History Literature / TheWardedMan

* BadassGrandpa - Damaji Alverak is introduced as a thin, light, ancient man with a massive beard. Then he almost beats Jardir in unarmed single combat. Later [[spoiler: he is the only Damaji to kill his challenger in Asome's coup.]] After spending a night beating demons to death with his bare hand. While having only one arm.

* OneGenderRace: Corelings. [[spoiler: Ordinary corelings are all neuter. Mind demons are all male. Coreling queens are [[CaptainObvious always female]], though its unknown if more than one of those exists at a time]].

** There are hints that [[spoiler: they both could be]]. Especially since [[spoiler: the title of Deliverer is later suggested to refer to anyone who organizes the fight against demons, rather than one single figure]].

* StrawMisogynist - Nearly all Krasians. [[spoiler: By the third book, their society has begun to grow somewhat more progressive after Jardir decides he can't just throw away willing warriors because of their gender. In the fourth and fifth, the sheer badassness of Ashia and her spear sisters convinces them even further]].

* SquishyWizard: [[spoiler: The mind demons aren't all that tough physically. Unfortunately, they have vast PsychicPowers, knowledge of magic to put any human to shame, and the ability to call up any kind of Coreling they want]].

** For a few chapters that follow Renna's story, but for which she's indisposed, her sister Ilain (a crib) and Jeph Bales (a sheaf of wheat) take over

** Ashia: crossed spears

Later books in the series follow a two-part structure: the first part of each sequel takes a character already introduced in the series, and provides their backstory (adding them to the list of POV characters). The second part continues the greater story from where it left off. Sometimes these two portions are interwoven--pay attention to the years!

The series as a whole is now complete and made up of 5 books:
* ''The Warded Man'' (published 2008 in the UK, 2009 elsewhere) - tells Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer's stories
* ''The Desert Spear'' (April 2010) - tells Jardir's backstory before continuing
* ''The Daylight War'' (February 2013) - tells Inevera's backstory before continuing
* ''The Skull Throne'' (March 2015) - tells Ashia's backstory before continuing

* BadassGrandpa - Damaji Alverak is introduced as a thin, light, ancient man with a massive beard. Then he almost beats Jardir in unarmed single combat. Later [[spoiler: he is the only Damaji to kill his challenger in Ansomes coup.]] After spending a night beating demons to death with this bare hand. While having only one arm.
* BadassGay - Asome and Asukaji, as well as several minor characters.

* BareFistedMonk: Krasian ''dama'' and ''dama'ting'' (male and female clerics, respectively) are forbidden to use weapons. Since they're the clergy of a ProudWarriorRace they don't let this stop them, and are extremely skilled at unarmed martial arts.

* Hermaphrodite - [[spoiler: Leesha and Jardir's child is born with two complete sets of external genitalia. Leesha suspects this is result of overuse of magic while pregnant. After Amanvah foretells the child's future, they decide to raise her as a girl because it will keep the child safer.]]

* AnyoneCanDie - if you're a parent or mentor to the main characters, your prospects are bleak, especially in book one. After that, PlotArmor kicks in for a while, but then it falls off hard in book four, taking out [[spoiler: Count Thamos]] and [[spoiler: Rojer]].

* Intersex - [[spoiler: Leesha and Jardir's child is born with two complete sets of external genitalia. Leesha suspects this is result of overuse of magic while pregnant. After Amanvah foretells the child's future, they decide to raise her as a girl because it will keep the child safer.]]

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming - The chapter names are typical, but the headings for each chapter feature different images to denote which character the chapter follows, and when the stories begin to intertwine, they appear together. Some chapters get quite crowded.

* FantasticMetals: Minor example, but electrum becomes very important in later books due to being the only thing that can perfectly conduct magic.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Krasia is clearly based on Arabic/Islamic culture, including requiring that woman wear heavy concealing clothing, but with a good dose of ancient Sparta thrown in. The Thesan duchies have a more clearly medieval European feel to them.

