The Demon Cycle

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that arise as the sun sets, preying upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind ancient and half-forgotten symbols of power. These wards alone can keep the demons at bay, but legends tell of a Deliverer: a general--some would say prophet--who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. Those times, if they ever existed, are long past. The demons are back, and the return of the Deliverer is just another myth . . . or is it?Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army. He has proclaimed himself Shar'Dama Ka, the Deliverer, and he carries ancient weapons--a spear and a crown--that give credence to his claim. Sworn to follow the path of the first Deliverer, he has come north to bring the scattered city-states of the green lands together in a war against demonkind--whether they like it or not. But the northerners claim their own Deliverer. His name was Arlen, but all know him now as the Warded Man: a dark, forbidding figure whose skin is tattooed with wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. The Warded Man denies that he is the Deliverer, but his actions speak louder than words, for he teaches men and women to face their fears and stand fast against the creatures that have tormented them for centuries.Once the Shar'Dama Ka and the Warded Man were friends, brothers in arms. Now they are fierce adversaries. Caught between them are Renna, a young woman pushed to the edge of human endurance; Leesha, a proud and beautiful healer whose skill in warding surpasses that of the Warded Man himself; and Rojer, a traveling fiddler whose uncanny music can soothe the demons--or stir them into such frenzy that they attack one another. Yet as old allegiances are tested and fresh alliances forged, all are blissfully unaware of the appearance of a new breed of demon, more intelligent--and deadly--than any that have come before.From the Hardcover edition.

On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men, both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all. Arlen Bales denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe.

The stunning debut fantasy novel from author Peter V. Brett.The Painted Man, book one of the Demon trilogy, is a captivating and thrilling fantasy adventure, pulling the reader into a world of demons, darkness and heroes.Voted one of the top ten fantasy novels of 2008 by amazon.co.uk.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 that the magic will see them through another night. As years passed, the distance between each tiny village stretched farther and farther. It seems that nothing can stop or harm the corelings, and nothing can unite the dwindling populations.Born into these isolated hamlets are three children: A Messenger teaches 10-year-old Arlen that it is fear, rather than the demons, which has crippled humanity. When she is only 13 summers old, Leesha's perfect life is destroyed by a simple lie, and she is reduced to gathering herbs for an old woman more fearsome than the demons at night. And young Rojer's life is changed irrevocably when a travelling 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.