- Title:
- The Painted Man (Demon Cycle, #1)
- By:
- Peter V. Brett
- Pages:
- 416
- Rating:
- 5
As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise—demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards—symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile. It was not always this way. Once, men and women battled the corelings on equal terms, but those days are gone. Night by night the demons grow stronger, while human numbers dwindle under their relentless assault. Now, with hope for the future fading, three young survivors of vicious demon attacks will dare the impossible, stepping beyond the crumbling safety of the wards to risk everything in a desperate quest to regain the secrets of the past. Together, they will stand against the night.
Friends and acquaintances alike have been on at me to read this for months, and I’m bound to say I’m glad they pushed. It’s a true masterpiece, for although it does follow a time-warn path of young people growing up and saving the world, the concepts are sufficiently fresh and the writing so engaging that you forget the trope and simply bask in the words. Each of the major characters have their own flaws and these add to their Humanity greatly and I’ll be certain to follow this author very carefully indeed.