Two Dudes Review: The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett

 In an effort to be somewhat different, we've decided to start a once a month chatlog review of a book that Darren and I both read. So, without further ado, welcome to Two Dudes Review: The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett    Bryce: So, this is Two Dudes Review. Let's get right to some gripes. One thing that bugged me was the ending, more specifically the character development of Renna. She just flew way too quickly from helpless girl to murderous She Beastie...also, she reminded me of what's her name from Joe Abercrombie's series a little too much. 

 Darren: Yeah, I agree...

  Bryce: You know, tough amazon chick that loves blood...whatever her name was.

  Darren: She has almost zero character development.

2:39 AM Which really is alright, but she's pushed way too fast into the middle of everything.

  Bryce: Or maybe it's that she has almost ten million character development. she grew too fast, and we all know what happens when you do that....you split your pants

  Maybe that's why she had to cut them part way through the book?

  Darren: Fair enough. Fair enough,

2:40 AM But I'm thinking that, (at least it seems this way to me) the author had a much bigger arc planned for her, and just didn't write it.

  Either for time constraints or what have you.

  Bryce: Could well be. Maybe she plays a huge part in the third book and he needed to hurry her along to meet that part.

  Darren: But she goes from farm girl to murdering psycho hose beast in like 3 chapters.

  sorry, Spoilers!

2:41 AM  Bryce: It's all right.

No one reads this blog anyway :P

  Darren: hehehe, fair enough

  we do though!

  i didn't want to spoil it... for... me?

  I dunno, whatever

  Bryce: Yep

  So, favorite part of the book?

2:42 AM  Darren: Gotta be when we got to see Par'Chin from Jardir's point of view.

  How awesome and strange he was

  Bryce: Yeah, it really made him larger than life

  especially to someone that hated outsiders

  Darren: Well, yes and no

  He seemed larger than life to the Krasians

  but we saw him when he was a sniveling farm boy

  so it's an interesting dichotomy for us

2:43 AM  Bryce: ooh, +5 for that word

  Darren: meh, I use that word as often as possible, cause it makes me sound smart

  :)

  Bryce: good call

  For me, it was all about how Brett just dumps a big bucket of gray paint on his first book, which was much more black and white

  Getting to see everything from Jardir's point of view did a lot of that

  Darren: Yeah, and throws in a history book.

2:44 AM Yep

  I agree

  Bryce: So I guess we both have the same favorite part, to an extent

  Darren: Yeah, but at the same time... that's the slowest part of the book

  Bryce: Although Jardir's part was a little slow...

  whoa, mind reading!

  Darren: although... come to think of it, if that wasn't my favorite part, it'd have to be when Arlen was arming the Hollow

2:45 AM cause that's pretty cool

  Bryce: That was pretty cool.

  Darren: it's on the same scale as Perrin arming the Two Rivers in TWoT

  just unexpected and awesome

  Bryce: I liked the fight scene between a certain two unspoilered women.

  Darren: oh yeah!

  yeah, favorite scene all told for me

  it was pretty fun

2:46 AM  Bryce: Any time there's a demon skull and poisoned needles chick fight, I'm in!

  Darren: and possession!

  :)

  Bryce: ooh, very true

  Darren: always a bonus

  Bryce: So, comparing it to the first book, how do they stack up?

  Darren: plus it was two hot chicks, I mean, come on! magical cat fight? where do I buy tickets?

  Bryce: True, True

  Darren: first book is waaaaay better I think

  I like this book, but...

  Bryce: I'd have to agree

2:47 AM  Darren: the first book is just solid

  this one seems a little frayed and glued on the edges

  I think this sets up a good start for a third book, but the first one did that too, so it doesn't have anything over the first one there

  Bryce: My only complaint about the first book was I didn't like seeing the Painted Man become so dark...but the second book showed me he had a heart again, so it's all good. I think that book 3 has the potential to be better the other two.

