The Daylight War (Demon Cycle, #3) in PVB

Oct 04, 2013 MadProfessah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2013-read

Book 3 in author Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle, The Daylight War, was one of my most anticipated books of 2013. His first two books in the series, The Warded Man and The Desert Spear , were both excellent examples of suspenseful, well-written fantasy novels.

I learned about Peter Brett's work from the Walker of World's blog several years ago and I am very appreciative of that fact. I loved The Warded Man (gave it an A/A+ review) and The Desert Spear (gave it an A/A+ review).

The Daylight ...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Anne Monteith rated it really liked it

A HUGE DISSAPPOINTMENT AND MAJOR SLOG-FEST

When I received this book, I retreated into another world and my family knew that until I finished it they were on their own. It’s not often that I skip all else, to read a book but I had high expectations. I loved the first book. The second one did not achieve the same feeling, but I was not disappointed with the time and money I had spent to read these two books. However, I am thankful that all I wasted was time with the third. If I had spent 12.99 or A HUGE DISSAPPOINTMENT AND MAJOR SLOG-FEST

When I received this book, I retreated into another world and my family knew that until I finished it they were on their own. It’s not often that I skip all else, to read a book but I had high expectations. I loved the first book. The second one did not achieve the same feeling, but I was not disappointed with the time and money I had spent to read these two books. However, I am thankful that all I wasted was time with the third. If I had spent 12.99 or even 5.99 for the latest, I would be very upset with myself. There have been many reviews that went into the problems with this book. However, I found it summed up better in the letter that reviewer Christopher Alan May, sent to the author. I hope that I do not get into trouble for including these quotes: “I didn't finish The Daylight War with any of the previous satisfaction or anticipation at the continuation of the series. I'm not even sure I can keep reading! This in itself is a thought I can scarcely believe I'm considering. After the opening book, I could have never seen myself ditching the series.”

“There are many things I could say to elaborate on my feelings but there is one particular and noticeable problem that overrides all others: The book's pacing, or the lack thereof.” ” A perfect example: When Innerva goes to visit her mother in the city in present day, their interaction and conversation alone, without any pretext, would've been an excellent way to reveal more of Innerva's character than all of the flashbacks combined. It let us know about her relationship with her family, her background, some of her motivations; it could have been a great and enlightening scene. Better still, it was only a few pages long but full of information. Instead, it feels more like beating us over the head with the same details about Innerva because of how much we already know and makes the entire scene superfluous. The flashbacks not only manage to completely wreck the book's pacing: they can and do detract from good scenes.”

Like Mr. May and so many others, I am wondering if I am going to finish this series. There are at least two more books in the series and I hope that the author does not continue this trend, but from his response to his readers concerns (there is a link in the above-mentioned comments you can follow) he feels that this important to the story. If it is so important, why did he wait until the third book to start? Like others I wonder if like so many other authors he is trying to increase page count while he makes his contractual deadline and as always when this is the situation, it is the reader who suffers. The only reason I gave it 2-stars was I am choosing to remain optimistic and believe that the next book will return the series to its previous high standards. If not, then I will edit this one down to 1-star when I write the next review.
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Jul 30, 2013 Becky rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, part-of-a-series, 2013-reads, reviewed, political-intrigue, interesting-magic-systems, goodreads-choice-awards-2013

Another great book from Peter V. Brett, who is clearly a very skilled and talented writer and world builder/developer.

The Daylight War picks up where The Desert Spear left off. Both Jardir and Arlen have faced and killed a coreling prince, a mind demon, and learned that come the next Waning of the moon, the nighttime war is about to change, and get a whole lot worse. And so they have a month to prepare their respective sides and prepare to face a now more organised and cohesive coreling army. I Another great book from Peter V. Brett, who is clearly a very skilled and talented writer and world builder/developer.

The Daylight War picks up where The Desert Spear left off. Both Jardir and Arlen have faced and killed a coreling prince, a mind demon, and learned that come the next Waning of the moon, the nighttime war is about to change, and get a whole lot worse. And so they have a month to prepare their respective sides and prepare to face a now more organised and cohesive coreling army. If the different factions and sides of humans can stop fighting amongst themselves to do so...

Once again, Brett begins the book by taking us back to the past of a character we had already met but come to hate, this time Jardir's first wife and high priestess, Inevera. But unlike the previous book, Inevera's tale is spread out a little more throughout the book which I liked more than it being in one big dump at the beginning. I liked Inevera's tale. It wasn't as long as Jardir's origin story or quite as complicated or involved, as it didn't need to do as much setting for Krasia, but it did make me understand and come to respect Inevera, and even like her more than I did previously. It humanised her a lot more.

I liked the development of most of the characters, particularly Rojer, Amanvah and Sikvah, but also smaller characters like Wonda and Gared. I still dislike Renna, but that might just be me. Leesha is becoming more annoying and idiotic I feel as the book progressed, and Arlen has become a bit more annoying as well with his huge personality change in this book but it is a nice development for his character.

This book is a lot more focused on political intrigue and struggles between different people and factions, rather than against the corelings, which makes sense considering the title of the book and what it means/represents. There was not as much of an actual war between the Thesans and Krasians but you could feel the tension throughout. This book was much more about the people in charge and their attempts to organise their people and one-up each other to gain the upper hand. I enjoyed it, but I do know some people may not like all the political intrigue as opposed to the more coreling-based drama.

