The Warded Man (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]

Written by Peter V. Brett

Narrated by A Full Cast, Nick DePinto, Thomas Penny and 15 more

Mankind has ceded the night to the corelings, demons that rise up out of the ground each day at dusk, killing and destroying at will until dawn, when the sun banishes them back to the Core. As darkness falls, the world's few surviving humans hide behind magical wards, praying the magic can see them through another night. As years pass, the distances between each tiny village seem longer and longer. It seems nothing can harm the corelings, or bring humanity back together.

Born into these isolated hamlets are three children. A Messenger teaches young Arlen that fear, more than the demons, has crippled humanity. Leesha finds her perfect life destroyed by a simple lie and is reduced to gathering herbs for an old woman more fearsome than the demons at night. And Rojer's life is changed forever when a traveling minstrel comes to his town and plays his fiddle.

But these three children all have something in common. They are all stubborn and know that there is more to the world than what they've been told, if only they can risk leaving their safe wards to find it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GraphicAudio
• Release date: Jun 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645417835

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 Warded Man (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]

[signsofapirate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story of Deamons took me a bit to get into and continue to hold my interest but after I found a rhythm and flow to the story I was sucked in! The characters how they are so similar yet different came together which was working to the soul. I enjoyed growing in the development how folks from different parts could convene for a common goal. Thoroughly enjoyed this story!

[msaucier818 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good book! I am very surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this book. The basic story is very clever with the demons that come out at night and humanity's complete fear of them. I like how it takes us from the villages to the cities in what was some fantastic world-building. I also enjoyed the character building and how we get to meet our main characters early in their lives and them jump forward just a bit to when they had come into their own.

The only reasons that this book was not 5 stars is that it did not really have an ending. The story did not build up to the ending, it just keeps moving along. The final chapters were simply the next chapters in what will be a trilogy (or more). I understand that this book sets up a much larger story, but I still would have appreciated the effort to make it stand alone a bit better.

With that said, I still loved it and am looking forward to the next installment.

[madnessabides · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am very happy I received this book through Early Reviewers. Somehow this fantasy series escaped my notice before. That is no longer the case, Peter V. Brett has officially received my notice. Well written and engaging. Well done world building (a particular favorite element of mine when it comes to judging fantasies). I will be reading more from Peter V. Brett in the future, that's for sure... at the very least more books of the demon cycle will be purchased soon.

[litnknit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good original premise for a fantasy. I think the original UK cover and title were better, but this does not detract from what is a solid story with memorable characters and excellent writing. At first it seemed a little slow, but after about 45 pages it really sunk its hooks into me. Looking forward to the sequel.

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

A promising start for a fantasy series. Surprisingly different to other fantasy settings, interesting enough to catch my attention and to keep me reading for hours.

The setting is a post-apocalyptic world, in which demons raise every night to hunt people. The inhabitants of this world protect their homes with magical wards against the demons, but if these signs are broken, they will find a cruel end at the hand of the demons. The population is constantly shrinking and the people wait for the return of the Deliverer, a man who once united humanity against the demons and forced them to withdraw, leading to years of peace. But humans are humans, so they started to turn against each other and gave the demons the opportunity to return...

We meet the three main characters during their youth and witness the deciding moments for their development into active adults, who want to change something, who want to fight back. All characters in this book, not only the main characters, are three-dimensional, detailed persons with strengths and weaknesses, some of them are quite likeable, while I detested others - quite a realistic society under these circumstances.

One last word: although the protagonists start at a very young age, this book is definately adult fantasy with adult topics and some really gruesome scenes.

[tikimoof · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was decent up to the last quarter of the book, at which point I got a little too annoyed with the tortured hero and the gender/sex issues. The world building was interesting, but seemed too simplistic. I found myself disagreeing with the proposed theory of how humanity got into its state. The wards as a theory were interesting, and I liked the different kinds of power, but I think I just want stuff that's "harder," that gets more into the theory rather than handwaving the difficult bits. It didn't seem to fit with the complete willingness to kill off characters.

[jannes_16 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Almost great and refreshing, If it wasn't for the use of some really tiresome tropes that mangles the story by crashing you out of your suspension of disbelief. As it stands, it's an intriguing idea and promising attempt, that leaves you hoping for bettering things to come.

