Peter Brett is one of the best-selling Fantasy writers of the last decade. His Demon Cycle is an enthralling, entertaining saga that shows readers a world best by demons who come to life at night and terrorize humanity. The five book saga features two men who could be prophesized as saviors and the people who surround them. The Desert Prince takes up the story fifteen years later with the major conflict between Demons and Humanity (in the form of the Deliverers Arlen Bales and Ahman Jardir) in the past and the threat of the demons seemingly quelled. Well, this is an Epic Fantasy novel and the Big Evil Threat is of course reawakening. Focusing on Jardir and Arlen’s children, Brett launches a new saga that allows readers relatively easy entrance into the series.
Fifteen years have passed since the end of the war with demons, creatures of darkness who have hunted the night and plagued humanity since time out of mind. The heroes of humanity’s hour of need have become legend, and those who remain struggle to escape their shadows.
Olive Paper and Darin Bales have grown up in this new peaceful world. Demons have been all but destroyed, but dangers still lurk for the children of heroes.
Olive, Princess of Hollow, has her entire life planned out by her mother, Duchess Leesha Paper: a steady march on a checklist to prepare her for succession. The more her mother writes the script, the more Olive rails against playing the parts she is assigned.
Darin faces challenges of a different kind. Though free to choose his own path, the weight of legacy hangs heavy around his shoulders. It isn’t easy being the son of the man people say saved the world. Everyone expects greatness from Darin, but the only thing he’s ever been great at is hiding.
But when Olive and Darin step across the wards one night, they learn the demons are not all gone, and those that remain hunger for revenge. Events are set in motion that only prophecy can foresee as Olive and Darin seek to find their own places in the world in time to save it again.
The two protagonists are Olive Jardir and Darin Bales, children of Ahman Jardir and Arlen Bales respectively. They’ve both grown up without their fathers, Olive because her mother chose not to be one of Ahman’s wives and Darin because his father seemingly sacrificed himself at the conclusion of the events depicted in The Core, the final novel in the Brett’s Demon Cycle sequence. Brett utilizes first person narrative so we can get deep into the heads of these two characters and with Olive, he walks a very interesting line. You see, Olive is intersex, being born with male and female genitals and her identity throughout the novel is a critical element to the story. She lives her life and identifies as female but her duality is kept secret from everybody outside of her and her mother. If Olive’s secret were to be revealed, she would be considered a large target by the many people seeking to rule through the Skull Throne. Little about her life; however, is from choices she makes.
On the other hand, there’s Darin Bales, who yearns for the same kind of quiet life Olive is forced to live. He’s got a different sort of duality about him…because his parents were such powerful wielders of Ward magic, thanks to their consumption of demon meat and painting themselves with demon ichor, Darin is not completely…human. Like the demons who powered the magic his parents used, Darin suffers great pain under exposure to the sun as well as the emotional weight of being the son of the man who saved humanity from the demon horde.
Darin and Olive’s seemingly quiet lives are thrown asunder when more demons awaken in the night and Olive is stolen as a potential consort to one of the Skull Throne’s potential sitters. Again, choice is being taken away from her, but what happens when she arrives in the land of her captors provides a great deal of tension, solid character building, and tackling of identity issues that feels fairly genuine. Of course, me being a cis-white male I can only empathize to a certain degree and understand what somebody with gender identity issues experiences. It feels as if Brett put a great deal of effort/care in to trying to present this delicate issue with sensitivity.
As for the action of the novel, Brett has always excelled at depicting action, monsters, and magic. If anything, I might say there was a little too much of the action and fighting. Some of the people fighting people scenes began to feel a little repetitive.
As is the case with many novels of “end times” the monsters can sometimes become a secondary threat to the internal conflicts of different groups of humanity. Such is the case here and those interpersonal conflicts drive much of the narrative. That isn’t to say the Demons aren’t integral to the plot of the novel, because they are, just not as up front as the human tribal conflicts.
So what do we have here with The Desert Prince? It is a logical follow-up series to The Demon Cycle for starters. Taking up the story with the “next generation” is a tried-and-true formula. In many cases with Epic Fantasy sagas, the Dark Overlord and Their Force of Evil is never put to rest with finality. In that respect, Brett handled the continuation fairly well. The characters also hint at the larger world and question how demons affect lands beyond those they know. That’s something I’d like to see Brett expand upon in subsequent novels.
I also liked how he told the story with two different points of view, both Drin and Olive come across as unique and distinct from each other. He took some risks, especially with what Olive is and how he handled her character throughout. I’ve seen a few reviews comment, somewhat negatively, that this was a “YA-toned” novel. I don’t know that I agree with that, even if the protagonists are on the younger side. Sure, they go through some standard problems associated with teenagers, but that’s just part of their story.
My only real issue with the novel is what I’ve previously mentioned – some of the combat scenes and fights between individual humans felt a bit repetitive. I still find a lot to enjoy in the world Brett has created and feel he’s left a lot on the map/globe to explore. His characters felt genuine, even if the “accent” Brett has always used for them is a little much.
I also have to give a shout out to the outstanding, gorgeous cover by Tommy Arnold. An extremely striking image of Olive Jardir takes center stage, but the design elements on the border, which continue on the back cover and spine add a touch of gravitas.
Ultimately, I enjoyed The Desert Prince and look forward to what’s next in The Nightfall Saga.
© 2021 Rob H. Bedford
Hardback | Del Rey Books
The Nightfall Saga (Volume 1)
August 2021 | 656
https://gizmodo.com/get-an-exclusive-peek-at-peter-v-bretts-return-to-the-1846409664
https://www.petervbrett.com/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, Del Rey Books
