Started: September 30, 2023 | October 4, 2023
The Desert Spear
"The Desert Spear" effectively and brilliantly elaborates on the culture of Krasia - a hybrid of Middle Eastern and Spartan cultures - and sets it against the western medieval culture of Thesa, which was the subject of the first book. This focus on Krasia is so good that my expectations are very high for the next phase of the story.
Well, I'm happy to note that "The Desert Spear" is even better than its predecessor "The Warded Man", which I consider to be a good read.
"The Desert Spear" begins with an extended stay in Krasia, focusing on the life story of Jardir. In the tradition of The Wheel of Time's Aiel and Dune's Fremen, the Krasians have a tough, brutal, and, yes, cruel culture, that breeds exceptional fighting men. I have come to loathe Krasian culture and Jardir is definitely more villain than hero to me. But, at the same time the Krasian section of "The Desert Spear" has a lot of strong lessons about toughness in the face of adversity.
The book then transitions to the familiar land of Thesa and old friends like Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer. A welcome surprise is the return of Renna.
It's been some time since I read "The Warded Man" so the "The Desert Spear" had me coming back to the first book to re-read both the Krasian section to give me some backgrounder for the start of this second book. I also re-read the part when Arlen and Jeph sheltered at the Tanner farm to give me some background about Renna.
The last part of the book has the two worlds coming together in the fateful meeting of Jardir and Leesha.
Arlen, the Warded Man, was the superhero of the first book. He is joined here by Jardir, who has formidable skills and powers of his own. I'm anticipating an epic clash between these two in future books.
Peter V. Brett's writing style is straightforward and unadorned and there's never a dull moment in "The Desert Spear". Wonderful plotting and characterization. I also like to mention that I am very happy about Brett's attitude about sexual matters - he's no prude and I for one find this aspect refreshing.