[wishanem · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm at best ambivalent about this book. It reminds me of Brandon Sanderson's Rithmatist, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, Joe Abercrombie's First Law, and George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. Sadly it heavily features things I most disliked from each of those stories. Apparently the series gets better over time, but I don't think I have the patience to check.

The bar for suspension of disbelief is high: People in this Fantasy world don't exhibit enough ingenuity or pragmatism for it to feel real to me. The story's world has lots of details I had to overlook for it to make sense.

But the violence was especially hard to stomach. Not just detailed gore and a casual attitude towards interpersonal violence in a world where monsters appear daily, a-la typical Post-Apocalypia, but also really excessive sexual violence. In a Fantasy world where everyone is already extremely vulnerable all that did to my reading experience was add grimdark gritty "realism", which I hated in a setting where so many other things are so intensely unrealistic.

[ralphd00d-325171 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a great book! I was drawn into the characters from the start and had a hard time putting it down. I am anxious to see what happens in the next book(s) and have already started into the next one greedily.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has a somewhat slow start and I nearly thought I might give up on it at one point, but the worldbuilding drew me in, as well as the character development with Arlen. This world, in which demons rise from the ground each night to destroy anything not protected by powerful wards, is fascinating and I could identify hints of a complex history of the peoples described and suggestions of an epic battle on the distant horizon. Overall, a great start to a series, if one makes it past the first hundred pages.

[antao-3 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I'm mystified by the success of the Brett books. Formulaic in the extreme! A fortiori the 'prelude' chapter, Brett throws us neck deep into the lore, showing off what a thorough world-building job he has done, none of it to become relevant until the act 3 turnaround (of that volume, if you're lucky). Enjoying reading about this character? Guess what, the next chapter will be about somebody else who won't be relevant to the story until a brief mention later in the story or in the next book.The first book was okay, in the sense of if being epic fantasy recast as a post-apocalyptic western with magic coming from tattoos. A bit different to the norm (even if it's more furniture being slightly rearranged than anything else). The second and third books were absolutely woeful. Almost zero plot or character development and a rather disturbing plot trend where male characters were institutionally sexually abused but fought back against it and became badass swordsmen and female characters were sexually abused and became broken and traumatised (apart from one who did become a badass warrior, but only after our main hero had rescued her).I don’t understand how people read crap like this (like I just did - ROTFL!).

[3j0hn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pretty great world and character building with a lot of everyone-powers-up to kick off a series. Exciting for the next one.

[renbedell · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fantasy story about a world terrorized by demons who stalk the night. Villagers all live in fear as they feel there is nothing they can do but make mystical wards to keep the demons at bay. The story follows 3 children as they make their way to adulthood. There is a a good amount of world-building and character development. The story is dark and it is filled with adult themes that may be difficult for some people to read about. The story is a great idea, but poor execution. The book time jumps a lot, which makes it more quickly, but also means there is no build up. There are moments where something important is happening, but you don't find out the significance until afterwards as the narrator explains it. There are side characters that just show up, but happen to have a significant history with a POV character. Overall, decent book but I won't be continuing the series.

[pdcread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is set on an ancient world, a world now gripped by fear, because after dark, the corelings rise. These are elemental demons of wood, rock, fire aid and sand, and they are wanting to kill the fragmented human population.

The people of villages and towns protect themselves with wards, drawings that are marked on surfaces that link together to form a magical barrier stopping the corelings from killing. Any slight error in the ward means that the barrier is compromised, and breaches occur frequently.

Three young survivors of demon attacks, Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer, each with their own fears and hatred of these demons, start to seek their own destinies. Arlen wants to be a messenger, Leesha a healer and Rojer a Jongleur. Their paths are troubled and tortured, and the story takes you on all their ups and downs, but what they each have is a unique talent to fight these horrendous creatures.

As the story reaches its conclusion, they meet and see what each has to offer against the demons. It is a fraught relationship, but sense prevails as they use their unique talents to battle the corelings with the assistance of Leesha's home village.

I thought that the story was well plotted, with the three main characters stories coming together at the right point in the book. Even though it was 500 plus pages, it didn't feel that long, as some fantasy stories can do. It has also been nicely set up for the second in the series, with the three characters starting to form relationships based on their talents.