* EunuchsAreEvil: The eunuchs who serve the dama'ting are antiheroic at best, considering Inevera has command of them. [[spoiler: Hasik]] qualifies once Abban gets control of a host of warriors. Enkido is a subversion for the sharum'ting who consider him like a father.

* AbusiveParents: Leesha's mom (physical and emotional abuse), and Harl Tanner (sexual abuse)
* ActionGirl - Wonda [[spoiler: and Renna]]. Also, Ashia, Shanvah and [[spoiler: Sikvah]] who are arguably the most skilled nonmagic-enhanced combatans in the entire series.

* AntiVillain: Jardir, when left to his own devices [[spoiler: rather than trying to fulfil Inevera's prophecies]] is generally a Type III. He's very determined to save the world from the corelings, and decent enough company if you hold to his warrior's ideas- and Everam help you if he thinks you're in his way.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology / AnatomicallyImpossibleSex: in the third book, eunuch pleasure slaves exist among the Krasians: men who have had their testicles cut off, but are still capable of normal arousal and other sexual responses.

* BattleCouple: [[spoiler: Arlen and Renna]].
* BerserkButton: Nearly every character has one of these.

* BigBad: The Coreling Queen is ultimately responsible for the demons' actions, and killing her to end the threat is Arlen and Jardir's ultimate goal in the final book. However, she's [[TheGhost almost always off-page]], so [[TheDragon Alagai Ka/The Consort]], the most powerful of the mind demons, serves as TheHeavy.
* BloodBrothers: Jardir and Arlen are described as being blood brother by one character.

* TheConsigliere: Abban for Jardir.

* DemonLordsAndArchDevils: The mind demons. [[spoiler: And the Queen whom they serve.]]
* DepopulationBomb: The resurgence of demons 300 years before the story starts acted as one for humans, and they've been struggling to maintain numbers ever since. It forms a justification for some DeliberateValuesDissonance, particularly in regards to the misogynistic, polygamous culture of Krasia.

* DisneyVillainDeath: Played with. At the end of book three, [[spoiler: Jardir goes over a cliff and definitely hits bottom.]] Then the book ends right there, leaving the outcome of this unknown. The next book reveals [[spoiler: he survived.]]

* FunctionalMagic: Corelings draw their magic from the earth, which can be used for specific abilities [[spoiler: or a wide range of them in the mind demons' case]]. Wards are special symbols that can be used by humans to leach demon magic from them and turn it against them. Initially we only see wards that are purely defensive, designed to repel demons, but wards that do a variety of other things are (re-)discovered over the course of the series. Eventually the main characters are able to use ward magic for everything from strengthening glass to healing otherwise mortal wounds. Demon bone stores residual magic, and when properly warded it can be used in unusual ways, such as Inevera's future-predicting dice and other implements of magic. [[spoiler: The third book shows that mind demons can also use wards when they want to channel their power more precisely or wield it on a grander scale than is normally possible]].
* GeniusBruiser: Arlen and Jardir are probably the two greatest warriors alive, but both men are also highly educated and quite well-read. This also applies to both the dama and dama'ting as a whole. They are, by virtue of their training, both highly educated in a wide range of subjects and capable of killing in the blink of an eye with their bare hands.

* GlassCannon: Flame demons can breathe fire, which lets them pack quite a wallop, but the actual demon is only about the size of a dog and not physically all that powerful, making them one of the easiest corelings to deal with at close range. This also applies to the minds, who, despite their magical powers and intelligence are rather fragile in close combat.

* KeystoneArmy - The Krasians are the strongest human army in the world, but their BloodKnight tendencies cause clan to hate clan and individual to hate individual, often in pointless CycleOfRevenge situations caused by people [[RevengeBeforeReason holding their personal egos above the laws or the needs of the war]]. Only Jardir's status as Shar'Dama Ka holds them together. [[spoiler: Once Arlen separates him from his people, they turn against each other over the course of a few months.]]

