It has been a while since I have read some fantasy and since this series has five (and counting) books in the series I gave it a shot.
Starting off with a small, localized but dark incident we are led slowly into a much bigger world. The world dreamt up by the author is well-rendered, and I like books like this that have a lot of world-building to show the scale that we are dealing with. Unfortunately when there is a big world to build (and explain) it puts a big weight on the author’s shoulders to avoid just telling it all. This author had some creative ways to try to split it up (including a clever song for the young ones of a village) but in the end we had to sit through a lot of exposition.
The best part of the book is one of the dangers that the characters face – every night demons rise from the ground and promptly chew up any available people into bloody bits. The only ones who are safe are those in places protected by “wards”, characters carved into surfaces that create a barrier against the demons that they can never break. So this builds up the tension as the day passes. I thought the writer could build on this tension a little more – but sometimes it feels like the characters completely forget about it, like in a 80s horror movie.
The characters are pretty simple – so simple that I thought maybe I was reading a young adult book. However one particular scene towards the end of the book involving sexual assault made it clear that this book isn’t really for kids.
And unfortunately the ending felt like an episode of The A-Team, with our powerful heroes helping a rag-tag bunch of villagers rise up against their tormentors… ugh.
But for the imaginative world and the unique tension of each deadly nightfall I was able to finish the book. Not sure I’d recommend it, however.
Next I am reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
