Book 4 in The Demon Cycle series
Read by Colin Mace
Genre: epic fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook
About The Skull Throne:
The first three novels in New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett’s groundbreaking Demon Cycle series -- The Warded Man, The Desert Spear, and The Daylight War -- set a new standard for heroic fantasy. The powerful saga of humans winnowed to the brink of extinction by night-stalking demons, and the survivors who fight back, has kept readers breathless as they eagerly turned the pages. Now the thrilling fourth volume, The Skull Throne, raises the stakes as it carries the action in shocking new directions.Source: Info in the About The Skull Throne was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13630171-the-skull-throne on 20/03/2016.
The Skull Throne of Krasia stands empty.
Built from the skulls of fallen generals and demon princes, it is a seat of honor and ancient, powerful magic, keeping the demon corelings at bay. From atop the throne, Ahmann Jardir was meant to conquer the known world, forging its isolated peoples into a unified army to rise up and end the demon war once and for all. But Arlen Bales, the Warded Man, stood against this course, challenging Jardir to a duel he could not in honor refuse. Rather than risk defeat, Arlen cast them both from a precipice, leaving the world without a savior, and opening a struggle for succession that threatens to tear the Free Cities of Thesa apart.
In the south, Inevera, Jardir’s first wife, must find a way to keep their sons from killing each other and plunging their people into civil war as they strive for glory enough to make a claim on the throne.
In the north, Leesha Paper and Rojer Inn struggle to forge an alliance between the duchies of Angiers and Miln against the Krasians before it is too late.
Caught in the crossfire is the duchy of Lakton -- rich and unprotected, ripe for conquest.
All the while, the corelings have been growing stronger, and without Arlen and Jardir there may be none strong enough to stop them. Only Renna Bales may know more about the fate of the missing men, but she, too, has disappeared...
The world building is nice, but that is not it's most prominent feature. It is woven in such a way that it hooks into your brain sneaky-like and you find yourself craving to read more of the world in odd moments. It encroaches into your real life. It is addictive. So if you are masochistic like that, just plod through Book 2 and Book 3 and you'll get here.
The writing style still has multiple threads but now the author writes them in bigger chunks and therefore is a whole lot less annoying. And I like that very much!
The Skull Throne still ends with a cliffhanger, but then, we already knew that going in. What makes it insidious is that, it seemingly ends in mid-chapter and The Core starts straight where it ends. Starts mid-chapter. Same sentence. Real stealthy! So my advise is, don't start reading The Skull Throne until you have The Core in your hands too.
I actually bought The Skull Throne when it first came out, like a year before The Core, and stopped reading about three quarters into the book because I knew it was going to end in a cliffie. Another incentive for me to stop reading there was that a favourite character died and it took me a good year to grieve him before I could continue on reading in this world again. It was that much of a shock.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 3.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 4
Plot = 3
Narration = 4.5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries
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Raised on a steady diet of fantasy novels, comic books, and Dungeons & Dragons, Peter V. Brett (“Peat” to his friends) has been writing fantasy stories for as long as he can remember. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Art History from the University at Buffalo in 1995, and then spent over a decade in pharmaceutical publishing before returning to his bliss. He lives in Brooklyn. |
Books in The Demon Cycle series:
FTC Disclosure:
The copies of these books were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
The copies of these books were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.
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