[montzaleew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Warded Man (Demon Cycle #1) by Peter V. Brett is a terrifying and character driven book that keep me turning pages with reluctant glee! It was like watching a movie with your hand over your face but peaking through your fingers at the tv screen! IThis crazy world could be in a very distant future from ours. At night, different types of demons come out to play but you don't want to be the one they play with.Through certain characters are followed, it all comes together in the end, and now I picked up the next book! Through these characters we learn so much about life in this world and what it takes to live there. There is ward symbols for protection, demons, herb gardeners are the healers, and more! I don't want to say much but I am putting this book on my favorites! Great world building, plot, characters, and suspense. Loved it all!

[kinwolf · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The premise looked interesting, but the execution was not. I found the demon boring, they seemed no better than wild wolves, really. The jumps in years was also badly done. Stopping the series here.

[ceilmary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had listened to this book quite awhile ago. Got tired of waiting for sequels, set aside after Desert Spear. Book was wonderful, BTW....loved the two cultures and the Demon War. But life intervened, and I missed the publication of the last two books in the series. When I looked at the reviews, I realized that I had forgotten a lot of the characters and the plot development, so I re-read it (and Desert Spear). Still a great read. Fast action, good characterization. The world that Brett built is fascinating...I wonder what caused the corelings and if they can be defeated, which is spurring on my interest in future stories.

[malexmave · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this book as an audiobook, and, before I get to the book itself, I need to commend the narrator, Pete Bradbury. He has created an outstanding listening experience for me, and I can only recommend him. I am looking forward to listening to more of his audiobooks.

Now, for the book itself. I will spare you the background story of the book, as you have probably read it in the other reviews. So, let's get to the point.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The three characters are all very interesting, and they all just felt right. I don't really know how to describe it, but they felt very real to me.

The Story was great, there was only one time I was annoyed at the author: The book has a few points where it skips a few years. I completely understand that, but it just feels strange to skip four or five years right to the probably most important moment of the story, and then give that moment an introduction of only one or two pages, it just feels wrong to me. I would have preferred a few more pages leading up to that moment, to build tension, instead of jumping right into it.

But overall, I really enjoyed the book, and I would recommend it. And now excuse me, I need to start listening to "the desert spear".

UPDATE, not related to the Book itself: Peter V Brett is awesome. I just received my Bookplates from him, signed and personalized, completely free and sent from america to europe. I have not seen any other author do something like that. Thanks, Peter ;-).

[griffin22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I re-read this in preparation for books four and five in the series, which I own but haven’t got to yet. It was just as exciting the second time. Great characters and world building. Although I wonder how any non-domesticated animals survive!

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite fantasy stories in a long time. Brought something new and epic to the genre. Never lost sight of the characters. Couldn't put it down.

[lauriegienapp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

debated whether to do 4 stars or 5...went with 4. the beginning of the book was very very slow.... but something about it kept me from returning it to the library, and kept me coming back to it, for more. After the first 3rd, it picked up, and clearly the last half of the book was excellent! well done!!
Very glad I stuck it out, and now I'm off to see if Brett has written Demon Cycle, #2.

[kgodey_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Warded Man is the first in a planned five book fantasy series, The Demon Cycle, of which only two are out. It's set in a world where there are demons called corelings that come out at night to destroy and plunder human civilisation. The only things that keep them away are wards - writings of power. If a ward is improperly set or happens to rub off, the demons break through immediately.We follow three characters - Arlen, Leesha and Rojer, from various points in their childhood to maturity. They have very different lives, but they all eventually embark on a journey.The world is pretty interesting - the frequent coreling attacks have reduced humans from a state of advanced technology to the dark ages. There are small hamlets everywhere, but also a few Free Cities, all with very different cultures. Very few people travel, since it's hard to ward yourself when you're not in a shelter.This book had too much incidental sex-related plots for my taste - almost every encounter between a man and a woman has some sexual overtones, no matter what their ages or age differences are. Leesha is so beautiful that every man who looks at her wants to rape her (except the good guys, who are just attracted to her.) There's a lot of incest, rape and general lasciviousness. I know that A Song of Ice and Fire is currently quite popular, but I'm not really a fan of such gritty stories.Aside from that, the book is pretty decent. The world is the most interesting part, I really liked reading about the history. There are a bunch of likable characters, although no one stands out as particularly special. I found most of them to be extreme in one way or another.I'm going to give the next book, The Desert Spear, a shot, but I'm not that excited. Hopefully I'm proven wrong.

