Peter V. Brett

Peter V. Brett is the author of one of my favorite fantasy series: the Demon Cycle. Beginning with The Warded Man, the series tells the story of a world where every night demons rise from the core of the earth to destroy live stock, burn fields, and kill any humans they can find. What little humanity that remains in the world lives in very isolated cities and villages kept safe from the demons by magic wards. But the humans don’t fight back against the demons, except for the Krasians who live in desert city far to the south of the other human settlements. The series primarily follows Alren, Leesha, and Rojer who rise to lead humanity in the fight against the demons. I know this is all very typical good versus evil fantasy, but what makes the series brilliant is that humanity isn’t very good. There are times when the people are so cruel that you almost wish the demons would win. The characters are so complex and fully realized that they become almost like real life friends or enemies. You start to worry about them when you’re not reading the book (and you have every cause to be worried, what with all the demons and everything). Anyway, before I start gushing spoilers, I highly recommend the Demon Cycle, starting with the Warden Man. There are currently four books in the series with more to come.