** In Krasia, girls are tested for fertility at nine years old. Girls who are barren are outcasts, forced to wear tan in shame like children and non-warrior men for the rest of their lives.

* MyNaymeIs - Lots of unconventional spellings: Arrick, Rojer, Erny, Wonda, Benn...

* [[OneSteveLimit OneSteaveLimit]]: Averted - there are sure a lot of female characters whose name is a variation on "Mary," but played with in that no two are spelled the same. There are also several examples of DeadGuyJunior, and of sons named after their fathers.

* TrainingFromHell - Jardir's (and supposedly all Krasian boys') experience from ''sharaj'' (training area). During his training they are abused, bullied and even raped by both Masters and older trainees, have to fight for food, are encouraged to fight against each other and are allowed to see their families only once a month.

** Inevera, grudingly, begins to think of Leesha this way after the climax of The Desert Spear. Later her Dice outright discribe her as her zahven.

* FunctionalMagic: Corelings draw their magic from the earth, which can be used for specific abilities [[spoiler: or a wide range of them in the mind demons' case]]. Wards are special symbols that can be used by humans to leach demon magic from them and turn it against them. Initially we only see wards that are purely defensive, but ones that do a variety of other things are discovered over the course of the series. Demon bone holds residual magic, and when properly warded it can be used in unusual ways, such as Inevera's future-predicting dice and other implements of magic. [[spoiler: The third book shows that mind demons can also use wards when they want to channel their power more precisely or wield it on a grander scale than is normally possible]].

** Eventhough she is much less fixated on honor and more pragmatic in her ruthlessness, Inevera counts too.

** Which is actually possible for men castrated after puberty ( especially if aided by medication as indicated in the book)

* TheDragon - In the second book, Arlen, Jardir and the two mind demons each have one.

* KeystoneArmy - The Krasians are the strongest human army in the world, but their BloodKnight tendencies cause clan to hate clan and individual to hate individual, often in pointless CycleOfRevenge situations caused by people [[RevengeBeforeReason holding their personal egos above the laws or the needs of the war]]. Only Jardir's status as Shar Dama'Ka holds them together. [[spoiler: Once Arlen separates him from his people, they turn against each other over the course of a few months.]]

* MaritalRapeLicense: Common in Krasia, where wives literally swear to be obedient to their husbands.
* MassivelyNumberedSiblings: Jardir's fourteen wives have borne him fifty-two sons and at least eighteen daughters. Only a handful of them (his oldest sons, mainly) actually make non-trivial appearances.

* MessianicArchetype - The Deliverer. The second novel sets to set up a conflict over exactly who the Deliverer actually is. [[spoiler: Jardir betrayed Arlen in the first novel, because his manipulative wife has been grooming him to be the Deliverer, takes control of Krasia. As the descendant of the first Deliverer, everything points to his being the right man. The people of Deliverer's Hollow believe that Arlen is the Deliverer, because he taught them how to fight and brought the offensive wards. The nobility is less than enthused about allowing Arlen to call himself the Deliverer because it cuts into their power base. For his part, Arlen doesn't care and flat out tells people he's not the Deliverer; no one listens.]]
** There are hints that [[spoiler: they both could be]].
*** Especially since [[spoiler: the Deliverer is suggested to be more of a general than a Messiah]].

* OneSteveLimit: Averted - there are sure a lot of female characters whose name is a variation on "Mary".

** In Krasia, the ''dama'ting'' (female clerics) are instructed in "the art of pillow dancing".

* WorthyOpponent: Jardir and Arlen. Their relationship is described using the Krasian word ''zhaven'', which depending on context can mean "brother" or "nemesis", or both at the same time.

