The Skull Throne (1 of 3) [Dramatized Adaptation]

Written by Peter V. Brett

Narrated by A Full Cast, Michael John Casey, Christopher Scheeren and 32 more

The Skull Throne of Krasia stands empty.

Built from the skulls of fallen generals and demon princes, it is a seat of honor and ancient, powerful magic, keeping the demon corelings at bay. From atop the throne, Ahmann Jardir was meant to conquer the known world, forging its isolated peoples into a unified army to rise up and end the demon war once and for all.

But Arlen Bales, the Warded Man, stood against this course, challenging Jardir to a duel he could not in honor refuse. Rather than risk defeat, Arlen cast them both from a precipice, leaving the world without a savior, and opening a struggle for succession that threatens to tear the Free Cities of Thesa apart.

In the south, Inevera, Jardir's first wife, must find a way to keep their sons from killing one another and plunging their people into civil war as they strive for glory enough to make a claim on the throne.

In the north, Leesha Paper and Rojer Inn struggle to forge an alliance between the duchies of Angiers and Miln against the Krasians before it is too late.

Caught in the crossfire is the duchy of Lakton—rich and unprotected, ripe for conquest.

All the while, the corelings have been growing stronger, and without Arlen and Jardir there may be none strong enough to stop them. Only Renna Bales may know more about the fate of the missing men, but she, too, has disappeared.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GraphicAudio
• Release date: Jun 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645418351

Peter V. Brett

Peter V. Brett is the bestselling author of the Demon Cycle series—including The Warded Man, The Desert Spear, The Daylight War, The Skull Throne, and The Core—which has sold over two and a half million copies in twenty-five languages worldwide. He spends too much time on the internet, but occasionally unplugs to practice kickboxing and dad fu. He lives in Manhattan.

Reviews for The Skull Throne (1 of 3) [Dramatized Adaptation]

[gsb68 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great series for epic fantasy fans with a unique magic system and setting. The series has gotten better with each volume.

My only complaint is that the point of view would run a number of chapters on one part of the story and then switch to another and so forth. I would have liked for them to switch around a little more from story line to story line. It sometimes felt as if you were reading a string of novellas yet they all came back together at the end.... What do I know it was still a great book! Briar is a new favorite I feel like he might be the next possible "Deliverer".

[lilibrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

War comes to the Greenlands in this installment of the series.

[griffin22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With Arlen and Ahmann more or less out of the picture and the demons under control more than they have been for centuries, both sides of the Daylight War are fighting amongst themselves for leadership.

[books_n_things · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is for the audio. I received this audio free through the Librarything's Early Readers Program for review purposes.25 hrs. Yes, 25 hours and 20 disks with this book. Like the other books I wondered if it would have been better to actually make this into a few books. Ones where other characters get to shine and we get to know them better. We do this here but it is in the middle of what we want to know. In fact there are at least 4 separate stories here and you could even distill that down further.As I was frustrated with the last book, my frustration didn't end here. I thought I would be getting more Arlen, Jardir, and Renna's adventure. I did but not much of it. Or it felt like it wasn't much. I can tell you that my frustrations were put off by the audiobook. The narration by Pete Bradbury was excellent and kept my interest through the frustration. My only complaint with the audio is that there were too many lengthy pauses. In other words, the pauses were just a bit too long. Other than that (and granted it probably wasn't the narrator but the director's fault), I would recommend this narrator to anyone. He really kept me in the book for the whole duration.The book seemed to be a solid 3 for me for almost all of it. I was never sold on Leesha's new romance but I did love Rojer's storyline. I did like going back to know more of the secondary characters but still, I would have liked it in it's own separate book. The end, however, changed all of that for me. A character died that would have kept me in the book and when we FINALLY got back to Arlen, Jardir and Renna... the book ends. No cliffie since you fell off that cliff and then realized it was the end of the road. Only kind of ending I hate more than a cliffie (although you can technically call it that, but you know there is a cliff hanger not just a feeling of... "wait a minute!" *sigh*). So, I give this book 2 1/2 stars. The audio was interesting but I'm not sure if I will continue this one. And this comes from someone who wants to know the storyline where the book ended.