2:48 AM  Darren: yeah, I agree. I think it has the POTENTIAL... we'll see if it pans out

  I have faith in Mr. Brett's style of writing, but... I was slightly disappointed in the second book

2:49 AM  Bryce: Yeah...it was still good, especially for a young author...but he's gonna have to win me over again with the third book.

  Darren: Although I must admit that I do like the fact that the second book brought Arlen back as a character...

  Bryce: Agreed. That raised its score from me quite a bit.

  Darren: The end of the first book, he was just the random awesome dude that saved everyone.We actually get his perspective again.

  It was nice.

2:50 AM  Bryce: It was totally necessary.

  Darren: Agreed.

  Bryce: If he had left him as superman, I wouldn't have been able to read the next book.

  Darren: well, that depends if he brought in a suitable replacement, which Jardir, for all his interestingness, is not.

  Bryce: If you've got a point of view character, and they're not dead, they'd darned well better continue to be a point of view character down the line. Otherwise, I've wasted time investing emotionally in them.

2:51 AM And that makes me sad in the pants.

  Darren: yeah, there is that... but sometimes that's what the author wants. is a slap in the emotional face so to speak.

  Bryce: A kick in the emotional groin.

  Darren: oh no, we are not degenerating into metaphor...

  hopefully

2:52 AM  Bryce: Maybe that should be the title of this Desert Spear review: A slight kick in the emotional groin.

  Darren: A slight kick in the emotional groin, but more worth it.

  Bryce: An emotional groin kick that comes with a bag of book 3 ice?

  Okay, we're done here.

  Darren: Yeah, done.

2:53 AM calling it...

   Bryce: Called

  Darren: 12:52 is time of death

  That was two dudes reviewing stuff!

  Darren: Thanks!

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett (review by Darren)

Today, we're going to be talking about The Warded Man, by Peter V. Brett. (Caveat: This book contains adult language and adult situations, and does it oh so well.) To give you a preface, it came out a couple years back, and caught everyone's attention because it was written in a very unorthodox fashion: on his Blackberry, while taking public transit to work. Odd, yes. But apparently effective, because his book is quite simply one of the best pieces of fantasy I have read in quite a while. My brother gave it to me to read, and lo and behold, as is always the case, Bryce was right again. It's a fine piece of literature, and I'll tell you why: because it seems real. Does it seem strange to you that I say a fantasy book seems real? Well, then you misunderstand me: magic isn't real, neither are demons, or many other fantasy tropes. But this book makes them seem alive, and if life isn't real, then what are we?

    The characters, mainly Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer, all start this book out very young: we meet Arlen when he's 11, Leesha when she's 13, and Rojer when he's 3. By the end of the book, Rojer is 17, which makes Leesha 27 and Arlen 25. Now that we've done our math, we begin to see a bit of interesting thought: how does he cram 14 years into one book and not make it seem like a history book? It's only barely more than 500 pages, and yet... I don't think there was ever a slow moment. I began reading this last night: I read for about 10 hours total, and am now done, and it's almost one in the morning. I couldn't put it down, and as soon as I finish writing this review, I will begin counting the seconds until I can read the second book, The Desert Spear, which Amazon says will be out on the 13th of April.
   
    The plot, a mixture of twisted fantasy tropes and ingenious new ideas, is basically this: every night, demons come out of the ground, and if you aren't behind some kind of warded shelter, you are dead, because the wards for fighting demons have been lost for... well, for a long time (it doesn't give you exact time frames, which makes sense with the amount of knowledge lost when the demons started destroying things). Seems basic, right? Well, only if you look at it from that perspective. The world is immersive, and the characters are literally alive, making you feel their emotions and see from their eyes, almost like you were playing a virtual reality game, rather than reading a book. I've spent 10 hours with them, and I'm pretty sure I could make full 3d models of them (and I'm no good with 3d modeling).

