Peter V. Brett - The Desert Spear

At the end of "The Warded Man," there are two questions: "what's happening with the Krasians, the people in the southern desert?" and "how will the protagonists mobilize the world to fight demons?" "The Desert Spear" answers both of these questions.

The book starts by describing some Krasian history, shedding light on some of the characters that we learned about in the first book. Their culture is much more foreign than the other cultures we're exposed to in the books, and Brett does a decent job of showing their value system.

I found the story of our heroes from "The Warded Man" much more interesting, though. Leesha becomes a master warder and scientist and runs her town. This opens the door for Brett to discuss more of how magic works as Leesha explores it. She also explores politics and her love life.

Arlen is busy teaching other cities how to fight demons. That provides a means for Brett to have Arlen interact with all of the notable people from his past. Thus, we get to see how Arlen's relationships with them have changed and stayed the same, and we can also see how he grows as a person. Also, despite his antisocial behavior, he still knows how to empathize with people and how to lead them.

By looking at each of those different points of view, along with a few others, Brett shows different reasons why people fight evil and different ways that people lead others. Do they claim glory for themselves, simply choose to serve their charges, or cast glory away in favor of belief in humanity? Do they demand allegiance with an iron fist, assume responsibility, or deny responsibility?

Overall, "The Desert Spear" was a great sequel to "The Warded Man," and I'm looking forward to "The Daylight War"!