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harmah's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
cristina_02's review
5.0
An endearing and entertaining novella with little stories about Arlen and Leesha that didn’t make the final cut in the first book! We have adventurous toddler Arlen pushing his luck with exploring, teenage Arlen dealing with Abban, and Leesha being a badass
mastersal's review
4.0
Brief review follows:
Listened to on audio
Another great short story but this time it’s lifted by the presence of Abban- who is a favourite of mine.
This novella has more repeat information than Bryan’s Gold. This is obviously more of a cut chapter from Book 1 than the other story. As a result, this novella works less successfully as a standalone but having Abban on page helps.
Also seeing his ruthlessness is both chilling and quite a bit of fun. The Arlen plot was less interesting mostly because we’ve seen stuff like this before in the book. Overall, still well done.
Listened to on audio
Another great short story but this time it’s lifted by the presence of Abban- who is a favourite of mine.
This novella has more repeat information than Bryan’s Gold. This is obviously more of a cut chapter from Book 1 than the other story. As a result, this novella works less successfully as a standalone but having Abban on page helps.
Also seeing his ruthlessness is both chilling and quite a bit of fun. The Arlen plot was less interesting mostly because we’ve seen stuff like this before in the book. Overall, still well done.
Spoiler
Plus clay demons are really cool.topdragon's review
4.0
This is a nice little companion book for the main Demon Cycle series. It includes a novella about Arlen’s formative years as a Messenger, recounting a tale of a trip to collect some rare artifacts on his way to the Great Bazaar of Krasia where he interacts with the merchant Abban. It’s a nice story and allows some more details about clay demons to come out. The book also includes two “cut scenes” from [b:The Warded Man|3428935|The Warded Man (Demon Cycle, #1)|Peter V. Brett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354571949s/3428935.jpg|6589794] manuscript including the original story that the author wrote for his fantasy writing class back in 1999 where the assignment was to write a first scene of an original fantasy novel. It’s an OK scene and works here as a curiosity but it’s easy to see why it was cut. A second cut scene relates to Leesha and also works as a stand-alone vignette for those that have read the book. If not then I feel sure it would seem incomplete.
Two more tidbits are included: a short glossary/dictionary of just 3-4 pages and a “ward grimoire” where we get to see what some basic wards look like. The value here is less about the artwork of the wards themselves as the accompanying information about the various demons they defend against.
Two more tidbits are included: a short glossary/dictionary of just 3-4 pages and a “ward grimoire” where we get to see what some basic wards look like. The value here is less about the artwork of the wards themselves as the accompanying information about the various demons they defend against.
subparcupcake's review
3.0
Good little addition to the Demon Cycle series. Nothing spectacular, but still worth reading if you enjoyed the other books in the series. I'd recommend reading it after Warded/Painted Man and before Desert Spear though, as all of the stories and deleted scenes are from Warded/Painted Man.
mwplante's review against another edition
3.0
I would say there was less to this story than the other Demon Cycle short story, "Brayan's Gold", and for a while "The Great Bazaar" feels like nothing more than a cut section of The Warded Man. However, the ending throws a fun curveball or two which help the story achieve closure and stand on its own, ultimately putting the tale a little ahead of "Brayan's Gold" in my estimation.
Plus, "The Great Bazaar" gives us more Abban. I hadn't taken much notice of him in The Warded Man, but this story establishes him as an interesting character and I now look forward to seeing more of him in the coming books.
By the way, if you're a Demon Cycle fan and you're hitting up these sidestories to scratch some sort of completist itch, I would recommend visiting Peter V. Brett's "Peephole in my Skull" website. It has all the bonuses included in this ebook (other than The Great Bazaar itself), and much more, including a free short story from Arlen's childhood, many deleted scenes from The Warded Man, a couple cuttings from The Desert Spear, a lone excision from The Daylight War, and even a preview of The Skull Throne.
Plus, "The Great Bazaar" gives us more Abban. I hadn't taken much notice of him in The Warded Man, but this story establishes him as an interesting character and I now look forward to seeing more of him in the coming books.
By the way, if you're a Demon Cycle fan and you're hitting up these sidestories to scratch some sort of completist itch, I would recommend visiting Peter V. Brett's "Peephole in my Skull" website. It has all the bonuses included in this ebook (other than The Great Bazaar itself), and much more, including a free short story from Arlen's childhood, many deleted scenes from The Warded Man, a couple cuttings from The Desert Spear, a lone excision from The Daylight War, and even a preview of The Skull Throne.
jarichan's review against another edition
3.0
Warum habe ich dieses Buch gelesen? Warum existiert es überhaupt?
Bei jedem Buch fallen Szenen weg, das ist ganz normal. Vor allem bei längeren Titeln. Was macht diese Reihe so speziell, dass man diese aussortierten Fragmente sammeln und veröffentlichen muss? Durch die Lektüre habe ich nicht das Gefühl, etwas gewonnen zu haben oder eine Lücke zu füllen.
Dennoch sind die einzelnen Geschichten teilweise ganz nett und unterhaltsam.
Die Reihe selbst habe ich übrigens nach 200 Seiten von Band zwei abgebrochen.
Bei jedem Buch fallen Szenen weg, das ist ganz normal. Vor allem bei längeren Titeln. Was macht diese Reihe so speziell, dass man diese aussortierten Fragmente sammeln und veröffentlichen muss? Durch die Lektüre habe ich nicht das Gefühl, etwas gewonnen zu haben oder eine Lücke zu füllen.
Dennoch sind die einzelnen Geschichten teilweise ganz nett und unterhaltsam.
Die Reihe selbst habe ich übrigens nach 200 Seiten von Band zwei abgebrochen.