Readers were left hanging on a cliff – literally – at the end of The Daylight War, the third installment of Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle sequence. Some would call that a rude thing to do to readers, others might call it a bold thing for a writer to do. Regardless of what you call it, Brett picks up the same scene in the beginning of The Skull Throne, the fourth installment of the Epic/Apocalyptic/Dark Fantasy saga. So enter at your own risk (though Peat had the first chapter posted on his Web site for quite some time), because there are most definitely spoilers. If you need a brief primer of what came before, check out my blog post from a couple of weeks ago.
Without further ado…
At this point, I don’t think it would be spoiling the story too much to say that Arlen and Jardir survived their tumble off the cliff, because Arlen realized it would be illogical to reduce any kind of chances humanity has at defeating the Demons, even if the methods Jardir and his people practice are less than savory. Arlen and Jardir exchange diatribes about their methods, but agree to face the larger threat. Meanwhile, the people who watched them fall to their seeming deaths are left thinking the two “Deliverers” have perished…except Renna who was a participant in Arlen’s scheme to keep both men alive. Their goal: to trap a Mind Demon and enter the Core to take the fight to the Queen of Demons. The characters disperse and we follow three main threads: Inevera, Abban and the Krasians as they attempt to keep the Skull Throne occupied and further their campaign against the “Greenlanders” of Thesa, the Thesians dealing with the Krasian threat with attempts to unite featuring characters Rojer, Renna, Leesha, Gared and those folk; and of course Arlen and Jardir preparing themselves for entry into The Core.
We see why The Skull Throne is titled as such; Jardir’s seeming death leaves the Throne of Krasia quite empty with many people vying to keep it warm in his absence, chief among those are his many children. Here we see the land of Everam’s Bounty, which is what the Krasian’s have renamed the land they’ve conquered and is their base of operations in the Greenlands. Although Jardir’s relatives may be the players vying for the throne, the returning Inevara and Abban are the puppet masters pulling the strings. Chief among the players are Asome and Jayan, two of Jardir’s sons; both of whom are headstrong and in the case of Jayan, to a fatalistic and nearly cartoonish degree. In fact, I’d even say that Jayan is a more dangerously immature than a certain young royal of King’s Landing. Jayan takes no advice and sees nearly every action as a slight to him and he responds to even the most minor slight with the equivalent of Scorched Earth Policy.
Meanwhile, the Greenlanders adjust to the potential of life without Arlen as their savior. Leading the thread here are Leesha and Renna as the Hollow folk also try to deal with the encroaching forces of the Krasians as well as the lax royalty in Angiers who seem to suddenly take an interest in world events. In all, the people of the Hollow have come to rely on their own strength to fight the demons because of Arlen’s teachings and because of the strength Leesha’s presence provides to the people. Leesha’s internal struggle between the growing child inside her fathered by Jardir and her feelings for Count Thamos prove that despite the continual threat of demons, human level conflict is what shapes people’s emotions just as potently. We also get to know Thamos’s family: his brothers and mother and learn that his smart and crafty mother is pulling many of the strings. Peat only provided a small glimpse of Thamos prior to The Skull Throne, but here he gets more attention as a secondary character rather than a background character and shines through in both his strengths (honor) and failings (pride).
Brett also gives Rojer Halfgrip, the man who uses music-magic with his fiddle to keep the demons at bay, more spotlight in the novel. While he is brave in the field against the demons, he is still driven by anger and frustrations because slights earlier in his life. Time can make such frustrations border on petty compared against the larger picture, despite how understandable his quest for vengeance against his past tormentor might be. Rojer is a man between worlds, with his marriage to the Krasians Amanavah and Kikvah coming into conflict with his past and heritage as a Thesan.
Some of the strongest scenes in this novel – and the series to this point – are the scenes involving Arlen and Jardir. Through many of their ideological conversations, Brett managed to make it seem Arlen and Jardir were talking through gritted teeth as their patience was fighting to hold their respective frustrations at bay. Their mission as, Arlen states, is to take the fight to the Core and though Jardir has issues with Arlen’s philosophy, he is on board with Arlen’s end goal. Arlen finally has the opportunity to confront Jardir about the betrayal which broke their friendship and brotherhood. I would have liked to see more between Jardir and Arlen as they prepare to enter the Core, but Brett smartly chose to focus on those other characters.
Another character who continues to grab my attention is Abban, the handicapped advisor to Jardir and Inevera. What he lacks in physical prowess, he more than compensates for in mental craftiness. Although I might not want to associate with such a character in real life, as a character he is a delight to read. Though the easy comparison is to Tyrion, I found much more in common with Mocker from Glen Cook’s Dread Empire series or Kruppe from Erikson & Esslemont’s Malazan novels.
I’ve touched upon very briefly that one of the failings of Thomas is his pride; indeed, pride may be one of the characteristics or traits that does in many of the characters and can be seen as the greatest flaw a person can have in this world. Rojer, Jardir, Jayan (among others) all exhibit a great deal of hubris and pride. Some of them overcome that and don’t let the hubris consume them, but when that hubris so strongly defines an individual character here, it tends to be a fatalistic flaw. Leesha was quite prideful in her journey through to The Skull Throne, but in this third volume, her pride seems to have been quelled and as a result, she is a stronger character.
I have been enjoying The Demon Cycle through the first three books and even more after The Skull Throne; I love the world building and enjoy the characters, but is also rewarding to see a writer’s skill and prowess grow from one novel to the next. The next/fifth installment (I think tentatively titled The Core), is supposed to be the final and I cannot wait to see how Peter brings this epic tale to conclusion.
Highly Recommended
© Rob H. Bedford 2015
Published by Del Rey / Hardcover ISBN 978-0-345-53314-8
April 2014 / 704 Pages
http://www.petervbrett.com/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
The book ist not bad, but it uses new characters with similiar backgrounds and the main story does not really goes on. Its more a dissappointment then an epic tale. Read critids on amazon or the authors wrbpage forum.
this looks a synopsis of the story rather than a critical review. i loved the first two books and the 3rd one though not as much. this one just drove me mad reading and rereading people doing the same mistakes is not character development.