Having taken up reading for leisure after such a long gap, no other book could have offered a better ‘succor’ to a fantasy-fiction enthusiast than this one. With so many writers having taken up this space, the Desert Spear by Peter Berett is rife with influences ranging from LoTR, Eragon, Artemis Fowl to Leonidus and his 300 and Ghenghis Khan’s Mongolian hordes.
Despite gaping similarities and predictable patterns, Desert Spear manages to enthrall through its 750 page journey where a world fighting with the demons from the core, must struggle to save its own humanity. While the world hides from the corelings behind the wards, they seek the deliverer to salvage a world under attack by darkness’ own children. But the identity of the deliverer continues to elude and confuse – Is it the painted man who rides atop the twilight dancer or the fearless Krasian Shar’Dama Ka Jardir for whom his honor means everything? A conflict between the two seems evident.
Beset with violence, rape and wanton sex, these elements do nothing to weight down the book which remains fast paced as it is narrated through several POVs. Desert Spear is one of the best surprise finds and highly recommended to all geeks who find it difficult to sleep without having ridden a dragon; slayed an Orc on kidnapped a fairy.
