4 out of 5 stars | Goodreads
I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
I devoured the first two books in this series, so when I saw the ARC of The Daylight War on Edelweiss I immediately requested it. And reading this ARC has shown me just how badly I get on with the Kindle.
This is a book I’d been anticipating since I finished The Desert Spear. One that I couldn’t wait to start – but even then I didn’t pick it up until June, despite getting a copy of the ARC at the beginning of the year. And I didn’t finish it until a couple of days ago, in early September.
But I’m not actually sure if it was just the fault of the Kindle.
Whilst I can’t fault Peter V. Brett’s wonderful writing style and vivid imagination, there was just something about this book that just didn’t match up to the other two. We spent a vast majority of it in the past, with Inevera – which whilst explaining her behaviour and perhaps justifying (some of) her actions, really made me feel like there was far too much background. In fact the book barely advanced time wise, because so much of it was spent in the past.
I also got irritated by Arlen and Renna, eventually. Their relationship was sweet at first, and it was nice to see the real Arlen Bales that I knew from the first book, rather than the Warded Man, but their way of talking to each other started to bug me. This volume of the series certainly tends to focus a lot more on relationships, with even Rojer getting some action. He lost my respect though – although he may have been embracing Krasian culture, it felt kind of… creepy.
However, Leesha was her usual headstrong self, and has some problems she will have to face in the next book. As well as this, we will see the conclusion of the cliffhanger – and I can’t decide if that frustrates me or gets me excited for the next book!
Sorry this review is so short. I didn’t take very comprehensive notes because of the time it took me to read it, plus I read a large majority on a long train ride home so didn’t manage to make any notes during that time. I just want to express that The Daylight War keeps up the wonderful world-building of the first two books, whilst lacking most of the excitement. There was just far too much of the past, and not enough of the present, where the demon threat is. Although some of the developments (Rojer’s talent in particular) were exciting, it fell flat compared to the action of the first book in particular.
However, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a four star rating. Keep writing, Mr. Brett.
Rinn Reads 
I’ve never heard of this series, but it sounds interesting. I hate when books in a series don’t live up to the earlier ones – hopefully the next book (is there a next book?) is better!- Kritika @ Snowflakes and Spider Silk
I thought that the series was a trilogy until a few months ago – I think there is either going to be five or seven books, so I hope the next ones don’t have as much set in the past as this one!