* UnusualChapterTitles - The titles are typical, but the headings for each chapter feature different images to denote which character the chapter follows, and when the stories begin to intertwine, they appear together.
** Arlen/The Warded Man: a tattooed palm
** Leesha: a mortar and pestle
** Rojer: a fiddle
** Jardir: the Spear of Kaji
** Renna: her father's knife
** For a few chapters that follow Renna's story, but for which she's indisposed, Jeph Bales (a sheaf of wheat) and her sister Ilain (a crib) take over
** Inevera: a set of ''alagai hora'' (dice)
** the [[spoiler: mind demons]] appear as themselves

Later books in the series follow a two-part structure: the first part of each sequel takes a character already introduced in the series, and provides their backstory (adding them to the list of POV characters). The second part continues the greater story from where it left off.

* UnusualChapterTitles - The titles are typical, but the headings for each chapter feature different images to denote which character the chapter follows, and when the stories begin to intertwine, they appear together. See the [[Characters/TheWardedMan character page]] for a guide.

* AdvancedAncientAcropolis - Anoch Sun, buried beneath the sands, is location of Kaji's (The First Deliver) tomb, crown, and spear.

* BadassGay - Ansome and Asukaji, as well as several minor characters. Justified in that Krasia is the only culture to somewhat accept same sex relationships between men, while at the same time being [[ProudWarriorRace a proud warrior culture]].
* BareFistedMonk: Krasian ''dama'' and ''dama'ting'' (male and female clerics respectively) are forbidden to use weapons. Since they're the clergy of a ProudWarriorRace they don't let this stop them, and are extremely skilled at unarmed martial arts.

* CrapsackWorld - The two people with the power to fight the demons are a borderline AntiHero and an out-an-out villain. The villain is the one the demons are truly afraid of.

* DeadGuyJunior - Arlen discovers a lot of this when touring Thesa as the Warded Man. [[spoiler:Jeph and his second wife Ilain]] have had two more children who they named Silvy and Cholie after characters who died in the first book. Subverted by [[spoiler:Ragen and Elissa]], who named their son after Arlen when he was assumed dead by the Messenger's Guild after abandoning his former name and profession.

** Also the one-handed rock demon from The Warded Man. It followed Arlen to the Free City where he was apprenticing, emerging each night outside the walls to walk around the fortifications and test the multi-layered, impenetrable wards over and over again. Every night. For nearly one and a half years. And in the end [[OhCrap it actually succeeds!]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Maybe. At the end of book three, Jardir goes over a cliff and definitely hits bottom- but as the book ends right there, it's unclear at this point if he was killed or only seriously injured]].
** [[spoiler: Averted. The extract from The Skull Throne posted on Peter V. Brett's website confirms Jardir survived.]]

** This may be applied to the Dama as a whole, who are an order of priests trained in lethal [[BareFistedMonk martial arts]]. [[spoiler: and then they steal the secrets of demon bone magic from the Dama'ting]]
* EngagementChallenge - Leesha gives one to Jardir that he fails miserably after he demands she wed her because [[spoiler:she's carrying his child]] - to name the birthdates of all the children he's already got (All seventy of them) from his earlier wives.

* FirstGirlWins - [[spoiler: As of the end of the second book, it's not Leesha who finally captures Arlen's heart. As part of Arlen dealing with his past, he goes back to the place of his brith and ends up saving [[ArrangedMarriage Renna]]. They end up renewing their ChildhoodMarriagePromise. Oddly enough Arlen's dad is married to, and has children by, her older sister.]]
** I think this is the only [[spoiler:FirstGirlWins ChekhovsGun]] ever written.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters - The Warded Man, big time. To the extent that he frightens most people who meet him and he questions whether or not he's human any longer. In the end [[spoiler: he begins to get better... maybe]]
** The Krasians devote their entire society to waging war on the corelings. Consequently everyone but warriors and priests are treated as sub-human. [[spoiler: By the end of the series, they too start to get better]]

** At the same time we learn that unlike most of her contemporaries she is motivated not by a lust for power and politics but by a deep desire to save her people and all of humanity from what she sees as ( and in Krasia's case probably is) a slow, certain destruction. In the end she is every bit the Anti-villain/Knight-Templar Jardir is.