    It speaks as a testament to the writing prowess of Mr. Brett, that I can say things like that with a straight face, and completely mean them. I am looking forward to, well, anything that he writes from here on out. Please, if you read this, I'd love to be an ARC reader of yours in the future, and best wishes on your career. I give this book a 9.5 out of 10, only docking half a point for a slight plot hangup that I had (why didn't Arlen immediately go back to Cob with the new wards? I think he would have done that, but that's my opinion.) If you can ignore that plot point (and please don't kill me if that spoiled anything for you, I don't think it will) then it gets a 10/10. READ THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY. I command it. That is all.

Changes by Jim Butcher (guest review by Darren Dayton)

    So, this being my first review, I wish to introduce myself. I am Darren, Bryce's younger brother, and we tend to have the same tastes in reading, so I was a natural extension of the reviews on his site.

    Today, we will be talking about Changes, the latest book in the Dresden Files series by author Jim Butcher, and a book (and series) I highly recommend. He has not been mentioned on the site thus far, but it was not due to lack of interest or appreciation, but rather time constraints. His latest (and one of his best in my opinion) books starts out like every other one of his books: an important, yet hilarious beginning scene that introduces well the main conflict of the story, and lends to the entertainment aspect of literature quite well. I am impressed, because this time the beginning was even more of a home-run than previous books, and I wasn't sure that was possible. It is, however, twelve books into the series, so I suggest starting with book one, Storm Front.

    On to the actual review, then, eh?

    The characters as always are completely alive, and to rate the immersion: I sometimes forget I'm reading a book. This book is no different than any of the others in the series... well, not quite. The title, Changes, is quite appropriate, in that we see some changes in characters, and things going in ways we never thought (or hoped, or dreaded) they could go.

    As to the quality of the work, I literally just read it in about 8 hours straight, in one sitting. I have not stopped for food, water, various toiletries; heck, I started reading it while I was at work this morning, and only stopped for the ten minutes it took me to get home. Mr. Butcher puts on an excellent performance, so to speak, and it is masterfully entertaining, while also being involved and absorbing on a level I, as an avid Fantasy fan since close after birth, have seen.

    The characters and plot left me emotionally invested enough that I have not only read 12 books about them, but I literally feel joy and sadness with them, live and die; without any spoilers I tell you that as I sit here writing this, I am still in an emotional stupor over the events at the end of the book, and that just doesn't happen to me folks.

    Quick non-spoiler plot summary:
        Harry, main character and resident wizard in Chicago, has just learned from an old girlfriend that the Red Court of vampires has taken a little girl, and intends to... well, they don't know what yet, but it obviously can't be good. I mean, vampires, right? Someone is destabilizing the power of the White Council of wizards, and Harry also has to try to find out what's going on there before full-on war breaks out anew between the Court and the Council (but that's nothing new, really. Read the last few books.) Anyway, things go wrong in a spectacular fashion, as is usual, and it's up to Harry to stop them from either destroying the world or killing millions of people.

    If that seems generic to you, it's because the plot is so involved I cannot say a single word different without giving things away. Suffice to say, like Robert Jordan, Jim Butcher weaves plot upon plot, twist upon twist, until no reader can say for sure what the outcome will be until the end of the book.

    Overall rating: 10/10.

    Fantastic work, Mr. Butcher, and while I had qualms with almost everything that happened (plot, character changes, building/car demolitions) know that you got a 10 out of 10 because all that points to just how good the writing is, and just how much of a vested interest I had in this book, and the series in general. I hope you continue to keep 'em coming, 'cause I will read them until they nail shut my coffin. Thank you for the wonderful time I had reading this, and I hope all the readers of this review will go out and get started by reading Storm Front, because this series is well worth it.

Great review Darren. I simply want to add that Changes is a very apt title for this particular book. Almost everything that we know about the Dresden Files gets turned on its head, and things are definitely headed in a new direction. I'm confident, though, that future volumes will still be excellent. This is, so far, my MUST BUY book of 2010.

Review: Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter: International is a novel written by Larry Correia. The novel gives us the story of Owen Z. Pitt, an accountant who has the unique opportunity of killing his boss after he turns into a Werewolf and attacks him. Pitt, after recovering from the horrible battle to the death, is recruited by a special group of people who kill monsters, and make quite the living doing it. All this thanks to an excellent program put in place by the government to keep monsters under wraps and under control.

