Earthsea and 9 more epic sci-fi and fantasy series to read in lockdown

Image: HarperCollins Publishers (UK), Del Rey Books (US)

3. The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett

Since we’re on the topic of dark fantasy, another great and gritty read is Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle. There’s something about the way Brett writes and the details he chooses to emphasize that set the tone of these books apart. Think Blizzard’s Diablo franchise, and you’ll have an idea of the sort of dark atmosphere I’m talking about. Whether he’s describing a town festival or a midnight demon attack, Brett never lets you forget that you’re in a world that has been ravaged by darkness.

The premise of The Demon Cycle is that, at some point in the past, humanity lost a great war to demons. Now, every time night falls, those demons rise up from the ground and attack anything in sight. The only defense that humans have against certain death is a language of wards, passed down from their ancestors, which they can use to create shields around homes, cities and campsites to keep the demons at bay. But the wards are far from sure protection. Any little thing, from mud splattering over one to a corpse falling on top of it, can disrupt the shield…and lead to things getting very ugly, very fast.

Into this brutal world is born Arlen Bales, a young boy who develops an indomitable desire to help humans fight back against the demons after he watches his own father stand paralyzed with fear while his mother is attacked outside the wards of their family home. The Demon Cycle follows Arlen and several other characters as they try to muster humanity to reclaim their world.

Aside from the moody atmosphere, great characters, and solid plot, The Demon Cycle‘s ward magic system is fascinating and ever-changing. A big part of the books is that humanity has lost some of its more powerful battle wards, which would have allowed them to fight back against the demons. The more the books go on, the deeper the magic (and its varied uses) gets.

The Demon Cycle is currently complete at five books, and Peter V. Brett recently announced that he’d finished the first book of a follow-up trilogy set 15 years after its conclusion.