** In Krasia, girls are tested for fertility when they come of age. If the dama'ting don't see baby-making in a girl's future, her outlook is pretty bleak.

* RapeAsDrama - [[spoiler: Leesha]] , [[spoiler: Jardir]] , [[spoiler: Reena Tanner and her sisters]]

* RevengeBeforeReason: A major part of Krasian culture. Some Northern lords also take winning personal feuds (Which they often started for no real reason) to be more important than defeating the corelings.

* UnusualEuphemism - Various forms of Core take the place of most of the typical four letter words, what with the Core being where the corelings come from and all. With demons rising in the night to kill people, telling someone to go get Cored is serious business indeed. Arlen also using "ripping" a lot.

* StrawMisogynist - Nearly all Krasians. [[spoiler: By the third book, their society has begun to grow somewhat more progressive after Jardir decides he can't just throw away willing warriors because of their gender. In the fourth and fifth, the shear badassness of Ashia and her spear sisters convinces them even further]].

** At the same time we learn that unlike most of her contemporaries she is motivated not by a lust for power and politics but by a deep desire to save her people and all of humanity from what she sees as ( and in karasias case probably is) a slow, certain destruction. In the end she is every bit the Anti-villain/Knight-Templer Jardir is.

* GlassCannon: Flame demons can breathe fire, which lets them pack quite a whallop, but the actual demon is only about the size of a dog and not physically all that powerful, making them one of the easiest corelings to deal with at close range. This also applies to the minds, who, despite their magical powers and intelligence are rather fragile in cloe combat.

** Jardir, after learning to use the Spear and Crown to their full potential, is arguably even more powerfull

** Jardir, after learning to use the Spear and Crown to their full popential, is arguably even more powerfull

** Miln takes more of a progressive approach, allowing women much more status than would typically be expected in a medieval European analogue--but only once they've produced children. Mothers are revered, and referred to with a capital M.

* MassivelyNumberedSiblings: Jardir's fourteen wives have borne him fifty-two sons and at least eighteen daughters. Only a handful of them (The adults) actually make non-trivial appearances.

* OneGenderRace: [[spoiler: Ordinary corelings are all neuter. Mind demons are all male. Coreling queens are [[CaptainObvious always female]], though its unknown if more than one of those exists at a time]].

* ParentalSubstitute - Ragen's wife tries to become this for Arlen. He's less than thrilled about it and it damages their relationship until [[spoiler: she]] finally stops. Arrick [[spoiler: Who's at least partly responsible for allowing Rojer's mom to die]] tries to be one for Rojer, but his drinking and jealousy of Rojer's talent [[spoiler: is part of what leads to his death.]]

* StartOfDarkness - The first part of the second book is devoted to Jardir's backstory. [[spoiler: The third book does the same for Inevera]].

* UnusualChapterTitles - The titles are typical, but the heading for each chapter features different images to denote which character the chapter follows, and when the stories begin to intertwine, they appear together. See the [[Characters/TheWardedMan character page]] for a guide.

* AndManGrewProud - After the Deliverer helped mankind defeat the corelings, man went to war with himself and the corelings rose up again to destroy civilization.

* AnachronisticOrder - the first book does this a lot with Rojer's sections. It alternates between Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer relatively evenly until they meet up, but because Rojer is more than a decade younger than the other two, checking in on him often means jumping ahead in time.

The first book in Peter V. Brett's quintology, the ''Demon Cycle''. ''The Warded Man'' (also known as ''The Painted Man'' in the United Kingdom) is the story of mankind's struggle to survive in a world where demons materialize out of the ground each night to attack and kill anyone not protected behind magical wards. Society has crumbled and humans survive in isolated settlements, ranging from a few remaining cities to small hamlets. Few are willing and able to brave the roads to travel between settlements. The first book uses rotating points of view to tell the tales of three children, born in different hamlets, who manage to overcome tragedies and leave the safety of their homes to find their destinies. Chapter headings feature different images to denote who each one follows, and when the stories begin to intertwine, they appear together. See the [[Characters/TheWardedMan character page]] for a guide.

