For time out of mind, bloodthirsty demons have stalked the night, culling the human race to scattered remnants dependent on half-forgotten magics to protect them. Then two heroes arose—men as close as brothers, yet divided by bitter betrayal. Arlen Bales became known as the Warded Man, tattooed head to toe with powerful magic symbols that enable him to fight demons in hand-to-hand combat—and emerge victorious. Jardir, armed with magically warded weapons, called himself the Deliverer, a figure prophesied to unite humanity and lead them to triumph in Sharak Ka—the final war against demonkind. 

But in their efforts to bring the war to the demons, Arlen and Jardir have set something in motion that may prove the end of everything they hold dear—a Swarm. Now the war is at hand and humanity cannot hope to win it unless Arlen and Jardir, with the help of Arlen’s wife, Renna, can bend a captured demon prince to their will and force the devious creature to lead them to the Core, where the Mother of Demons breeds an inexhaustible army.

Trusting their closest confidantes, Leesha, Inevera, Ragen and Elissa, to rally the fractious people of the Free Cities and lead them against the Swarm, Arlen, Renna, and Jardir set out on a desperate quest into the darkest depths of evil—from which none of them expects to return alive.

Firstly, a massive thank you to Harper Voyager for sending me an arc copy of this book for review.

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this book since I finished The Skull Throne early March 2016 and this book has certainly been worth the wait. Even though I was eagerly awaiting to read this I still had some slight concerns as to how much I would enjoy it because I didn’t enjoy “The Daylight War” and “The Skull Throne” as much as “The Warded Man” and “The Desert Spear”. Upon opening this book and reading the first chapter I knew immediately that my worries had been quashed.

Throughout the time I have spent reading Peter V Brett’s Demon Cycle series I have been wondering where the story is going and how it was going to end. Having finished The Core I can now say that so much of what happened in the previous books and how they were written all makes sense to me and based upon how great this book was I believe that Peter V Brett has written the previous entries of The Demon Cycle series in the best possibly way.

Over the course Demon Cycle series we have seen characters rise and fall, not only physically and mentally but also our opinions of them as a whole and this is once aspect I wholeheartedly loved about this series. Back in one of my previous reviews I said how much I disliked Inevera but this book truly shows her in a different light and at stages I felt myself emotionally drawn to her situation and at those times I truly understand why she did certain things in the past, that’s not to say though I now like her.

The pacing in The Core was second to none as not only did it flow really well but once you are approximately 50% into the book you will notice the pace becomes quicker and there are more actions scenes. There are a few moments where the pace slows down slightly but during these scenes we are either delving deeper into a character or we are setting the backdrop (i.e. politics), these moments are done in such a way you barely even notice the slow down and they mold themselves incredibly into the overall story. While I am on the subject I must say I was truly impressed by Peter V Brett’s work on switching POV’s because the way it has been done was seamless because when you switched to a particular POV it always seemed natural to switch to that character at that particular point in time.

Having now read “The Core” I am very tempted to go back and re-read the series because when I read “The Daylight War” and “The Skull Throne” I had different feelings about it and now knowing what I do I can imagine these would change as this book certainly helps give you a better perspective on them. I was once curious and unsure as to why The Demon Cycle series was being written the way it was and now having read “The Core” it all makes sense. I truly believe the Peter V Brett crafted this series the way he did so that for the final book he could produce something so seamless and fast paced because the previous books had managed to lay the ground work for all the main characters and their role to play.

If you haven’t already read up to the end of The Skull Throne or picked up The Demon Cycle series then I strongly urge you to do so because what awaits you is a book of truly awe inspiring proportions and this book is without a doubt the best finale to a series I have ever read. The Core is what I had always hoped and wished it would be in more than one way as it is truly a fantastic and epic fantasy masterpiece. I am glad to have been on this journey and sad to see it finish but so happy for it to have ended the way it did.

Peter if you are reading this, thank you so much for the world you have created and bringing us on this epic journey. You have truly created a masterpiece and I am ever so truly thankful to have discovered your books, I look forward to all of your future works.