[elysianfield_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars

In Arlen's world there is demons, or corelings as they're called, who rises from the ground when the darkness falls. People try to protect their homes with wards and hoping the wards hold during the night.

Arlen lives with his parents at a small village when the village is attacked by the demons. When his mother is severly wounded and his father stays behind the safety of the wards watching, Arlen starts to wonder why people won't fight back and thinks that there must be some way to fight.
Arlen is disappointed in his father's cowardice and leaves his home to discover a way to learn to fight.

The book is also told from Leesha's and Rojer's point of view. Leesha becomes a herb gatherer, healer, and Rojer becomes jongleur after his village is attacked.

We get to know Arlen from young age and see him grow to a very determined, or obsessed, man. Fighting corelings becomes his whole life whic borders on obsession. He loathes his father and the people who are too afraid to fight but I could understand why they were afraid. Sometimes I wished he had just little more understanding with those.

I liked Leesha who was smart and had courage but why must every man want to bed her? And the romance part just came out of the blue. And I just don't believe someone recovers from rape that soon and then soon after has sex in the mud with near complete stranger.

But I did enjoy the book and it left me wondering what happens next. I'm definitely reading the next book!

[mainrun · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was recommended via LibraryThing. It was one of the better ones it has suggested so far. There were a couple things I wasn't crazy about. How women were treated was a bit over the top. At the end of the book, a new language was introduced. It seemed forced and not needed as the story was going well without it. This is the first book for this author and it does impress me - very readable and cool plot / ideas. This is one of a five book series and I plan on reading the rest of them.

[sarah_buckley-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book from start to finish. After my kindle suffered from a slight case of water related death, I had to look to my (large) selection of TBR books next to my bed. This is the one that intrigued me the most.

Ahem...."As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise--demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards--symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile. It was not always this way. Once, men and women battled the corelings on equal terms, but those days are gone. Night by night the demons grow stronger, while human members dwindle under their relentless assault. Now, with hope for the future fading, three young survivors of vicious demon attacks will dare the impossible, stepping beyond the crumbling safety of the wards to risk everything in a desperate quest to regain the secrets of the past. Together, they will stand against the night."

I love the idea of demons who rise at night and attack anyone foolish enough to hang around out there. It is such a cool, terrifying idea. And indeed the attacks are creepy and terrifying. The author, Peter Brett, does a great job of describing the attacks and the after effects of them. The world is nicely realised and feels lived in.

I was unaware when I started this book that it was part of an ongoing series, but I really look forward to reading the other books in the series!

[longdogmom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book! Could not stop reading!! In a world where demons rise at sunset to attack the humans who only have old wards carved and painted to create barriers to protect them, a boy watches his mother die and see a better way than hiding behind such protections. The story of Arlen Bales as he grows from a young boy into a man is a fascinating one. The people he meets along the way, the demons he faces and destroys, the fighter and man he becomes. Highly recommended!

[altheaann · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The beginning of a series that's already up to 4 giant novels and 4 shorter entries. I kept hearing good things about it, so decided to check it out.

Well... it's a start. A slow start, however.
The largest part of the book really moved too slowly for me, as it shows us three young people who are bored of life in their small, backward, restrictive towns.

Admittedly, I guess the point is that their lives are restricted and boring... but it got to the point where reading about them was boring, too. And oh, the stereotypes.

The reason that life is so very restrictive and boring here is that, for the last few hundred years, a plague of bloodthirsty demons comes out every night. Anyone caught outside a warded area will be quickly and viciously killed. Whenever it's dark, both the residents of rural villages and the inhabitants of walled cities huddle inside buildings protected by the magical symbols drawn or carved into their boundaries.
It's a war that people are losing, too, by a slow, drawn-out process of attrition.

Understandably, travel is avoided. Villages communicate mainly through traveling duos of Messenger and Jongleur who facilitate news, trade and entertainment. It's a glamorous job, but a dangerous one.

One of the aforementioned bored young people, Arlen, wants nothing more than to be a Messenger. He's got a talent for drawing Wards, and when his family situation goes south, he runs off to try to pursue his dream.

Meanwhile, orphaned Rojer is taken in by a Jongleur and brought to one of the walled cities. While grieving his family, he also learns the trade - and discovers a special talent for the fiddle.

