Messenger's Legacy - Peter V. Brett

RATING: THREE STARS

Peter V. Brett continues The Demon Cycle and the story Mudboy (which was first published in Unfettered in 2013). Messenger's Legacy is set just after the events of The Daylight War and introduces a new character to the series, Briar Damaj. Born as a son of two people's, Briar Damaj is only a child when a tragic accident sees his family killed in a vicious Coreling attack. But rather than accept the help of his village, Briar flees into the wilderness and makes his home amidst a refuse dump where he must hone his physical and mental skills if he hopes to survive the demons that hunt there . . .

The Good
Messenger's Legacy provides an interesting insight into one of the series new characters and develops his background well, using the fact he personally knows Ragan, Arlen's mentor, to help develop his history in the story, rather than just introducing him as a random person. As well as this, Brett uses the story to reveal more about demon behaviour and introduces some new ways of fighting them in circumstances where warded weapons are not available.

The Bad
Sadly, Messenger's Legacy isn't quite as exciting as the other intermediary novellas Brett has written for The Demon Cycle and I would have liked to have read more about Arlen's past than anything (as in The Great Bazaar and Brayan's Gold). The story is lacking the same excitement seen in the others and, since many of the characters are new, it's hard to engage with them in the same way because the story isn't long enough for them to be developed fully.

My Thoughts
Messenger's Legacy is an interesting introduction for who is clearly going to be a prominent character in the later books of The Demon Cycle. It's definitely worth a read for any fan of the series and has really wet my appetite for The Skull Throne, which is due to be released on 9th April 2015 in the UK!

Read an excerpt from The Skull Throne

We still have a long wait before The Skull Throne, the next instalment of Peter V. Brett's epic Demon Cycle, is released (on the 24th March 2015). The months until then are bound to go slowly and I am extremely eager to continue reading about Arlen's adventures in what is one of the best fantasy series that's being written at the moment.

Brett has recently published his latest intermediary novella in the series called Mudboy (which can be read in Unfettered, by Shaun Speakman), but the months before March are certainly going to go very slowly. Luckily, Brett has taken pity on us and has decided to sate our appetites by releasing the first chapter of the The Skull Throne as an excerpt on his website!

It's not as good as the whole book, but, hey, it'll do for now and I guess we'd all better visit Brett's site in case he decides to take it down!

'The Daylight War' release date and upcoming 'Demon Cycle' titles

Although there has been much speculation regarding the release date of The Daylight War, the third book in Peter V. Brett's stunning Demon Cycle series, it now appears to be set and the novel is due to be released on the 11th February 2013 in the UK (published by Harper Voyager) and on the 12th February 2013 in the USA (published by Del Ray).

Furthermore, Brett has made it clear that The Daylight War will not be the last instalment of the Demon Cycle and the widely held belief that the series is a trilogy stems from false information that was disseminated when The Painted (Warded) Man was first released in 2008. In fact, the series is going to consist of five books - with the remaining titles currently being listed as The Forest Fortress and The Core (although Brett has said that since these novels are works in progress, their titles could well be changed).

In addition to releasing these novels, Brett has also been commissioned to write a sixth book in the series. He says that this book is not a 'core' instalment of the Demon Cycle, but rather reads as a standalone spin-off that features some shared characters with the earlier five books. Brett also says that he has already planned this book and expects that fans of the series will enjoy it!

Brett also intends to continue writing a short story inbetween each novel (like he did with The Great Bazaar and Brayan's Gold), which are intended to add a greater sense of understanding to the overall story. The Great Bazaar and Brayan's Gold certainly did this and Brett says that Mudboy, which is set between books three and four and introduces a new character, is mostly written so may also hit the shelves soon!