The Desert Spear

This book continues the story begun in The Warded Man. But for over two hundred pages we are treated to an origin story of the Krasian chieftain, Ahmann Jardir. With his powerful wife Inevera behind him, he comes to believe that he is the Deliverer and sets himself on a mission to unite the worlds peoples under his rule much like his famous ancestor Kaji did many years previously. Of course, the people of the north and the Warded Man in particular have other ideas. Meanwhile a new breed of dangerous demonkind is coming to the fore.

The story is detailed and the characters are interesting but the plot seems to move fairly slowly. There's not a sense of driving suspense that the first book had. Perhaps it's middle book syndrome. This book is really just setting up the final volume, I think. There are some very interesting developments in the last hundred pages though. I'll definitely be reading the third book when it becomes available.