Contained within the slim bounds of The Great Bazaar & Brayan's Gold are a pair of short stories, a pair of deleted scenes (one for Arlen & one for Brianne), and a pair of reference pieces (a Krasian Dictionary & a Ward Grimoire). While one could argue that anything related to The Demon Cycle is required reading, these are supplementary bits of storytelling, snippets that add to the enjoyment, but don't redefine anything we already know.

Having said that, they're certainly worth the read, especially while we wait for Peter V. Brett to drag us down into The Core.

The Great Bazaar was a fun story, because it hearkens back to an earlier, more innocent time when Arlen was still a messenger. It explores a bit more of the world, exposes some surprising corruption within the messenger ranks, and adds snow demons to our monster repertoire. More importantly, it answers a question I always wondered about regarding thundersticks. It's refreshing to see Arlen as a young man again, bold and confident, but not yet laboring under the weight of his own destiny.

Brayan's Gold was less of a stand-alone story, feeling much more like the deleted chapters it really is, but it's exciting to have some scenes told from Abban's perspective. Again, this is a story of Arlen's early years, when he's already come to Fort Krasian and made an ally of the khaffit, but has yet to make his most important discovery. Here we are reminded of his treasure hunting past, and we understand a bit more of just how it is that he came to make that eventual discovery that would change his world.

Given that all of this comes from the lost pages of The Warded Man, it's not surprising that One-Arm is such a prominent force in both stories, but it is rather shocking to see Arlen fully encased in warded body armor. Sometimes we forget how far a hero has traveled, so it's refreshing to recall the days when he was still very much mortal, and not yet chosen. As for the deleted scenes, they're just that -deleted scenes - rather than self-contained narratives. Interesting, but nothing remarkable.

All told, though, The Great Bazaar & Brayan's Gold was a nice look back at the origins of Arlen and The Demon Cycle.

Paperback, 192 pages
Published July 7th 2015 by Tachyon Publications

3.5 stars

I enjoyed Brayan's Gold the best, and thought it a good representation of the longer series. Arlen is reckless and refuses to be cowed by the demons that rise from the Core at dusk every evening, searching for prey to tear to shreds. I love the concept of this series: being outside after dark is almost a certain death sentence, unless you are protected by magic wards. Arlen is a gifted warder, and he won't live locked behind walls when there's a whole wide world to see and try to take back from the corelings. Brayan's Gold showcases his ability to think on his feet and not be ruled by his fears, though this almost costs him his life on several occasions.

The rest of the content, while entertaining, didn't entrance me like Brayan's Gold. If you haven't started reading the Demon Cycle, this novella collection is a great place to start.

These two novellas were my introduction to Peter Brett and his Demon Cycle, and I must say, they were pretty great.

There are just enough references to the greater series for existing fans, and enough explanation for new readers to make it perfect for everyone, regardless of whether you’ve read the series or not. And really, if this is your first exposure and you don’t want to read more afterwards, you may be a little crazy.

 

My favourite of the two was The Great Bazaar, Arlen is a bit older than in Brayan’s Gold, and has settled into himself a bit more. Plus, it was just a good story. I’m sure this happens in the actual series, but I do like how the characters are not infallible - they make mistakes and have to live with the consequences of them, and I think I’ll really enjoy seeing how these two experiences shape Arlen in the rest of the series.

This collection is rounded out with a deleted scene from The Warded Man, which didn’t leave much of an impression on me to be honest. Probably why it was deleted! There’s also a dictionary and grimoire of the wards, but I suspect that holds more for someone familiar with the rest of the series.

If you’ve read the series and want to know more about Arlen’s history: grab this book.

If you haven’t read the series and want to know whether it’s worth your time: grab this book.

It will be well worth your time.

Anyone who has enjoyed Peter Brett’s Demon Cycle series has, undoubtably, longed for more tales of Arlen’s days as a messenger. And now the wait is over, because The Great Bazaar and Brayan’s Gold chronicles a few of Messenger Arlen’s most exciting adventures as well as adding a few other extras for fans of the series.

 

The fun begins in Brayan’s Gold, where Brett allows a reader to tag along behind Arlen on one of his first messenger trips. While this is a rather short journey (geographically and novella length wise), there is still more than enough suspense, demon fighting, and character development packed into the tale to make it a must read for fans – if, for no other reason, than Arlen’s personality and deeply held beliefs shine through.