[jreinhart_8 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Can't wait to hear the other titles in this series. Glad I got this on audiobook.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Skull Throne is the forth installment in The Demon Cycle series by Peter V Brett and it takes up where The Daylight War stopped with the battle between Arlen and Ahmann which ended abruptly when they threw themselves off the cliff leaving the world without a Deliverer and the Skull Throne without an occupant. The struggle for control of the throne pits Ahmann’s sons against each other. In her attempt to prevent chaos, Inevera uses the dice to convince Jayan, her first-born son to lead an invasion against Docktown, an event that will have far-reaching consequences. Meanwhile, Leesha and Rojer are in the Hollow with both of his wives. Leesha’s relationship with Thamos has developed into love and she is fearful of what will happen when her baby is born and it becomes clear that it isn’t Thamos’. Rojer has problems of his own when Jasin, the man who killed his mentor and left him for dead, arrives to summon Leesha and her people to Angiers, a summons fraught with danger for everyone. Okay, I know that all of this may not sound terribly interesting but I’m trying to avoid spoilers here and it’s hard to talk about this book without giving too much away. But trust me, if you’ve been following this series, you are really going to enjoy this installment. I even found the relationship parts interesting and I usually skip over them. My one criticism: there is very little about Arlen here and his presence is missed. Still, there is so much else going on that this was just a tiny irritation. For me, The Demon Cycle by Brett had started out brilliantly with the first book, The Warded Man but lost some of its luster with the following two books. The Skull Throne brings back a great deal of the shine – it is chock-full of twists and intrigues and I am really looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Yvette Bonett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

And the incredible story continues....This is why I love books! words written with imagination & passion can take you to so many different places. As with the others, make sure to start from the beginning of the Demon cycle series...& enjoy!

[stige_3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I liked the prequels and the author seems like a really nice guy, so I really wanted to like this.

It has all the right bits, but the speed is glacial much down the same path G. R. R. Martin and R. Jordan went. I do not understand why we needed to be treated to yet another flashback character and major spoiler seems to be more of a case of Martinesque randomness rather than something driven by the necessity of the story. This is looking more and more like a violent version of Falcon Crest or Dynasty.

[longdogmom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Started a bit slow veering off into the backstory of Aisha, but once the action started it just flew and I couldn't stop reading. A lot happens and to important people in the series. I cannot imagine the time and organization it would take, in combination with writing skill, to create the kind of detailed and in-depth world that Peter V. Brett has in this set of books. The characters are so richly drawn, often with their own back stories offered as insight into their personalities and motivations. For such a huge story, it's impressive how richly Brett paints the various places and culture... it makes it very easy, as a reader, to envision everything clearly in your head. I find the characters are complex enough, that as a reader your loyalties can change and shift as you see more about what lays behind the motivations of the choices they make. If ever brought to the screen, The Demon Cycle would surely give Game of Thrones a run for its money!The very different world of the Krasians is especially interesting. They have such strict and ingrained rules for men, women and the power of the various castes that are determined, not by birth, but through a special ceremony around the age of puberty. The caste they are placed into affects everything in their lives, and for some can make the difference between rising to live in a palace and sit on a throne to living in poverty and being humiliated and treated as a slave for the rest of their days. Rigid discipline and hardship creates warriors that rival Spartans in their fighting abilities but if they have a weakness, it's that they don't often see other strengths beyond the physical strength and cunning of those who can fight and rely too much on the magical wisdom of the demon-bone dice, allowing the dice throwers to manipulate their direction, rather than thinking through the logic and strategy themselves. Their cultural norms are so very different than the northern people, the "chin" as they call them. It's a fascinating contrast as the two begin to mix both in war and in romance. How they view love and revenge, family and loyalty. The next book (the last one?) should be very interesting based on how this one ended.

[narilka · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Skull Throne is the fourth book in The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett. It has been two years since I read the previous books and I was surprised at how easy it was to slide back into the story. Unfortunately I'm also remembering why I was starting to find this series so frustrating.The story starts off strong, picking right up and resolving the cliffhanger from book 3. Immediately after, the two male leads FINALLY have the conversation I've been waiting three full books for! It was so great to have Arlen give voice to the atrocious behavior of the Krasian people and why everyone hates them, even if Jardir will never understand. Brett basically makes the argument that people are always the hero of their own story, even if their actions are atrocious when looking at them from the outside. And then we shift to a brand new POV character and a brand new backstory. I'm happy to say that this one does not take 200 pages and does not rehash the prior books. Once that's done it's back to the main story and oh boy do things get exciting quickly.And then we hit the wall. The remainder of the story jumps to all the other characters and everything else going on in the world while completely ignoring the main story line. If you're into human politics, a lot of soap opera-ish antics, and have enjoyed the Krasian culture from the previous books, then you will enjoy this installment. Otherwise, expect to be annoyed as very little progress is made to what, in theory, is supposed to be the point of the series.

