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The Painted Man By Peter Brett ISBN13: 9780007276158

I received this book in the mail last Wednesday and had finished it before the footy began on Friday night.
What a cracking good read. The world the author paints (if you forgive the pun), is easy to affiliate with yet hints at long forgotten depths. This world is full of characters who you can side with, bad guys you can boo at, a rather interesting rune system, and some nice political intriguing to boot.
This is a world full of the unknown, where mankind has lone outposts against the onslaught of the darkness. Each Village, Town or City is a rule unto itself, some paying token rule to a Duke, others completely independent. People are aware of the existence of other people, but once any journey is longer than a day, it’s no longer possible to visit them. As we enter this world we are aware that at best we have achieved a stalemate, but in all reality we are losing. Not only is the physical darkness closing in on us, but so is the darkness of ignorance. What little communication there is between villages is tenuous and easily broken. We have slipped back and the knowledge of the world is slowly being lost. The inhabitants have become closed minded, with their own survival their only concern. Life feels and is cheap, and there is a constant gnawing fear that the wards won’t hold tonight, and that tonight the Corelings will break through.
Set against this world is the story of The Painted Man. When you are first introduced to each character they are young naive children, only aware of the world immediately around them. Yet even here the depths of the world start to come into play. Each child has a different view of the world, influenced heavily by what they interact with and what is important to them. This means that reasonably early on in the peace we (as the reader) are aware of a bigger picture than each of them (the characters) is. This big picture is very sketchy at first, and its very cool watching it get filled in. Oh and it’s by no means complete yet.
I loved the richness of the world. I love how there are hints about the Corelings, hints about the runes and hints about the past. There is much, much more happening here than first meets the eye and its teasingly drawn out, with much left for the next books.
My wife who never reads fantasy has already started to read this book. (Voluntarily!!) She described it as a combination of I Am Legend, The Village and The Ends of the Earth. Having read this all the way through and I agree. Its part of each of these, but like all good books its more. If I had to pick author's that he's like, I'd say if you like Jordan, Gemmel, Goodkind, Fairlane or Green, then you'll like this book.
I have already lent my copy out and I am looking forward to the next in the series.
Michael