The Warded Man

I'm mystified by the success of the Brett books. Formulaic in the extreme! A fortiori the 'prelude' chapter, Brett throws us neck deep into the lore, showing off what a thorough world-building job he has done, none of it to become relevant until the act 3 turnaround (of that volume, if you're lucky). Enjoying reading about this character? Guess what, the next chapter will be about somebody else who won't be relevant to the story until a brief mention later in the story or in the next book.

The first book was okay, in the sense of if being epic fantasy recast as a post-apocalyptic western with magic coming from tattoos. A bit different to the norm (even if it's more furniture being slightly rearranged than anything else). The second and third books were absolutely woeful. Almost zero plot or character development and a rather disturbing plot trend where male characters were institutionally sexually abused but fought back against it and became badass swordsmen and female characters were sexually abused and became broken and traumatised (apart from one who did become a badass warrior, but only after our main hero had rescued her).

I don’t understand how people read crap like this (like I just did - ROTFL!). ( )

The Warded Man is a fantastic fantasy novel, and an excellent introduction to the world the Brett has crafted that feels similar to our own world, and yet very different. From early in the novel you can feel a strong connection with all of the POV Characters, and get a feeling for the bleakness of the world as it stands.

My only reluctance towards to book is that if feels like the majority of the story is all a prologue for the last 20% of the book. While I am looking forward to reading the other novels in the series, I think I would be less satisfied if I wasn't able to dive into the subsequent volumes immediately. ( )

Pretty great world and character building with a lot of everyone-powers-up to kick off a series. Exciting for the next one. ( )

I'm easily super excited about this book and have no reservations about flying through the sequels.

Why?

Because we have an immersive epic fantasy world that focuses simply and easily on survival. The world is overrun with demons that pop out of the ground at night and are only held back by drawn or carved wards. Life is hard and harrowing, and if you make a single misstep, you die. The three main characters: Arlen, Leesha, and Rojen, are given delightful treatment in this world, from their childhoods to the heroic adults that they become.

Make no mistake, though, this is an origin story, building step by step to create the fabled Warded Man, the man who can step into armies of demons and decimate them all by himself.

For most of this book, no one comes close to having this ability, but that's the main joy in reading origin stories. We love to see them level up and discover that they're beast. :)

So yeah, I'm happy as hell and very satisfied with everything I've read here. I can almost see Arlen in that old video game Torment, picking up new tattoos that make him super-strong with each new design. Of course, we have to round out our characters, too, to make the final payoff all the more believable, and honestly, I thought it was a blast.

If I was going to complain about anything, however, it would have to be the heavy focus on sex... rather clichéd and black and white with no real growth between extremes. It makes for vivid characters, yes, but definitely not subtle ones, and it's rather interesting to see that in a novel that otherwise has a lot of great and subtle features in the world-building, the magic system, and the main characters themselves.

It's not a dealbreaker by any means, but it did annoy me.

As for the build and the payoff, I absolutely had a fantastic time, though. :)

Total action movie with a mix of kung-fu and demon slaying. :) ( )

I truly loved this book. The characters work well and stayed with me, the world is consistent and required no effort or conscious suspension of disbelief on my part, and the pacing and storytelling in general was absolutely well-done and enjoyable. I'm really looking forward to the other parts of the series. Also, yay for books with several POV characters.

I loved the diverse characters - strong female characters (with and without sexual relationships, that is!), but also weak female characters, and the same went for male chars.

I loved Arlen because he's so headstrong, and his strength, and stupidity, and his growth. I loved Rojer, not only because he contrasts Arlen so well, but also because he is a guy who is not a typical image of masculinity, and (apart from a few scenes casting him as a coward) he stands on his own, even while contrasting Arlen. And of course, Leesha. Nothing really to say there. ( )