[eggsnhm · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I have had a terrible time listening to this audio book. Having not read the preceding books in this series, I found that there were too many characters with similar names for me to be able to keep track of who was who. Furthermore, the character development was sorely lacking--lots of action, but nothing to give me an understanding of any of the people in the book as individuals. I was also disappointed that, as soon as I became able to discern one character from another, Brett jumped to a different thread in the storyline (none of which seemed to relate to one another), where I would have to start trying to figure out a new set of poorly-drawn characters.

[malexmave · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Definitely better than the last one, but still not as good as the first two. I'm sad that the demons no longer pose any threat whatsoever, as they were the main reason I liked the first two books so much. Still, the book was well-done, and the ending was less of a blatant cliff-hanger than the last one, so, yeah, I'll take what I can get. :)

[pmfloyd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this AUDIO book (with 20 Cds) from Early Reviewer and I am glad I did. But first I have NOT listened to all 20 Cds - although I am well along and enough along to write a review - more on this product and the author and this installment of the story. I may well amend my review when I finish. The narrator is excellent (Peter Bradbury) - so if you get a chance to listen to one of his narrated novels and you think you might like the novel - by all means do so. He is very good and I have over 100 audiobooks on my phone and iPad that I have listened to.... and the narrator can make or break the book. Some are awful and some are wonderful. He is closer to wonderful... in fact, I many times buy the book (kindle) and read and listen either along to each other or back to back. Here the story is well told (literally). Moreover, 25 hours of listening time - while a lot is not unheard of at all for audible books. So it is well within a person who likes listening to books range. Now to the story: The Skull Throne is the forth installment in The Demon Cycle series by Peter V Brett and it takes up where The Daylight War ended. But I have not read or listened to the other 3 books so I am judging this book by how easy or hard it is to jump in mid-stream. It is a bit hard in fact, that may be a problem for series readers/listeners..... but this book can be read as a starter and then go back and read the first one, two and three in that order. But since there is very little about Arlen (the main character from the first 3 novels) it did not hurt to start here - but to get the whole story I will be reading the other three. Seems like there is a 5th and final one coming...... nonetheless, as an audio book - it is good so far. The stories are interesting in and of themselves - which is the major complaint by virtually all of the other reviewers on LibraryThing.

[strider66_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Note: This review contains spoilers for book 3, The Daylight War.Pros: lots of politics, lots of intrigue, complex characters, the last 100 pages will blow you awayCons: have to wait for the next bookBoth Arlen and Jardir disappear after their fall from the cliff, putting Inevera in a difficult position to keep her sons alive and off the Skull Throne, while maintaining the unity of the clans that she and Jardir fought so hard for. Leesha and her companions return to the Hollow where she agonizes over what to do about her coming child, her growing love for Count Thamos, and organizing the gatherers. The Hollow leaders are soon called to Angiers by the royal family. Leesha, to help cure the Duke’s infertility; Gared, to find a wife; and Rojer, to introduce his Krasian wives to the court. Meanwhile, Arlen has a dangerous plan in mind.Get ready for deep intrigues and a lot of politics. This book is fast paced and a quick read, despite its near 700 pages (which includes the ever helpful Krasian dictionary at the end). The characters remain complex, with tough decisions to make and lots of compromises between how they want the world to become versus dealing with how it actually is. I loved the scenes from Ashia’s point of view, getting to know her and the other sharum’ting (female warriors). Their training was interesting, as was the family politics she was thrown into with regards to her marriage. I felt both admiration for her and pity for her situation. Though I started to find Leesha irritating in book 3, here she’s back to the woman I admired in books 1 and 2, only with more responsibilities and harder choices to make. I love Inevera as a character, even though she can be quite horrible at times. This book made me again appreciate her intelligence and drive while pitying her when things start to spiral out of control. Abban’s manipulation of power made him less sympathetic in this book, but his storyline remains intriguing. The interplay between Rojer and his wives is so interesting, especially given their various abilities.Unlike book 3, this one doesn’t end with a cliffhanger, but it will have you cursing the fact that book 5 isn’t out yet. The last hundred pages or so really ramps up the action as all of the political maneuvering comes to fruition in unexpected ways. This series continues to get better and I can’t wait to read what’s going to happen next.