 

The Great Bazaar catches up to our young messenger years later. Now, Arlen has been seasoned by years on the road, has earned a reputation as a fearless adventurer, and has attracted friends who are willing to aid in his obsession for ancient wards – in return for help in other areas. And so this novella finds Arlen traveling the desert near Fort Krasian on an errand to uncover priceless pottery for his merchant friend Abban.

 

Once Arlen gets to the abandoned town, however, he finds that it is thoroughly demon infested (Where isn’t in this world?) by a variety he has not encountered before. Excitement ensues immediately thereafter and continues when Arlen later confronts Abban about not warning him of these unique demons.

 

The next two stories in this collection are actually deleted scenes from The Warded Man. The first is the proposed prologue to the book, which focuses on Arlen as a child. The second story is about Leesha and an encounter she has with a former friend. Both are relatively short, but each adds another layer to each character that all fans of the series will definitely enjoy.

 

The book finishes up with a Krasian Dictionary and a ward grimoire. Neither of these add much to the overall story but are great reference materials for the series itself.

 

As I reflect on this story collection, the most enjoyable element for me was how Brett presents Arlen as a regular person. He is driven. He is talented. He might even be special, but . . . he makes mistakes. Mistakes that cause him harm: Physical, emotional, and spiritual. Nor is Arlen’s judgment with people supernatural. He does trust the wrong people. He gets tricked by them. And when he should admit their duplicity, he tends to ignore it, because of his very human fondness for them. All of which made Arlen much more relatable and easy to empathize with than the superhuman, infallible “Chosen Ones” who litter fantasy literature these days.

 

Now, The Great Bazaar and Brayan’s Gold isn’t a story collection that will astound you or turn the Demon Cycle on its head, but it is a very entertaining companion piece to The Warded Man, which every fan of the series will definitely want to read. I’d also encourage fantasy fans in general to check it out, because reading about a demon infested world is always a blast.

 

I received this book from Tachyon Publishers and Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank both of them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone.

I know I can't be the only one who's annoyed with the title of this book. It's not that it's misleading (the two stories in the book are titled "The Great Bazaar" and "Brayan's Gold"), but the dang stories are published in the other order! Why not just call the book Brayan's Gold & The Great Bazaar? Was it because the fancy, embossed cover art would be all askew and not fit into the circle?

As mentioned, this book is a collection of two short stories, each of which could have been chapters out of The Warded Man, the first book in Brett's Demon Cycle. Each is a self-contained story featuring new characters, new locations, and new demons (the snow demons and clay demons, respectively), with their own plots, and each story features a little more about Arlen Bales. "Brayan's Gold" presents us with his first trip out as a messenger, long before he tattoos himself with the wards, and before he meets the Krasians, while "The Great Bazaar" presents us with how Arlen got the map to Anoch Sun, which was where he found the fighting wards and the spear. While they both could have fit into the novel, they would have felt a little out of place, so I can see why they weren't included there, but I also wonder if this small collection is really necessary.

The stories feel like deleted scenes from a movie that were added into the director's cut DVD release, in that they're kind of interesting, but not crucial to the overall story. The stories don't expand the character of Arlen at all, and there's not enough time in either story to really develop the new characters who are presented to us. As is typical with Brett's stories, the action sequences are done very well, with the fight scenes being particularly notable, but there's nothing necessary in either of these stories. "Brayan's Gold" shows us how honorable and principled Arlen is, but we've already discovered that if we've read The Warded Man. "The Great Bazaar" shows us how duplicitous and manipulative Abban can be, but again, we already know that if we've read The Desert Spear. Some of the character development is compacted to the point of not being believable (the character who runs the supply store in "Brayan's Gold" changes his mind pretty swiftly to accommodate the story, and the way Abban frames his competition strains credibility), but I think that's more an issue with the length of the stories than anything else. Brett usually takes a good chunk of a single novel to develop these characters, but here he only has about fifty pages, and I think he relies on our familiarity with the main characters to drive the rest of the story. I mean, Arlen and Abban feel fully realized, while the rest of the characters do not.

It's obvious that this collection is geared toward people who are already fans of the series, but even then, they just aren't good enough to hold up against what Brett can do when he has the freedom of an entire novel to develop his stories. It's a short read, and I doubt I'd be able to convince fans of the series not to read it, but if you're waffling over whether or not to read these stories, as I was, rest assured that you won't be missing anything significant if you decide against it.