Messenger's Legacy (Demon Cycle) Hardcover – November 30, 2014

Messenger’s Legacy is a nice little story that leads into The Skull Throne. It focuses on two characters, Arlen’s old messenger mentor Ragen, and a new character named Briar. They bridge the old novels with the new. Whether you’ve read The Skull Throne already or not, this is one novella you’ll definitely want to pick up.The story opens with Briar, a young boy out in the sticks. He has a Krasian father and a her gatherer mother. He gets teased by his older siblings and receives guidances from his dad. Readers get a glimpse of his life before he’s touched by the demons.Breaking off, the story touches base with Ragen on his last trip to Lakton and back before retiring. He comes home to his wife, Arlen, and a life of leisure from the road. As the story flashes forward, we see what becomes of him and his fate ties back to Briar. One last adventure takes him back out into the night. Face-to-face with the demons, Ragen learns first hand what changes Arlen has brought to the world. Unlike his previous messenger days, he now has combat wards.The story leads into the events of The Skull Throne two fold. One one hand, it reflects the Krasian’s push north. On the other hand, it tells Briar’s tale, a character who pops up in The Skull Throne.In retrospect, it might be better to read this story before The Skull Throne, but it works either way. Peter V. Brett shows his talent by weaving great characters in a tightly focused story. It packs punch with just 137 pages. For fans of The Demon Cycle series, I highly recommend checking out Messenger’s Legacy. This one is well worth your time and money. I give it a five out of five.

This can be read as a stand alone novella or as a precursor of "The Skull Throne". If you have not read the "The Skull Throne: Book 5 of the Demon Wars" Series it would behoove you to read this first.. It is the introduction of a new character in the series. I am glad I read it before "The Skull Thrones" because having done so gave it an added depth, a deeper understanding of Briar Damaj ..."The Messenger's Legacy" is his back story...rich in detail..The moment Briar Damaj character came into play I knew who he was and his the reason for his questioning of the choices he had/has made. .If you are a fan of Peter V Brett's "The Warded Man" &/or "The Demon Wars" Series....IT IS A MUST READ....grab it

Enjoyed the tale, but way too short - it just got going and then ended in a rush. Interesting new characters and some old favorites, but I was left feeling like I had paid for a feature and only got a trailer.

I really enjoy character backstories so this was nice to learn about Briar before he comes into play in The Skull Throne. However I felt like this could have had some more detail about him surviving for years on his own. It was an enjoyable addition to the Demon Cycle world though.

I begrudgingly bought this because the 4th book in the series said if you didn’t read this then you’d miss out on understanding the appearance of some of the characters in the 4th book. Very glad I picked it up as it was a very enjoyable story

Brett is a master at bringing his characters to life. His stories are well paced, and balanced between drama and action. The images in this book are very well done and really enrich the tale. Well done, again Master Brett. I’m very sad to have finished this series. I will certainly be reading it again in the future.

I love this series-just finished Skull Throne and then read this-great side piece highlighting a new character.

I bought this as an ebook after reading the reviews, and I'm glad I did. If I had paid hardcover prices for this glorified short story, I would be outraged.It's short, shallow, and perfunctory. There's no character development or themes being explored - to paraphrase The Simpsons, "It's just a bunch of stuff that happens." It reads like it might have been written by a ghost writer, not Brett himself, because Brett is a very good writer and the Demon Cycle, which this is spun off from, is very good. This doesn't feel much like a Demon Cycle book, though. It feels more like a story that was written for some other purpose, and then someone went through it and changed some of the words to crowbar it into the Demon Cycle.It's a pretty transparent attempt to rip off the fans by putting as close to zero effort into something as possible, bringing it to the bare edge of what could be considered a complete book and then charging as much money as they can get away with for it.Do NOT pay full price for this. If you feel that you absolutely have to read it as a Demon Cycle completist, then get it on Kindle.

This is quite a neat little novella that expands upon the events in the Painted Man series - at least I assume it does because I haven't yet read the third volume so I may be missing something. Nevertheless some knowledge of the demons and how they operate might be an advantage before reading this but not a necessity. The basic plot is amply set out in the blurb so no need to go into that too much suffice to say there are sufficient open ends for the characters here to infiltrate future stories and a new (to me) method of keeping the demons at bay is revealed. I wouldn't say that anyone reading the series need find this volume essentiual but it does make for an entertaining off-shoot to the main story

Loved this series from start to finish. A top quality author who has a way of transporting you to strange lands and adventures. If you have not read any of his books, you are in for a treat, best money ever spent.

Brilliant and short. Doesn't add much to the on going, albeit slow coming, normal series of books. But a wonderful book all the same. This novella is a fleshed version of the short story published in Unfettered. Fast becoming my favourite author. Read it in a few hours, couldn't put it down. I'd rather the next book, but this'll definitely pass the time while you wait for it.

This is an interesting read which compliments the demon cycle books I would recommend reading it before the final book. I got this book on offer for 99p but would have been disappointed spending £8 99 on such a short read.

I love this series. The writing is very good I am waiting for the movie industry to get involved this is up there with GOT. There is not many books I would like to see on the screen but this series is one. Hollywood or TV are missing the next big thing here.