The Warded Man

By: Peter V. Brett

Narrated by: Pete Bradbury

Peter V. Brett has won accolades from critics, fans and fellow authors alike for this riveting debut novel. The Warded Man features a world where demons stalk the night, hunting humans who have long forgotten the magic of their ancestors. But all is not lost, as some hold out hope that a savior will release humanity from the demons' terrifying reign.©2009 Peter V. Brett (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Brilliant, with action and suspense all the way." (Best-selling author, Terry Brooks)

refreshing fantasy for a non-fantasy reader

Any additional comments?

i usually don't read/listen to a lot of epic fantasy, but this book has kind of changed my mind. i tend to gravitate to quick, action packed books, but those stories usually have one dimensional characters. so...looking for a change of pace, i searched for a highly rated book and ended up choosing this one. and boy did i hit the lottery!

at first, i regretted my decision b/c i thought, "oh, here we go again! another slow epic fantasy story." i had a slow weekend so i decided to stay with, and i am so glad b/c i was totally rewarded. before it ended, i had already downloaded the 2nd book, the desert spear.

the story opens with arlen who lives in a small town. life is hard. days are full of hard labor, but nights are worse. when te sun goes down, the corelings (demons) arise tormenting, killing, and eating anyone caught outside. the only protection comes from wards. people ave to draw/carve wards on their houses to create a barrier to kkeep the demons out. the humans are reduced to hiding behind their wards b/c regular weapons can't hurt the demons. so every night, arlen has to hide with his family as the fire, wood, and rock demons stalk their houses looking for holes in the wards.

the only excitement is when messengers and joglers come through towns. messengers bravely travel the roads delivering news, letters, and goods. joglers provide entertainment by dancing, telling stories, playing music, etc...

arlen's mom gets trapped outside as the sun goes down and ries to rescue her. arlen's father is too scared to help arlen, and arlen's mother is killed by a fire demon. arlen is disgusted by his father's cowardice and decides to run away. he tries to catch up to the messenger that just left his town but darkness falls before he can. he survives by drawing wards in the dirt. so starts arlen's story as he heads to the big city to learn how to become a messenger.

there are two other character's wwhose stories also get told. leesha and rojer. leesha and rojer also live in small towns. rojer's family is killed when their wards fail. only him and the drunk jongler survive. so, the jongler takes rojer with him to the city and raisres him. leesha is a young girl who is expected to be married and start having kids. people are constantly getting killed so girls are expected to marry and start having kids as soon as they have their period. yes, life is bleak. people hope the deliverer will return to show them how to fight against the corelings.

the first few hours are kind of slow, building the world and introducing the characters. after the initial stories are set up, the story seems to move faster as we see the characters start to develop. these 3 characters walk different paths, but my excitement keep building, waiting for their paths to cross. by that time, i was totally engrossed and had already downloaded book 2.

wow...what a ride! i enjoyed listening to the characters grow from being powerless, rejected, and dejected into confident, respected, and hopeful people determined to fight for their place in the world and willing to their fight the corelings.

definitely give this a try! hang in there, and you'll be rewarded with a great story.

Outstanding

Without question, one of the finest and most original books I have ever read.

This book was purchased on a whim and now I cannot wait until the next book. The originality of the world and the Corelings, as well as the marvelous character development make this a must read for anyone who enjoys Steven King et al.

This is more than a good ride!

This book is a great beginning for a great trip. It is and exhibit of skillful writing and engaging social dynamcs. The foundations for the story are carefully set out.. patiently and with a careful consistency. Pete Bradbury is so perfect in these tales.
It all works together. Enjoy!

An Infernally Interesting World

This story starts out with a bang. From the beginning, I was actually emotionally effected by what I was hearing - something which is truly rare in most stories. I often found myself, fist clenched, angry at the injustices of this world. Brett does something extremely savvy and complex as a writer, although the demons of this world are the creatures who must be fought, the true monsters, and the worst injustices are brought about by the humans who inhabit it. The story starts strong, runs strong, and then takes an odd leap in the desert. It's as if an editor arbitrarily swiped out several chapters - and then it regains its footing for a solid ending. If it ended as strongly as it began, it would be brilliant, but despite its stumbles, it's still an intriguing world, and a very fun cast of characters. (And I'm a picky reader.)

Slow Burn...Love It!

How do we get kick-ass damaged characters with fire in their blood doing epic things to save the world?

We back it up...WAY up, and show us how they got there...the moments large and small that built them into the tortured heroes we want to root for.

And if not for having gone along on the journey of their becoming, if we’d simply been presented with epic characters, their hurts and loves and powers would be unbelievable even as we seek out tales of such.

The Warded Man takes a long road to get awesome, while managing to be great all along the way.

A Must Listen for Fantasy Fans!!

The narrator of this story speaks very slowly so I always played the book at 1.5 speed.

light, heavy. good stuff.

a fantastic read ( listen ).

I found the story to be engaging from the first few lines. It sets a light and easy going pace that was extremely enjoyable and foretold little of how heavy the content truly is.


The reader has a voice that I can I let describe as solid amd clear. Perfectly dirty for this tale.

I definitely recommend listening to this book.

loved the graphic audio version better

I have listened to the graphic audio version and decided to listen to this one thinking that maybe they had edited some parts out, but as far as I could tell they kept true to the source. One thing that stood out is that there are some background noises that off-putting at times.(like throat/nose farts)

A good beginning

As the first book of a fantasy series, I enjoyed the blend of action with character development. Although the book spends a great deal of time on the development of the group of protagonists, the characters and their stories are well crafted. The pacing of the book suffers at times because of long pauses in the narration/editing.

Original, Entertaining, Captivating

Reasons I loved this book:

- Completely free of any Tolkien cliches
- Has real characters who are motivated by personal desires
- Unique magic system unlike any other fantasy novel I've read

Personally, I like fantasy books where the characters use their brains to solve problems rather than drawing on some innate, unseen, limitless power. Thats what I like about this book. When there's nowhere left to turn and your protagonist is backed in to a corner, they have to figure it out on their own, rather than just going super sayan and drawing on some magic power to win the fight (looking at you Robert Jordan).

If you like the Kingkiller Chronicles you will definitely like this book!