[shabacus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rarely have I read a series that changed so much in tone from its beginnings.The greatest drawback to this book is its drifting focus. It feels like the middle chapter that it is, asking each plotline to please take a step to the right, bringing it towards the inevitable, blood-soaked conclusion.The theme of this book is politics, which occurs both in the Krasian (read, pseudo-Islamic) side, and the Thesan (read, standard medieval European) side. And that's fine... many books have begun in a place of adventure, and become mired in politics as the adventuring parties gain positions of leadership. In those cases, we already have a close connection to the players, and we are as intrigued by the... well, intrigue, as we were the initial adventures.In this case, however, most of the main characters are more passive players in the games of politics. Secondary characters get to have all the fun, and although the core group is affected by the machinations, their actual role in them is slight.Brett's greatest strength is in world-building, but I wish he had applied that skill to both of the major cultures in the story. The Thesan seem bland and uninteresting in comparison to the Krasians, on whom he lavishes considerable voice and detail.I'll be sticking around for the last book in the series, but with nothing of the mystery and wonder that I started with in the first volume, or which drew me on into the second. If Brett can maneuver his characters into a workmanlike conclusion, I'll be satisfied.

[karlstar_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For the 4th book in the series, too much time is spent on politics. I don't care much for the sections of the book that are all about Krasnian politics and it just felt like a lot of filler. By the end of the book, not much was different than the start of the book, so what was the point? 672 pages of not much.

[vinbert-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another stellar round in this series, Brett continues on with his imaginative fantasy. I really didn't see most of this coming, and that is actually quite hard to do. Now, stuck waiting for more.. =sighs=

[stefferoo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m going to be keeping this a spoiler-free review and I won’t be revealing anything that’s not in the book description...because I get it. Even after the crazy cliffhanger Peter V. Brett left us with at the end of The Daylight War, I refused to read the first chapter of The Skull Throne that he’s had on his website for the longest time. Despite my burning curiosity, I was sure I didn’t want to know how anything resolved until I had the full book in my hands.So have things been resolved? My feelings are mixed on this. As the novel’s synopsis states, the duel between Arlen Bales and Ahmann Jardir ended after the two so famously threw themselves off a cliff. The world went from having two Deliverers to none at all and now all the characters in the book are wondering what’s become of the two men. Well, they’re not the only ones. To be honest, I’m wondering the same thing myself! Arlen and Jardir get almost no page-time at all in this latest installment, but I’ll talk more about that later.What we have instead are large parts of the book devoted to the Krasians and the people of Cutter’s Hollow. I saw The Skull Throne as being comprised of three parts. The entire first third is focused on what’s happening in Everam’s Bounty, and once again we have the occasional flashback. Inevera still holds immense power, and yet even her hora dice are unable to tell her the fate of her husband. Now that Jardir is out of the picture, his firstborn son Jayan attempts to seek glory for himself by pillaging his way across the greenlands, and is built up to be the book’s main villain. Abban the khaffit also gets more attention in this sequel by being assigned as his advisor – playing the Tyrion to the sadistic Jayan’s Joffrey, so to speak. Indeed, at least where the Krasian storyline is concerned, I saw a lot of parallels to A Song of Ice and Fire.Then in the second third, we have what’s happening in the Hollow. So while the Krasian storyline might have reminded me of Game of Thrones, the events unfolding with Leesha, Rojer and Co. could only be likened to season of a daytime soap opera. Not that I didn’t fancy myself some Days of Our Lives in the Hollow; daytime serials are massively profitable for a reason, following the melodramatically eventful lives of even the most minor of characters. I’ll be the first to admit that all the scandals and baby daddy drama is surprisingly addictive, and ate up this part of this novel with more enthusiasm than I expected.Still, demon battles can only provide so much action and entertainment, and without them, it’s clear that the Cutter’s Hollow crew can only rely on emotional relationship plot lines that border on sensationalism to keep things interesting. This part of the book was enjoyable, but it did feel like very little of import actually happened in two hundred or so pages, other than to have the folk of Cutter’s Hollow bide their time and for side characters keep up their presence. On the other hand, the Krasians' storyline sees a lot more action. Unfortunately, all of them get on my nerves. I can always seem to predict what they'll say or how they'll act, because even after four books the characters are still little more than stereotypes. This does underscore how very badly this series needs Arlen in it. I did find the lack of the series main character a bit disappointing (I suppose if there’s a bright side to this, it’s that we didn’t get to see much of Renna Bales either – I can’t say I’m her biggest fan). This isn’t the first book in which I feel the Warded Man could have gotten more attention, but nothing could have prepared me for almost not seeing him at all in The Skull Throne. I used to love Arlen’s character, but instead of absence making the heart grow fonder, I’m afraid he’s just lost much of his appeal for me.Anyway, I mentioned earlier that The Skull Throne felt like it had three distinct parts, and it’s the last of these that raised my opinion of the entire book. Arguably, the war with the demons takes a backseat in this installment, with the big battle between the Thesans and the Krasians led by Jardir occupying the center stage. This doesn’t make things any less exciting, however. The big developments came rolling in in the chapters leading up to the conclusion, and the ending had a couple of shocking twists and holy-crap-did-that-really-happen moments that I’m still having trouble coming to grips with.There’s one more book planned for this series so we’re no doubt being set up for something big, but I’m happy to report this one doesn’t end with another rage-inducing cliffhanger. Still, there are many questions left unanswered, not to mention a lot of plot threads as yet unresolved, especially when it comes to Arlen and Jardir. The Skull Throne didn’t quite sweep me off my feet, but I did like it – and nothing’s going to make me miss the next book and the grand finale.

