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

Like the 1st book, but raised up a notch

This book follows much of the formula of the 1st book in the series (The Warded Man) but, seems to intensify both the good aspects of that story, and the not so good ones.

My main issue with the story is that probably the 1st third of the book is the back story to Ja-Hadir (the man who steals the spear from Arlen in the previous book). It's not a bad backstory- it does flesh out a lot more of the character and give more insight into his culture and the reasonings behind why he does some of the things he does. But it's not the story we are left with at the end of the 1st book, and I found myself impatiently waiting for the backstory to stop and the timeline of the 1st book to pick up where it left off. Bad news, you've got several hours before that happens, and I found myself relatively disinterested and impatient with Ja-Hadir.

Secondly, it's obvious that the author has drawn a LOT of inspiration for the Crasian (not sure how to spell these things- it was an audio book) culture in the story from Middle Eastern, "Arabic" societies- and the more strict ones at that (Taliban comes to mind). While there are aspects of that culture that are very honor bound, it is within the framework of their society's references, and as such it's pretty offensive to my western ways of thinking. Misogynistic, caste based, zealots, uncompromising, elitist, and a "weak serves the strong" instead of a "strong protects the weak" viewpoint make it difficult to view them in a positive light, or even to want to know more about the culture in general, much less read about it for several hours.

Also, the author uses a lot of culture-specific words (and I mean LOTS of them). Which is fine, except it forces you to go "now what the heck is a 'Kafite' again?" every time you hear the word until it's meaning syncs in your brain. Might want to keep a notepad handy for the 1st third of the book so you can keep it all straight- he explains the meaning once, and then throws the word around whether you caught it's meaning or not. A LOT.

My final gripe: Harl Tanner. I've don't think I've ever loathed a character with as much vehemence as this one- and we get a lot more of him in this book. He's a bastard, and reading about his exploits are just plain difficult. Guess it's not bad to have a person you hate in a story, but it's a hard and dark read to go through- that's all I'll say.

Good parts: The story all comes together masterfully at the end, though maybe not with every ending as you'd want it. Still, at the end, I looked back and it and was pleased with the story as a whole. It probably could have been shorter and not lost much, but I did really like the character arcs, particularly with the main characters from the 1st book. It felt like it really delivered in that regard, even better than it did in "The Warded Man". And of course, the narration is top notch- great job by Pete Bradbury.

Despite my review griping a fair amount about the story's flaws, I gave it high marks and felt it was well worth the credit, if you don't mind a fair bit of dark tragedy mixed in with your hero story.

More like this

Where does The Desert Spear rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best

What did you like best about this story?

The imagination army characters. Sand demons, come on, who doesn't love that

Which character – as performed by Pete Bradbury – was your favorite?

All of them

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A must see. Too intense for words

Any additional comments?

Looking for more books like this and The Warded Man, Great Bazzare. Need more demons of this type

took a while to get into

was hard to figure out where it was starting from but once started and understanding was almost as good as the first book

Wonderful Listen

What made the experience of listening to The Desert Spear the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed how the author can tell the same scene from multiple characters' perspectives. It adds depth to the experience.

What other book might you compare The Desert Spear to and why?

Warbreaker

What about Pete Bradbury’s performance did you like?

I liked how he could make you both love and hate the same character depending on whose perspective he was reading from.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Definitely, I stayed up all night to finish it.

Stunning continuing series

Would you listen to The Desert Spear again? Why?

this series is an outstanding listen from a masterful writer and excellent narrator. I would really enjoy listening again after read of few other books

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Desert Spear?

The battle between the deliverers

Which scene was your favorite?

when the deliver battles the mind demons

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

An epic adventure of magic demons and warriors

Any additional comments?

really great series highly recommend it is difficult to stop listening and get some sleep

LOVE IT!

Must read!
only downside is i wish audible had found some way to include the dictionary at the back of the book. it would be very helpfull to reference somthing incase you miss the definition on the playback but it reads well enough that its not essential

Great 2nd book to this series

I enjoyed this book every bit as much as I enjoyed the first! I'd def recommend to a friend!

Fantastic to the the core!

Enjoying this series! If you like unique storylines, magic, the fight between good against evil, this series will make for an exceptional listen. I'm on to audiobook three in this series. Highly recommended.

pure awesome

altho long & detailed this book too was grreaaattt. cant wait for book 3 thankfully

SURPRISED!

If you could sum up The Desert Spear in three words, what would they be?

detailed and well thought out

What did you like best about this story?

gave a clear image to as what is going on at that time

What about Pete Bradbury’s performance did you like?

read with feeling

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

demon nights

Any additional comments?

Was not sure about this book after i read what was about and the cover,but was not what i expected. caught my attention an held it