* ''The Warded Man'', published in 2009 (2008 in the UK)
* ''The Desert Spear'' (April 2010)
* ''The Daylight War'' (February 2013)
* ''The Skull Throne'' (March 2015)

* BadassGay - Ansome and Asukaji, aswell as several minor characters. Justified in that Krasia is the only culture to somewhat accept same sex relationships between men, while at the same time beeing [[ProudWarriorRace a proud warrior culture]].

* DarkerAndEdgier - ...than ''Literature/TheRunelords'', which the plot shares a number of similarities with. See FollowTheLeader, below.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Krasia is clearly based on Arabic/Islamic culture, including requiring that woman wear heavy concealing clothing, but with a good dose of ancient sparta thrown in. The Thesan duchies have a more clearly medieval European feel to them.

* FollowTheLeader: Man's enemy, a sinister, implacable HiveMind consisting of several different sub-races, is emerging from deep underground, bent on wiping out humankind. The only defenses against them are [[GeometricMagic magical symbols]] based on the enemy's own power. As the attacks grow worse, a hero emerges with the power to fight back effectively. Unfortunately, his quest is hampered by an evil warlord from a desert kingdom, engaged in a war of conquest with the aim of "uniting" (enslaving) all of mankind so he can lead them to victory and win great glory for himself. [[Literature/TheRunelords Sound familiar?]]
** Inevera, on the other hand, as a creepy female magic-user and devout priestess with an initially inscrutable agenda who is the advisor and lover of a KnightTemplar would-be-conqueror, bears a much stronger resemblance to [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire Melisandre]] than anyone from ''Literature/TheRunelords''.

* LadyMacbeth - [[spoiler: Inevera]] from the second book, so very much.

* MandatoryMotherhood: Due to the heavy population losses from demons, each of the various cultures in Thesia places high expectations on their women to produce children. The Speaker of Tibbet's Brook earned the sobriquet "Selia the Barren" and doesn't seem to appreciate it. Leesha also angsts about it a bit.

* OldMaid: Leesha constantly has to tell people that she's not too old. Of course when you consider that one of her childhood friends (who's not much older) has a daughter who's about to be married... Their culture - due to a scarcity of women - encourages women to start trying for children as soon as they start menstruating, just so that the corelings don't wipe humanity out. Given that Leesha's almost thirty, she * is* old by their standards - at least for someone who hasn't had any kids yet; even she mentions that she's starting to get to the point where "[her] best childbearing years are more behind [her] than ahead".

* ParentalSubstitute - [[spoiler: Ragen's wife tries to become this for Arlen.]] He's less than thrilled about it and it damages their relationship until [[spoiler: she]] finally stops. Arrick [[spoiler: Who's at least partly responsible for allowing Rojer's mom to die]] tries to be one for Rojer, but his drinking and jealousy of Rojer's talent [[spoiler: is part of what leads to his death.]]

The first book in Peter V. Brett's quintology, the ''Demon Cycle''. ''The Warded Man'' (also known as ''The Painted Man'' in the United Kingdom) is the story of mankind's struggle to survive in a world where demons materialize each night to kill those not protected by magical wards. Society has crumbled and humans survive in isolated settlements, ranging from cities to small hamlets. Few will brave the roads to travel between settlements. The first book uses rotating points of view to tell the tales of three children, each born in different hamlets, who manage to overcome tragedies and leave the safety of their homes to find their destinies. Chapter headings feature different images to denote who each one follows, and when the stories begin to intertwine, they appear together. See the [[Characters/TheWardedMan character page]] for a guide.