Don't get me wrong though, the Corelings still play their part and have become a more menacing threat as they start to become more organised under the mind demons, and become a very serious opponent when Waning comes... and it can surely only get even worse in the next book.

And what an ending! AHHH!

Peter V. Brett, please release the next book now!

Overall, a great book and continuation of the series. ...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Brianne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

I read this book, full through, in two sittings. One short one, and one very long one where I could not put the book down. This is a good thing. It was a good book.

It had just as many unexpected twists and turns as the first two books. Brilliantly done. This series is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I've already re-read many parts of this book. It's a shame I got them from the library, as I find myself wanting to re-read the first two.

There are mean authors like George RR Martin, no ill- ...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Mike Walsh rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. WARNING: Review contains spoilers

I see people have a lot of perhaps justified complaints about this book. Parts of it are rehashed from a different POV. The Daylight War was a misleading title. There is a literal cliffhanger.

I don't care about any of that.

My initial thoughts on going over the story again from Inevera's POV were mixed but it was compelling and I felt like it added a lot. She's going to have her work cut out for her in the final 2 books helping to unify Arlen as the deliverer in WARNING: Review contains spoilers

I see people have a lot of perhaps justified complaints about this book. Parts of it are rehashed from a different POV. The Daylight War was a misleading title. There is a literal cliffhanger.

I don't care about any of that.

My initial thoughts on going over the story again from Inevera's POV were mixed but it was compelling and I felt like it added a lot. She's going to have her work cut out for her in the final 2 books helping to unify Arlen as the deliverer in the eyes of the Krasian people. This will make her a main character and the backstory was necessary to solidify her as such.

Was the Daylight War a misleading title? Yes. Yes it was. Oh well - didn't make the book any less compelling. It didn't make the Waning battles any less interesting, despite the fact that they definitely did not occur during Daylight.

Was there a literal cliffhanger? Perhaps, but Peter said himself on twitter that he doesn't consider it a cliffhanger and the "fight was over." So I see it as it was stated in the text. Jardir is dead. Arlen is the only deliverer left. If Peter is deliberately misleading the fraction of his audience dedicated enough to follow him on Twitter, then so be it, but I do not believe that to be the case.

I said it in my review of "The Desert Spear" and I'll say it again - I love this series. Love it. I love it despite the fact that some of the writing felt sloppy and rushed (how did Jardir start to acquire some of the "super" powers that Arlen did without penetrating a mind demon or eating demon flesh - conveniently keeping them equal for the final battle). I love it despite the rehashing and recapping. Why is that? Well, it's a finely built world that makes sense. Although Leesha is really starting to wear on me, the characters are fresh and very well written. The magic is unique. The enemy started off scary enough and as more and more is revealed, we learn that we haven't seen anything yet. I like that - gives me something to look forward to. I really love getting to the mid-point or branch point of a fantasy series and not being able to conceivably guess how the good guys are going to win - and that's where I'm at now. It seems impossible. I can't wait to see how I'm proven wrong.

I recommend this series to anyone who likes fantasy novels - it's worth the investment. ...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Obaid Haroon rated it really liked it

Crazy Cliffhangers Batman!!! There was no way in hell anyone saw that ending coming. There has not been a moment of greater suspense since the sixth day of creation and everyone was like "how's God gonna top that?"

Seriously amazing book. A lot of people say they didn't like Inevera's history or the slowness of the plot. I completely disagree. Those forays into the past give depth and understanding to a lot of decisions that otherwise would be confusing. This way we can literally see the people ...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-and-fantasy

Wow! What an awesome book this is. I can't believe the ending. I literally turned the last page expecting the story to continue on, and it didn't! I actually shouted out, "No! Damn you Peter Brett! You can't end it like that!" Best book in this series so far. Will be on tenderhooks until the next chapter in this amazing series. ...more

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Nov 07, 2013 Glen rated it it was amazing

The story, world building and action all blend together to a riveting climax or should I say cliffhanger!

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Feb 11, 2013 Childofhate rated it really liked it

Loved the book. Arlen and Renna are the most badass couple in fantasy history, even though both of them are kinda screwy in the head. :)
Mr. Brett seems to have improved upon his ability to write female characters. Inevera's characterisation is very interesting and the cliffhanger ending (in the most literal sense of the phrase) will leave people with a very bad case of blues once they are finished with the book. ...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Barry Dias rated it it was amazing

This was a great book it made me hate Ineveara less than in the Desert Spear. Each Character grew more in this book especially Roger. The only problem I had with it is the ending it was brilliant but up setting that he ended it with a cliff hanger. If the next book were already out the ending would have been satisfying but as it is I'm left hang and wantig to read the next book. ...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Lucas and Meghann rated it it was amazing

Well Renna Tanner is the low point of the story so far. Stupidity and arrogance is all this character adds. There seemed to be more sex in this book than all the others combined. Unlike desert spear where the author humanized Jadir and made you love the bad guy in this book he tells you Inerva's story but still makes her the real villain. Great book that's hard to put down and leave you cursing and swearing when you read the last page! ...more

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Aug 20, 2013 Miri rated it it was amazing

What a cruel cruel man Mr. Brett is for leaving us hanging in mid air till the next book comes out...

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Jan 29, 2013 Shaad Zaman rated it really liked it

Shelves: the-big-book-challenge, epic-fantasy, 2013, fantasy, april-2013

WOW what a cliffhanger! This was another very good! I really just want want to read next book! Hopefully it comes out soon! This was not a perfect book but i just enjoyed the re-acquaintance with my favorite character.
Fill review to come later!

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