The novel has everything that a good sci-fi/fantasy fan is looking for, plus a little more. If you’re a fan of guns, especially detailed descriptions and accurate usage, look no further. Correia is a self-confessed gun nut, and takes plenty of time to describe each weapon in great detail. The action almost suffers from the point of view of someone who’s not such a gun nut (myself) but I was willing to overlook it for the sheer pleasure of the rest of the text. This story has it all, and all the classic stereotypes are twisted just enough to keep you coming back for more. The pacing is pretty solid, with action that keeps the story moving. It only slowed down where it absolutely had to, which is high praise for a first novel. The characters were believable, and fun, if somewhat predictable. This book isn’t going to blow you away with anything new and extraordinary, but it’s VERY FUN, and sometimes that’s just what I’m in the mood for.

Honestly, apart from the overzealous gun description (my brother and I coined the term “gunsterbation” while reading it on the way down to a writer’s conference) the only truly noticeable flaw in this debut novel is a severe lack of contractions. By the end of the book, I would have given my left arm if Pitt had just said “didn't” one time, instead of “did not.” It’s something minor, but when you’re reading a book, little things like that can throw you completely out of the story. It took me maybe 200 pages before I really stopped noticing it, my brain having switched to autopilot, replacing each “did not” with a much more natural “didn’t” automatically.

Monster Hunter International (8.5/10) doesn’t break much new ground, but it’s a highly enjoyable read. I’m looking forward to Monster Hunter: Vendetta which will be out this fall. Also, make sure to check out Correia’s website, as he has a lot to say and some of it’s very funny.

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. What can I say. I'm busy with my own novel, and I've also become mildly addicted to Diablo II and Torchlight. Such is life. Anyhoo, onto the review.

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb was a surprise for me. It gives, in first person, the early childhood and teenage years of a bastard child fathered by the King in Waiting, Prince Chivalry. When Chivalry learns of his son, he abdicates the throne and leaves the Castle forever. The boy grows up under the watch of Chivalry's right hand man, the stablemaster Burrich. Part way through the book, as is fairly obvious by the title, he begins training to be an assassin.

I had assumed that this book was just another of the smear of books that came out in the 80s with an almost AC/DC level of sameness (if you missed that joke, just listen to their songs. I dare you to tell them apart). Turns out this book was published in the early 90s, which surprised me. Hobb doesn't exactly fall far from the tree when it comes to the basics of her story. Young boy, no parents, raised up for a great destiny, a kingdom at war, nasty royalty, classic love story. It's all there. But I found myself turning page after page, because it was just different enough that it came out quite nicely. In that regard it reminded me of other authors that have flirted with the classic 80s epic fantasy while still giving it a jolt in one area or another. Authors like Rothfuss, John Brown, and others come to mind.

One thing that bothered me a little bit about Assassin's Apprentice were the historical texts at the beginning of each chapter. I understood that they were there to flesh the story out, but I know for a fact that they could scare some readers off. When the first sentence of your book is, "A history of the Six Duchies is of necessity a history is of its ruling family, the Farseers," you're not exactly grabbing my interest, now are you. I tried to get my brother to read this, before I had even started it, and he put it down, saying it started out "way too boring" to hold his attention. That doesn't say good things, since he's a fan of the genre.

Still, Hobb did many things right with Assassin's Apprentice, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a well worn copy of Royal Assassin from the library and digging right in.

Overall Score: 8/10. The book suffers a little in the pacing department, but the story was top notch, and the characters, while somewhat static, were easily recognizable and easy to relate to. It kept me turning pages.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

I must confess that this isn't my first time through this book, it's more like my third. I can't seem to avoid reading this book every year or so, just for the sheer pleasure I get from it. It really is a wonderful book. All right, enough fan boyism, time to get to the actual meat of the review.

