A review by topdragon
The Great Bazaar and Other Stories by Peter V. Brett

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.