The Demon Cycle Series by Peter V. Brett

[Arkandel]

I thought we could have threads specific to some of our favorite novels or book series. That way we can showcase them for others, else they get buried somewhere in the 16th page where only MSB archaeologists can find them.

If you've read something really cool lately and want others to know, please feel free. It's not a forum rule or anything, just a suggestion.

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My recommendation: The Demon Cycle Series by Peter V. Brett. It's a five book fantasy book series, based on a world being actively invaded by demons for thousands of years. When it begins it's a bleak, hopeless place - the demons are winning, slowly pushing humanity back with only distant memories of a glorious past when the Deliverer, a mythical figure of lore, rose to lead them into fighting back using magic long since lost. But by now humans have grown accustomed to the fact they just need to live in fear, yielding the wilderness to their enemies with only a brave few traveling between cities at great risk where they hide behind the few defensive Wards still known to keep them at bay.

That's about to change. The author does a great job providing us with some really interesting and different characters - men and women - as well as a deep, intricate political landscape between radically incompatible cultures and viewpoints, but I really liked how he came up with a very cool magic system revealed to the readers pretty much at the same time as his characters discover or learn it on the fly. That way he's avoided hand-feeding a lot of his world in barely disguised lengthy exposition, and it's pretty fun to see the same people grow from hapless victims as they come into their own and emerge as leaders.

It's one of my favorite series. It's bleak but not grimdark, it keeps surprises in store for when they'll promote the plot it keeps the reader guessing what's going to happen next. The demons themselves begin as mindless monsters but even those get detailed in time so they come into their own as the ultimate antagonists - and in the mean time there are plenty of humans to be the bad guys.

Anyone else into these books?

[ixokai]

Yeah, its pretty great. I picked the first one up on a fluke and couldn't put it down until I finished the whole series. He writes very believable characters who are complex and interesting, even the ones I don't like. I think Inevera is one of my favorite characters in a long time.

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It was also implied/suggested that demons weren't really supernatural so much as life that evolved down in the chambers nearer to the Core, so over however long it took they were just completely suffused with magic, as that was their natural environment. That sorta makes the Core neutral and, while certainly evil, demons (at least those not of the Mind Court) are just critters.

Its just more interesting to me that the Core isn't like "hell".