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  • The Painted Man

  • The Demon Cycle, Book 1
  • By: Peter V. Brett
  • Narrated by: Colin Mace
  • Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (803 ratings)

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The Painted Man cover art

The Painted Man

By: Peter V. Brett
Narrated by: Colin Mace
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Editorial reviews

The masterful audiobook The Painted Man is Book 1 in The Demon Cycle series written by highly-acclaimed fantasy writer Peter V. Brett and narrated by voice artist Colin Mace. The darkness of night has never been so frightening. Death is upon anyone who ventures into the haunting demonic mist that encircles the village at night. It is up to one young boy and two unlikely comrades to set out bravely and save the entire human race from the clutches of evil. This is a pure feat of fantasy writing at its best. Available now from Audible.

Publisher's Summary

The stunning debut fantasy novel from author Peter V. Brett.

The Painted Man, book one of the Demon Cycle, is a captivating and thrilling fantasy adventure, pulling the listener into a world of demons, darkness and heroes.

Sometimes there is very good reason to be afraid of the dark…

Eleven-year-old Arlen lives with his parents on their small farmstead, half a day's ride from the isolated hamlet of Tibbet's Brook.

As dusk falls upon Arlen's world, a strange mist rises from the ground; a mist that promises a violent death to any foolish enough to brave the coming darkness, for hungry corelings - demons that cannot be harmed by mortal weapons - materialize from the vapours to feed on the living. As the sun sets, people have no choice but to take shelter behind magical wards and pray that their protection holds until the creatures dissolve with the first signs of dawn.

When Arlen's life is shattered by the demon plague, he is forced to see that it is fear, rather than the demons, which truly cripples humanity. Believing that there is more to his world than to live in constant fear, he must risk leaving the safety of his wards to discover a different path.

In the small town of Cutter's Hollow, Leesha's perfect future is destroyed by betrayal and a simple lie. Publicly shamed, she is reduced to gathering herbs and tending an old woman more fearsome than the corelings. Yet in her disgrace, she becomes the guardian of dangerous ancient knowledge.

Orphaned and crippled in a demon attack, young Rojer takes solace in mastering the musical arts of a Jongleur, only to learn that his unique talent gives him unexpected power over the night.

Together, these three young people will offer humanity a last, fleeting chance of survival.

©2008 Peter V. Brett (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

"I enjoyed The Painted Man immensely. Action and suspense all the way." (Terry Brooks)

"If the next two books in this series live up to this one it will be one day named as a classic fantasy series." (Joanne Horsley)

What listeners say about The Painted Man

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

predictable story with 2 dimensional characters.

If you enjoy complex and original fantasy like abercrombie or Gaimen give this a miss.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Addictive and Unique

Any additional comments?

I'm always worried about getting a new audio, will the performer sell the story, will I become immersed in a new world, will I feel a connection with the characters?Collin Mace's voice takes a while to get used too, but soon he wraps you the brilliant tale by Peter V. Brett. The lore presented in the book while drawing on classical representation of demons and magic still feel unique and interesting and I soon found myself reading in anticipation for more and more information from the author about the books mythos. While I enjoy the two male characters are great, the female character Leisha is deeply interesting and each time a chapter from her POV rolls around I put my feet up and am unreachable for the next while, the events that happen to her in the book because of her gender alone are more then enough for a book by it's self!
Over all, as you can tell I really enjoy the book and I am excited to move onto the sequel !

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A lot of weird R*pe and plenty of other trigger warnings.

Overall the story and world building was great, and I probably would have stuck with it if it weren’t for all the weird rape, incest, child sexualisation, domestic violence, misogyny, etc etc. I understand that the world is supposed to be medieval and violent and a bit backwards and that’s fine, as that is the story that Brett has chosen to tell, but what particularly irked me, was the casual mentions of rape, where the narrator didn’t allow the situations to hold the kind of weight that it deserved. It was lightly brushed over and accepted by the characters. I won’t be continuing with this series, as I prefer a story where the characters are a bit more emotionally mature, have more empathy, and react to horrific situations like this in a more relatable or realistic way.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Inconsistent magic rules

The rules of the magic system are inconsistent and I found that really annoying. Like sometimes the demons have to be aware of the symbols for them to work and other times they don't have to be aware of them. Seemed to compromise consistency for 'cool' action scenes.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

great series

I've read the first 4 books so far. Nothing negative to say. Not as good or as well performed as GoT or Joe Abercrombie's 'The Blade Itself' read by Steven Pacey but a good listen none the less .

Three and a half stars

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

quite possibly the best fantasy book I've read

The worst thing about this book is all the sleepless nights it's going to cause when you can't put it down. I just loved it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Great performance of a terrible book

Colin Mace did a great job, I have absolutely no gripes with the performance. I find some narrators put so much wind into the performance that they detract from it, they become a distraction from the actual story. Colin Mace does not do that. It's a very well measured performance that just lets you listen to the story, which is what it's really about.
The book on the other hand, is dreadful. Its creepy, icky, boring and lazy. I know it's an unpopular opinion on this book but there is no way in hell I am reading one more book in this series. And it's not that it's not my style, I love dark stuff and this premise had me needing to read this book. By the end of chapter 3 I was hooked. Then chapter 4 came along, they cranked up the price, and it was all downhill from there.
If you like boring demons and blow-by-blow repetitive fight scenes, if you like not being burdened with character development where it all happens off the page so when we rejoin the characters all the change has already happened, if you like laziness like; god being called the creator, or the magic in the world being called...um...magic*, if you feel it is important when meeting a new thirteen-year-old female character, to be informed of their looks including breast size and perkiness and whether they have 'bled' or not, and if you like big reveals towards the end being completely predictable from five chapters prior, which feels like the author thinks his readers have no brains what so ever (which, come to think of it, if the author thought that then it would explain a lot about this book) then well, this book is probably right up your alley.

*Sure, OK, they have "wards" to protect them from demons as a force field. But when the demon hits the force field he says "the magic flared" - seriously?

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

cool story but writer is lacking

im used to Sanderson with relatable character interactions and solid world building. lots of pointless characters with names and backstories. magic system is not well thought out. narrator does not vary voice enough for me to recognise characters. still a fun read, but it could be soooo much better...

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Painted Man

Enjoyed the narration - pace, voicing and the story line in general. I had read the book and this was a good alternative to reading again. It has some serious matters, hard to put the right term here, though it works with the greater story. Humans (good bad and in between) and demon hordes.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

It was an enjoyable experience revisiting a book I loved. The narrator did a great job.

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