[filialibri-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Diese und weitere Rezensionen findet ihr auf meinem Blog Anima Libri - Buchseele

Peter V. Brett ist nicht wirklich einer meiner Lieblingsautoren. So sehr er mich auch mit den ersten beiden Bänden seines Demon Zyklus begeistern konnte, mit dem dritten Band "Die Flammen der Dämmerung" hat er mich ziemlich enttäuscht und auch wenn Band vier, "Der Thron der Finsternis" mir wieder besser gefallen hat, wirklich begeistern konnte er mich nicht.

Nachdem der ziemlich nervige Cliffhanger des letzten Bandes auf einer handvoll Seiten abgehandelt wird, verschwindet die eigentliche Hauptfigur, Arlen, ebenso wie Jardir, quasi gänzlich aus dem Fokus der Geschichte und taucht erst zum Ende hin wieder auf. Dafür rücken die anderen Figuren in den Vordergrund und mit ihnen erstaunlich viel Drama, das weit weniger an einen Fantasy Roman als an eine Soap Opera erinnert.

Gleichzeitig waren die weiblichen Figuren aber erfreulicherweise deutlich weniger nervtötend als im vorherigen Band, auch wenn sie größtenteils immer noch ziemlich, nun ja, bescheuert sind. Aber sie haben zumindest noch den einen oder anderen zusätzlichen Charakterzug als nur "nervige Schlampe" bekommen, eine eindeutige Verbesserung im Vergleich zu "Die Flammen der Dämmerung".

Ansonsten... Ich hatte das Gefühl, dass nicht so wahnsinnig viel passiert ist. Da die beiden Hauptfiguren weitestgehend aus dem Verkehr gezogen wurden - was man anhand der Inhaltsangabe jetzt nicht unbedingt vermutet hätte -, gibt es hauptsächlich, nun ja, Alltag aus dem Leben der anderen Figuren. Okay, zugegeben, dieser Alltag ist nicht so wahnsinnig alltäglich, immerhin müssen die ja irgendwie mit ihrem Dämonenproblem und den Abwesenden klar kommen - und das äußerst sich weitest gehend in den bereits erwähnten Dramen.

Ehrlich gesagt, fühlte sich "Der Thron der Finsternis" für mich ein bisschen wie ein Lückenfüller an, der die Spannung für den finalen Teil aufbauschen soll. Und auch wenn Peter V. Brett hier bessere Arbeit geleistet hat, als in "Die Flammen der Dämmerung", mit den ersten beiden Teilen, "Das Lied der Dunkelheit" und "Das Flüstern der Nacht", kann dieser Band aber trotzdem bei weitem nicht mithalten.

[schlyne · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Apparently I never got around to writing a review for this when I finished this.

Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the....wait wrong universe.

This one felt like a let down compared to the daylight war. All I want to know at this point is what is going on with Arlen and Ahmann. I got very very little of that in this book.

The spear wives plotline was interesting, but nowhere near as interesting as Inevera's in the last book, because through her and Ahman, you got to know the Krasians, and their entire world and culture.

While we bounced around back and forth between the lead female characters with the ongoing war, it wasn't enough.

[tip44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brett has apparently been hanging out with George R. R. Martin