Book Review: The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett

The Daylight War
Author: Peter V. Brett
Series: Demon Cycle, book 3
Source: From NetGalley
ISBN-10: 0345503821
ISBN-13: 978-0345503824
Buy it here: Amazon
For more information visit Peter Brett's website

Reviewed by: Beth


The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett is the third book in his Demon Cycle series. I am going to do my best not to spoil anything, but keep in mind this is the third book, so I might and not mean to. With that warning out of the way, here goes!

What the series is about- Demons come out at night and eat people. They are held back with wards. The series is set around Arlen, who believes that people should fight against demons. His quest leads him on a world travel, even to the desert, where culture drastically changes. Arlen’s people are more your European medieval fantasy, while the Kriasians are a more Middle Eastern old culture. The women are dressed from head to toe, and along with crippled men, are seen as second class citizens. The able bodied men in their culture fight the demons, and are afforded higher status. Arlen learned a lot from them, and they him. He brought back with him fighting wards, and has gone a little crazy in the process.

The novel starts out with a scene from Inevera’s past. Inevera is the first wife of the Kriasians leader, Jardir. My first thought was that Brett could’ve put together a whole novel about Inevera and her rise to power. As it turns out a large chunk of the novel is about her past. As I have mentioned before they don’t treat their women real well, unless they are a sort of high priestess (kind of like a nun since they are ‘married’ to their god) to their god. They get a kind of freedom, but even that is limited. Inevera isn’t a best loved character, but as her background fell into place I started too really like her. Brett’s world is extremely well rounded. I liked everything until it came to her magical hymen. Yea, she magically replaced the one she lost to make her husband a man. Crazy virginity business aside, we get to see how she rises to power and how she used her influence to help get her husband, Jardir, to power. She believes him to be the next Deliver, the man who will take back the night.

The first chapter really starts out with Arlen and Renna making their way back to the Hollow. Arlen is teaching Renna how to kick demon butt. He even shares some of the secrets that have made him so strong. Each chapter reminds us that soon the moon is going to be gone, and the demon princes will rise to kill the might be Delivers. Even the characters are aware that at the new moon they are all screwed, but this would be tension seemed lost in the delivery.

Leesha and Rojer were staying with Jardir. Their stay has come to an end, but they don’t think the Krasians will just let them go. Rojer is nearly forced with two Krasian women, and Leesha travels back with her own surprise. They rush back to the Hollow to find that Arlen is already there readying the people for the new moon. There are some character reckonings, and then it’s time for the big bad battle.

There is an epic battle at the end, along with a cliff hanger, that involves a cliff in more than one way.

There were a couple things that didn’t work for me. The female characters seemed to have some issues this book. Most of them cling to the central male characters, and while they used to be interesting, seem annoying to the point they slow the story down. Women aside, I felt like a lot of the tension that the other books held wasn’t in this one.

While some things didn’t work for me there was still a lot of good going on. The look into Inevera’s past was great. The politics in Jardir’s court are always juicy and crazy. There is a truly gruesome scene with Abban, one of Jardir’s advisors, that was just jaw dropping goodness. The end was pretty epic, and the cliff hanger is killing me. I really want to know the outcome of what all these events mean, and I really look forward to what Brett will build next.
My Rating: