Kadomi reviewed The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett (The Demon Cycle, #2)
Review of 'The Desert Spear' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Continuing the Demon Cycle from The Warded Man which I really enjoyed, The Desert Spear was both good and yet falling flat for me. The first book focused on three characters: Arlen, Rojer and Leesha. The Desert Spear throws in additional PoVs, most dominantly Jardir, the Krasian who thinks he's the Deliverer and comes to conquer the rest of the world so he can wipe the demons off the face of the earth, but also Renna Tanner, a minor character in the first book who is from Arlen's boyhood village.
I think I enjoyed the Jardir chapters most, giving us a look back at his childhood and his rise to power. He's a grey character, not good, nor the clear villain. As far as the other characters go, I will admit to being more than a little ticked off at Leesha, who is as Mary Sue as they come. She's …
Continuing the Demon Cycle from The Warded Man which I really enjoyed, The Desert Spear was both good and yet falling flat for me. The first book focused on three characters: Arlen, Rojer and Leesha. The Desert Spear throws in additional PoVs, most dominantly Jardir, the Krasian who thinks he's the Deliverer and comes to conquer the rest of the world so he can wipe the demons off the face of the earth, but also Renna Tanner, a minor character in the first book who is from Arlen's boyhood village.
I think I enjoyed the Jardir chapters most, giving us a look back at his childhood and his rise to power. He's a grey character, not good, nor the clear villain. As far as the other characters go, I will admit to being more than a little ticked off at Leesha, who is as Mary Sue as they come. She's the best Herb Gatherer ever, wards better than anyone else, learns foreign languages in mere days and additionally is the most beautiful woman ever. It's all a bit much. I felt a Nynaeve-level of annoyance with her.
The worst part of this book however is clearly the casual use of sexual violence throughout the book. This also happened in the first book, but happens even more in The Desert Spear. Be it male rape as educational tool, the incest of the Tanner household or the Krasians raping across the lands they have conquered or amongst each other, I never felt like this was a necessary plot tool or added anything to the story. It's too out there, too much. Very distasteful.
And yet I will trooper on, maybe he'll have learned something by the next book and will show improvement in that area. A girl can only hope.