* ''The Warded Man'' published in 2009 (2008 in the UK)
* ''The Desert Spear''

* ActionGirl - Wonda [[spoiler: and Renna]]. Also, Ashia, Shanvah and [[spoiler: sikvah]] who are arguably the most skilled non magic enhanced combatans in the entire series.
* AdaptiveAbility - ''May'' be the cause of some of the Warded Man's powers, not counting the titular wards. [[spoiler: He has a noticeable healing factor, is able to keep up ''at a trot'' with his warhorse (while on foot) all day without any signs of exhaustion or even breathing hard, and starts to get pulled down into the Core with a demon he's pinning.]] This is explained in the book as being due to the warding magics gaining their strength by siphoning off the magic of the demons and channeling it into their bearer. It could also be at least in part down to him occasionally [[spoiler:eating demons]].
** Confirmed by Arlen in the first few chapters of The Daylight War.
* AdultsAreUseless - [[spoiler: Arlen's dad. His inaction leads to the death of Arlen's mother and eventually leads Arlen to go down a dark path of vengeance. Leesha's dad is a cuckold who allows his wife to walk over him and his daughter. Eventually though, he gets better.]]
** [[spoiler: Don't forget that Rojer's master is a non-functional alcoholic who may have turned to drink in order to cope with the memory of surviving when everyone else in Rojer's hometown died.]]

** To be fair, the [[spoiler: drone]] corelings appear to have the same level of intelligence (and personality) as a rabid wild animal - they're smart enough to figure things out ([[spoiler: they can find weaknesses in wards, through experimentation, but they either can't or don't just look at ward-nets and see where the best spot to attack is]]) but they'll attack ''anything'' that seems weaker than themselves - including nominal "allies", like other demons.

* RapePillageAndBurn - Krasians consider it as traditions and therefore do it after their breaking into Rizon. Abban and Jardir actually disapprove of it to varying degrees due to pragmatism: They want to conquer the north, not just sack it, and the tendency of the men to rape women who have influence among the people they are trying to subjugate and burn stuff that they needed taken intact are making things harder.

* UnusualEuphemism - Various forms of Core take the place of most of the typical four letter words, what with the Core being where the corelings come from and all. With demons rising in the night to kill people, telling someone to go get Cored is serious business indeed.

The first book in Peter V. Brett's quintology, the ''Demon Cycle''. ''The Warded Man'' (also known as ''The Painted Man'' in the United Kingdom) is the story of mankind's struggle to survive in a world where demons materialize each night to kill those not protected by magical wards. Society has crumbled and humans survive in isolated settlements, ranging from cities to small hamlets. Few will brave the roads to travel between settlements. The first book uses rotating points of view to tell the tales of three children, each born in different hamlets, who manage to overcome tragedies and leave the safety of their homes to find their destinies. Chapter headings feature different images to denote who each one follows, and when the stories begin to intertwine, they appear together.

Later books in the series follow a two-part structure: the first part of each sequel takes a character already introduced in the series, and provides their backstory (adding them to the list of POV characters). The second part continues the story as a whole.

The first book in Peter V. Brett's quintology, the ''Demon Cycle''. ''The Warded Man'' (also known as ''The Painted Man'' in the United Kingdom) is the story of mankind's struggle to survive in a world where demons rise each night to kill those not protected by magical wards. Society has crumbled and humans survive in isolated settlements, ranging from cities to small hamlets. Few will brave the roads to travel between settlements. The book tells the tale of three children, each born in different hamlets, who manage to overcome tragedies and leave the safety of their homes to find their destinies.

''The Warded Man'' was published in 2009 (2008 in the UK) and has been followed by the ''Desert Spear''. Brett has also released ''The Great Bazaar and Other Stories'', a collection of short stories set in the same universe. The third volume, ''The Daylight War'', was published in February 2013. The fourth, ''The Skull Throne'', was published in March 2015, and the series concluded with ''The Core'' in October 2017. [[Film/ResidentEvil Paul W.S. Anderson]] is currently planning to make TheFilmOfTheBook.