The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fantasy book by Scott Lynch. It's part of a series of a planned 7 books called The Gentleman Bastard Sequence. The novel tells the story of Locke Lamora, moving back and forth between his childhood upbringing and his current situation, namely that of a Garrista, a boss of a gang in the city of Camorr. Locke and his group of thieves are planning a massive heist of cash from a rich Don and Dona of Camorr. Robbing nobles is strictly prohibited by the Secret Peace, a sort of don't ask don't tell agreement between the nobility and the Mob boss of Camorr. They devise a clever plan to rid the Don of his wealth while at the same time keeping it secret from the Duke's police as well as the Mob boss. Things take a turn for the worst when Locke and his crew get wrapped up in the revenge of The Grey King, a clever man planning the overthrow of the underworld of Camorr.



The book is a wonderful lesson in giving just enough information that you can have a fully realized world, without spending chapter after chapter describing everything in sight. The city lives and breathes around you as you read. Lynch does get a bit verbose at times, and there were some parts that could have been removed altogether, but overall he does a wonderful job of giving just enough to keep you in the scene while at the same time making the world around you come alive.


If you're a fan of capers (Think Oceans 11) then I highly recommend this book to you. It's got a plot that I love, and shows how clever the writer and the characters are throughout. I also love the dialogue in this book. WARNING: This book does present a somewhat frequent use of the F Word, so if you absolutely can't overlook that, it might spoil the whole thing for you.


The Lies of Locke Lamora (9/10) is one of my favorite fantasy books of all time. The world is great, the characters are wonderful, and you're left heartbroken where you should be and rooting for the protagonist all the time. For a first book, this is very polished. In terms of the overall novel, I would rank this book above The Name of the Wind. Rothfuss manages to be a little bit better storyteller than Lynch, but you honestly couldn't have gone wrong with either in the year they came out, and you still can't go wrong with them now.

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

The Gathering Storm is the first of the final three books of The Wheel of Time. If you're a fan of fantasy, or have ever looked at a bookstore fantasy shelf, you've probably seen at least one of these books. They're incredibly popular, with numerous websites set up entirely to discuss the books. They've inspired many a would-be writer to step up to the keyboard and get their own great adventure out there, and they've generally been well received. With the passing of Robert Jordan (real name James Oliver Rigney) in 2007 the torch was passed to Brandon Sanderson to finish was Mr. Rigney started back in 1990. Though there was initially only one planned final book, after writing and looking at what they had it was decided that it would take at least three books to complete the series and tie up all the loose ends. The Gathering Storm is the first of three final volumes, which all together will be called A Memory of Light.

Due to the length of the series, I think I'll simply stick with my critique of the plot, pacing, etc. of the novel rather than try to give you a synopsis of the series.

First, I absolutely LOVED the pacing of this 12th book. Now, there are two schools of thought on this. Either Brandon Sanderson naturally writes with a quicker pace than Jordan (aka more stuff happens) OR Jordan always had a faster pace in mind for the final volumes. Either way, fans of the series (myself definitely included) seem to have enjoyed this book a great deal simply because "stuff happens." Lots of stuff, things that have been hinted at for years now are finally coming to fruition, and as a reader that's a beautiful thing to see.

My minor gripes about the twelfth book include the fact that Mat Cauthon doesn't seem completely like Mat Cauthon. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually just fine with Brandon Sanderson's depiction of Mat, but it bears mentioning that he's just not quite the same as in previous books. Again, could have been a planned thing by Mr. Jordan, but I doubt it.

Overall, I absolutely LOVED this book. Things are coming together very nicely for a fantastic ending, and since I was already a big fan of Brandon Sanderson, I'm very excited that he's the author that will deliver that ending for us. He's a hell of a writer, and a workhorse when it comes to completing books, so we've really got something to look forward to twice more before Robert Jordan's great work is complete.

Final Score: 9.5/10 Brandon Sanderson took on an incredibly daunting task, and delivered 95% believable characters, 100% wonderful pacing, and a fantastic beginning of the end in one of my favorite series of all time.