The Warded Man

By: Peter V. Brett

Narrated by: Pete Bradbury

Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Peter V. Brett has won accolades from critics, fans and fellow authors alike for this riveting debut novel. The Warded Man features a world where demons stalk the night, hunting humans who have long forgotten the magic of their ancestors. But all is not lost, as some hold out hope that a savior will release humanity from the demons' terrifying reign.

©2009 Peter V. Brett (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Brilliant, with action and suspense all the way." (Best-selling author, Terry Brooks)

Good book, great performance

I enjoyed this book. The author has done a good job of weaving a large world plot and having characters somewhat realistically explore and struggle though it. I would say the book falls short of horror though, despite some serious gore I did not find it particularly scary.

The performance by the narrator was superb, and as I continue through the rest of the series not yet in audio I will be hearing it in his voices.

The only criticism I have for the plot it this. The book Starts of very nice and innocent, but gets very dark and racy quickly. The darkness was welcome and added significant depth to the story, as did the various intimacies between characters. They made the world seem more realistic. The raciness continued to increase, particularly at the end of the book, which felt more like a romance novel in some areas.

Very good full of new ideas

This is a very good story can’t wait to get into the next book! Coming of age which is cliche but moved quickly into adulthood which I appreciated.

awesome

this book was awesome, definitely finishing this series. I really like the time the author spent to make the characters very human, their dreams hopes and flaws can be seen and it's wonderful.

Loved exploring this world

I absolutely loved this book. Great character development and world building. The narrator was excellent. I have to admit, after this first book I wanted more and read the whole series despite the fact that my favorite author had just released a new book. I can’t say enough good things. If you like this genre I would strongly recommend you read this.

This is a great series. I definitely suggest it.

Incredible series. An amazing work. He lost the thread in the end though. Probably in too great a hurry to complete. But still amazing.

One of the best with forgivable plot holes.

One of the best fantasy novels of all time. The story and world are original and refreshing. I saw the reviews of other people on YouTube and must say that almost all of them were positive and with good reason. The characters develop in believable and compelling ways with the possible exception of how rape is viewed in this world. There is too much graphic sex in all the books and it increases as the books go on. I'm not a prude by any means and understand that sex sells so I can't fault the author, especially with so many other books making money writing about it and the near universal rule that a book needs some sex to sell copies, but... I don't think I'm alone in that if it goes on to long or there is to much then it makes you want to skip ahead a page to get back to the story. Other than that and a few plot holes that make you roll your eyes it's one of the best fantasy novels ever written. Spoilers!!! I'm going to mention a couple plot hole examples that made me roll my eyes so don't read anymore if you don't want some specifics from the book. The first plot hole that made me want to slap the characters was that in the book the only thing that really holds demons away from people are things called wards. A cool concept but these things are really like walls of a space ship in that if they are breached then everything inside is dead. And like a spaceship I couldn't buy the idea that some people will have one set between them and the demons. The cities and towns have some multiple layers but several times people or entire villages die because one main defense is breached. Even when there is a breach in a city thousands of people get killed. Along with that is that there are people in villages and cities that for some reason never learn how to make these wards even though they can be made with scratches in the dirt or with a piece of charcoal. To use the ship example again, it would be like living on a spaceship and never learning how to close a pressure door. I would expect all but the Darwin award winners to not only know how to draw wards but practice making them lots. The third hole I didn't like also with the wards is that there supposedly aren't any ways to kill the demons with them but in the book the main character draws one then covers it with his foot to deactivate it, then when a demon crosses it he moves his foot and cuts the demon in half. Sorry sounds like the wards they have are dam powerful and if I lived in a world like that I'd have lines of wards running in spirals all around my property with a dog chasing a rabbit around or something activating and disactivating those things all night long to kill demons every dam night. The last plot hole that made me roll my eyes is that apparently the warded man is the only man who tattoos wards on his body. Sorry but once again I'd have those things on my coat, hat, clothes underwear and tattooed on me and my rabbit chasing dog. Not only don't people have wards on their clothes but even after they see the warded man using them... nobody else does it. Sorry but that's not very believable. The last thing that bugged me was the way rape is portrayed in the books. I get it that rape has been casual in some societies and even still is in some horrible places, but when the heroine of the story accepts being raped instead of killing her rapists when she has the chance, even before they do it and her knowing what's coming, it's just icky. I get that yes there are people like that and it does fall within the possibility of human nature but I can't respect or want to read more about a heroin like that. It makes me think she's a moron and her judgment is suspect as well as of course her being a wuss. Then she makes me hate her even more when they kill her rapists and she gets mad at them for killing them. That not only made me hate the character but hate the author a little for that aspect in the story.

A good listen

I liked the characters and how they came from very different threads, yet all came together in a way that made sense

I thought about returning it...

But I am soooooo glad I did not. This book starts out a little slow, and it seems like the author takes a long time to develop the characters, but you really see why through he last couple of chapters. This book was great!

Awesome fantasy that will suck you in

Awesome fantasy that will suck you in...loved it. kept me riveted. great reader and strong characters

Good Read

Really good story line, Narrator has long pauses at times I thought my phone turned off. The story was good enough to see past this poor narrator flaw.