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The Painted Man (Demon Trilogy 1) by Peter V. Brett
Review: It's been a while since I've picked up a book and had to force myself to put it down so I could get some kip. This was one of those books. Each main character was interesting and the story had me hooked from the beginning. You really want to know what happens to the characters from chapter to chapter.
Can't wait to read the next one.
Review: I tried not to be too judgemental of this book after reading some of the poor reviews here. I'd had it waiting on the shelf for a while and decided I'd be my own judge, as I've loved other books with poor reviews on here in the past. People have different tastes, after all. However, after a couple of weeks of reading the Painted Man, I have to concur with the harsher critics on this one. The story labours along and fails to convey an interesting or moving plot. Halfway through the book, I still fail to understand what the point of it all `really' is. The writing is not terrible. It's not great, but certainly readable. I find the main problem to be Brett's understanding - or views - of how a story works. His world is ok, if not clichéd, but there is no real desire or want in the story. There's nothing to drive it on, make you want to keep reading. Nobody in the story seems to have any solid goals or desires based on believable human situations or emotions. This leads to a monotonous plot full of boring, un-needed scenes, along with characters who seem to read from a script rather than act from their hearts. There are some reactions I found to be utterly unbelievable; for instance Arlen's reaction to seeing a family member die. He does not act like an eleven-year-old to me, I must say. I envisaged him as at least twenty, right from the start.
I have to admit, I prefer novels to be shorter than this, faster-paced. Maybe this adds to my opinion. If you like thick books, with lots and lots of back-story, which isn't afraid to move at a slow pace, then maybe this is for you. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me.
Review: Fancied reading a book since I hadn't read once since the end of the excellent Conqueror trilogy from Conn Iggulden(different genre, but alas). Took a punt on this based on the strength of user reviews but don't think I'll ever make the same mistake again. The author's writing is at times appalling and the characters and events so clichéd it beggars belief how this can be rated so highly. Maybe I'm just an odd one out, but in my opinion if you haven't already read His Dark Materials, which is way, way, way, way superior to this rubbish. Had to stop reading after about a quarter of the way through, kept telling myself it would improve but it didn't. Sure the concept isn't bad at all but the execution seems, well, like a guy who's never wrote a book before.
Oh wait...
The most annoying thing in this book is the dreadful sexual theme, it's just so...god...damn...awful, don't think when I was 11 I was shagging girls, but hey it's a different universe so it's fine (I think?) Arlen is just too mature as to how he is presented, and says things an eleven year old just wouldn't say. Leesha is surrounded by what seems to be a village containing either wood cutters (the men) and whores (the women). Her relationship with Gerard (or Garard or whatever, Brett seems to like misspelling people's names) is embarrassing, and although I quite liked Bruna, she too was subject to schoolboy esque dialogue from the author - the overuse of the exclamation mark, the spelling errors, (an herb gatherer?) the clichés, oh the clichés! Very generic stuff in my opinion.
Review: This book was awesome - could not put it down...WORD OF WARNING THOUGH IT IS NOT A TRILOGY IT IS BOOK 1 OF 5...
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