets other people know about the series).
You can get your copy of The Warded Man here!
