Review: The Desert Spear (Demon #2) by Peter V. Brett

The Desert Spear (Demon #2) by Peter V. Brett

In many ways, this second book is quite different from the first book. It spends a lot of time exploring the backstory of Jardir, which is nice to know about since it explains his actions in the first book. It also builds some nice depth to his character and Abban's, but the exploring is done without clear indication markers of the fact that we're going back into the past. The first time this happens, the reader spends a few moments going "What just happened?" which is not a good thing.

The pacing for this second book is not as fast as the first since it does spend a lot of time building up the backstory and adds more viewpoints so that there is less time for each one. (In this one there were 7 viewpoints compared with the 3 in the previous) I hope the latter books don't succumb to more viewpoints creeping in because it quickly becomes difficult to keep track of.

This book is still excellent though. The coming war and the build-up of anticipation as well as the development of the characters emotionally and power-wise is excellent. I really do hope that the third book gets written in time for publication next year although it is pretty clear at this point that this can't possibly be a trilogy.

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