Leesha also has a horrible family situation. An unloving mother and a thuggish fiance cause her to end up with her reputation destroyed. However, she finds new direction in life when she apprentices to the local Herb Gatherer and begins to learn healing arts.

It's not really a surprise to find that eventually, these three stories might merge and, in that convergence, turn out to have something to do with fighting the demons...

It takes a while to get there though, and, as I said, there are just so many stereotypes along the way. The backwards villages with sexist attitudes and uneducated inhabitants are utterly familiar. The walled cities with craftspeople, apprentices, public performers, &c also seem right out of any number of fantasy novels. Then of course, there's the OTHER walled city a few days' ride away that's inexplicably inhabited by a Middle Eastern culture full of every trope about the Middle East you could pull out of a hat. Of course, the countryside is dotted with ancient ruins full of the forgotten Knowledge of the Elders. And that's not even touching on the archetypical behavior that the individual characters exhibit.

I also had a couple of basic logical issues with the setup. First, if the demon plague has been the situation for as long as the narrative says, people would've learned to deal with it a lot better. You just WOULDN'T go running outside your wards after a stray animal, for example. Not doing that would've been beaten into every single person from babyhood. It would be unthinkable.
Second, the concept of painting or tattooing wards on your person just isn't an unthinkable idea. You'd think nearly everyone would've thought to try it. And once one person figured it out and tales started spreading about the Warded Man painted or tattooed with protective symbols - you'd think that tattoos would very quickly become the hottest new trend for everyone.

However, if you're OK with the familiar... the book isn't terrible. The pace does eventually pick up, and ends with a big ol' climactic action scene. Having just finished it... I do have these criticisms, and I think they're valid... but I have hope that it might get better as it goes on. I may just go on to the next book in the series and find out what's happening next.

[narilka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Each night corelings rise, demons from the underworld with supernatural powers and a hatred of human kind. It has been so for hundreds of years with humans slowly losing the battle of attrition with the demons even as they hide behind the relative safety of their wards. In the small hamlet of Tibbet's Brook young Arlen watches helplessly as his mother is torn apart by demons while his father does nothing. In Cutter's Hollow Leesha has been promised to the handsomest boy in the village. When the village begins to recover after a particularly vicious coreling attack Leesha comes to realize there may be more to the world than marrying a man and making his babies. In Riverbridge young Rojer helps his family run the inn. During a coreling attack that wipes out half the town, Rojer's family sacrifices themselves so their young son may live. With hope for mankind's future fading, the three survivors will attempt the impossible, going beyond the safety of the wards in a quest to gain knowledge so humans can make a stand against the night.The Warded Man is the first book in the Demon Cycle. Brett does a great job of giving just enough world building without bogging the story down. Both magic and science have had their turns in history and it feels like humanity has entered a new, possibly final, dark ages where old knowledge needs to be rediscovered. The various demon types are described to make each unique and still leaving them a little mysterious. The pacing of the story is near perfect. The pages flew by.Each character is introduced in a way that builds upon what we already know of the world and doesn't distract from the others. They all have flaws. Arlen is angry and that anger gets the better of him at times. Leesha is headstrong and willful. Rojer is insecure. It's these flaws that make them feel real, giving them challenges to overcome and lets them grow. Each character is also likeable. I was cheering all three of them on the whole way.It's a great start to a series and definitely worth a read.

[apatt_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I didn't expect to like this book all that much, it seems to be too easy to read for its own good. I usually like to struggle a little bit to come to terms with a book so that I feel like a solid relationship has been formed. Books which are easy to read from page one where no effort is needed to understand the settings or the characters tend to be quickly forgettable. Fortunately not the case with this book. The protagonist (Arlen) becomes more complex and interesting as the books goes on. The "magic system" is not wildly original but quite interestingly employed. What is perhaps missing is an intimidating main nemesis (Boss Monster in games term) though not having a Dark Lord is a nice change. The book is not free of fantasy tropes and cliches though. A scene near the end even reminds me of the movie Braveheart. Still, at the end of the day this is a very entertaining and often gripping fantasy novel. I have already bought book #2 "The Desert Spear".

[kat_woman38 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The beginning of The Demon Cycle, this book gives the background of Arlen Bales, a man living in a time where demons roam the earth as soon as the sun goes down. People have forgotten how to fight, and Arlen wants nothing more than to remember, and to teach others to fight, as well.