The Core by Peter V. Brett

Prepare for the final descent into darkness. Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett brings one of the most imaginative fantasy sagas of the twenty-first century to an epic close. The war has begun... 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. Two heroes arose--men as close as brothers, yet divided by bitter betrayal. Arlen Bales became known as the Painted Man, tattooed head-to-toe with powerful magic symbols that enable him to fight demons in hand-to-hand combat--and emerge victorious. Ahmann 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.

I'm so pleased that this book is finally out, and it was genuinely a worthy entry in the series. Thumbs so high they're no longer attached to my arms. XD

A VERY satisfying end to the series. I was skeptical that Brett could pull off everything he had to wrap up before the end, but he did it in dramatic fashion.

A very nice conclusion to the series. It's a little bit predictable, but the likable characters and the gruesome-but-fascinating magic system make it very enjoyable.

Executive Summary: A satisfying conclusion to a really enjoyable series.

Audiobook: Another good job by Pete Bradbury. I thought he was a good fit for the series overall, and makes listening in audio a great choice.

Full Review
I was very late coming to this series, but I nearly listened to it all in one go. That should be a good indicator at how much I enjoyed it.

This series has one of the best magic systems I've encountered, and I'm always a sucker for that. The characters are fantastic too. There is a warrior monk, a bunch of badass women, and if that wasn't enough it also has a heroic bard or two. Fantasy books could always do with some more bards in my opinion.

It also has some of the best secondary ones I've ever read. Wanda Cutter deserves her own spin-off series. A few of the characters added in this book seemed to come out of nowhere however. Apparently one of them was introduced in some of the novellas. I didn't read those so it made their inclusion feel very strange to me. It was as if I had skipped a chapter or two in one of the previous books.

I did struggle a bit with the character development at times, but even a few I had a hard time sympathizing with for much of the series grew on me by the end.

Much like the last book this one focused a bit more on the human politics than the demon war than I'd have liked. However it was important to finish setting things up for the finale. I think it was handled pretty well, but it took me a bit to get completely sucked into the book as a result. It also made the ending feel a bit on the rushed side.

Still, I thought this was another solid entry in the series, and I was happy with where things leave off. I could happily read a sequel series (or that Wanda Cutter spin-off), but if we don't get any more from the universe Mr. Brett built, I'll be fine with that too.

I definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys darker fantasy and loves cool magic systems.