Review: The Painted Man

The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ooooh good yes very good!

My favourite part of this book is how it skips the boring bits and goes straight into the action. Sometimes it skips important scenes in favour of talking about the aftermath and I appreciated that, too. I guess I just really love what the author chose to keep and chose to evict.

We have three main protagonists, but the main chunk of the story follows Arlen. Only 11 at the beginning of the story, he shows us the plague of demons that haunt this world and how wards are the only defence against them. The people are ruled by fear, and Arlen learns very quickly that he's not really a fan of that.

There's also Leesha and, later, Rojar. Each has their own story to tell.

I found the story quite fascinating. At first I thought I would be bored if it was just the same kinda thing again and again but somehow it kept my interest and I became so invested. I felt a lot of feelings, and I really loved the characters. Arlen has some real growth and I enjoyed reading about it.

I wanted a little more wilderness adventure, I think, but I can see that wouldn't have really fit the story. I wanted a bigger world, I suppose, but this small one was excellently done so I can't complain about that.

I'm super curious to know more about the demons, and learn more about this world in general. I want epic-ness to start creeping in, I think. Like, this was a fantastic origin story but I'm ready for things to take off and the stakes to get higher. BRING IT ON.

Keen to read the next one soon!

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