The Desert Spear

By: Peter V. Brett

Narrated by: Pete Bradbury

Length: 26 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Peter Brett’s The Desert Spear continues the post-apocalyptic adventure he began in his highly acclaimed debut, The Warded Man.

The world remains under siege by demonkind stalking the land when the sun goes down. But a new hero has risen from the desert. Claiming to be the mythical Deliverer, Ahmann Jardir now rides alongside the allied desert tribes of Krasia. Jardir and his fellows are on an epic quest to vanquish the demons plaguing the world and bring humanity back from the brink of extinction.

Listen to the first book, The Warded Man.

©2010 Peter V. Brett (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

it was decent

I loved it but it seemed to focused on the sex and marriage side of things in this one I perfered the first one with the exploration and discovery character growth this one idk...maybe an interlude to greater things

Fear and pain can only touch you if you let them.

As the book's title implies, book two of the Demon Cycle series focuses much more on the people that live in the southern desert city of Fort Krasia, also known as The Desert Spear. These battle hardened warriors have fought against the demons for thousands of years and have created a society, and a religion, completely around that endeavor. Ahmann Jardir, the Krasian who we know well from his interactions with Arlen in the first book, is now elevated into a POV character and his back story is explained in great detail. Context is given to his rapid rise to power among his people as well as the extreme actions that he took in book one where Arlen was concerned.

Initially this switch in focus is off-putting as all of the main characters from The Warded Man are absent from the first third of the book. Eventually the story merges Ahmann's tale into the lives of Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer and then things really start to build up. Jardir's betrayal of Arlen has shaped the course of both of their lives and the consequences of that act are extremely far reaching. As the trajectory of their lives start to converge again it is easy to see how an epic confrontation is in their future. Both men are hailed as the new Deliverer by their respective peoples and despite their many differences they both seek the same goal - total eradication of the demon hordes. Each pursues this objective in their own way.

Speaking of the demons, they too have taken notice of the rise in the demon-killing prowess of both of these men and a new class of demon is introduced and dispatched to kill them both. These mind demons are partnered with a mimic demon that can switch forms as needed and neither of these supposed Deliverers is aware of the threat that now stalks them. This hunt goes on silently in the background while both men elevate their own demon-fighting prowess and the abilities of those around them.

The overall story remains compelling and seeing two unique cultures approach the demon threat in different but similar ways makes for a great story. Mankind is on the brink of extinction and still the cultural difference between two cultures is as much of a threat to human survival as the demons themselves. Peter V. Brett lets the reader experience all of this from the point of view of multiple interesting characters, each of which must re-evaluate their own beliefs and desires to find a way to be successful in an ever more complex world. Both Ahmann Jardir and Renna Tanner from the first book are elevated in stature with interesting, and often heart wrenching, story lines.

Pete Bradbury delivers another excellent performance and this series is certainly enhanced by his reading.

Great, but tough in the first third

Great book, it was difficult wading through the back story for so long before reaching the characters we learned to love in the 1st book. In the end it was worth it.

One major flaw but very enjoyable

WHEN DO THESE PEOPLE SLEEP? Especially the Krasians but to a lesser extent all of the characters. Seriously, they talk all about fighting from sundown to sun up and then training and having normal lives all day.

Excellent but a little disturbing

This second book in the series starts out with quite a bit of brutality that was disturbing at times. It turns out to be necessary to give a true picture of certain characters but I'm not that excited to listen to that part again. As with the first book the story and characters are multi dimensional and engaging. I listened every chance I got!

TO THE CORE WIT YA

I liked it alot. I didnt like Elisha Paper, she is too much of a hothead. The warded mans powers are always growing, Ive beem a fan since I heard the first 8 hours on youtube. I jad to buy the audiobook after that cause I was hooked. I now bought both audiobooks and will soon buy the third to finish tje trilogy. Definitely will keep you glued to the story.

Amazing!

What did you love best about The Desert Spear?

A very excellent well written and well narrated book. Also, I was happy to see that the editing/production of this book was addressed versus the first book. The ending is a true cliff-hanger!

Awesome

Awesome book. I love the series and the narrator. I didn't like how he pronounced the krasian holy book though.

almost as good as the first book!

I will be continuing on to book #3! I'm happy when I can find an audio book that is pretty good to keep my interest as long as possible, but the series so far is VERY food, and definitely long emough!

I love The Warded Man series.

Not everyone likes the fantasy genre, but if you enjoy it this is a "must read/hear". The story is well written and imaginative. The performance of the narrator is outstanding, best I've heard since turning to Audible. I have not been able to put it down. I hope the next books are as good as the first 2!