The Skull Throne is the 4th book in the Demon Cycle series from Peter V. Brett. It takes place in the far future where the human race was all but wiped out by the appearance of demons that walk the earth at night. With only magic wards to protect against the demons (known as corelings), the human race lives in a much more primitive state than we do today.
We were left after book three with Arlen and Jadir having fallen from a cliff and both presumed lost by there followers. The Greenlanders are left with having to fight a war against both the increasing demon numbers as well as the Krasian people. The Krasians are left leaderless and a struggle for the skull throne begins.
Spoiler Alert (although who couldn't guess), Alren and Jadir aren't dead. They are however now locked in their own plot to take the fight to the core while their respective peoples have to learn to survive without them.
I enjoyed this book a lot more than the daylight war. I felt the pacing was much improved and, in the first half at least, we are treated to a lot of Arlen and Jadir, arguably the two most interesting characters. Its great to follow their relationship as they have both hate and love for each other due to there heavy past. They have a plan to take this fight to the core but they need a coreling prince to do it and he needs to be alive. They are not totally alone of course. Arlens slightly crazy wife and a couple of Jadirs trusted people are there to help carry out this crazy plot of theirs.
I also enjoyed the chaos that is caused by the empty Skull Throne. With Jadirs sons all hungry for power, only Inevera and Ashan can hold them at bay. But their grip can only hold so long and the second half of the book focuses a lot on this struggle.
There is also a strong focus on the Hollow trying to form an alliance with Angiers as this is logically the only hope the Greenlanders really have against the inevitable invasion of the Krasian army.
The pace of this book flows a lot better than both book 2 and 3 and something exciting is frequently happening. You are treated fairly evenly to events involving many of the main characters such as Leesha, Rojer, Inevera and Abbon. As always it would be nice to get even more of Arlen and Jadir but I guess I got more than I expected after reading the Daylight War, so I was left satisfied enough.
I am now looking forward to book 5 as it is set to be the final book in the tale and you can see big things should be happening with regards to Arlen, Jadir and the corelings. However the rest of the world is left in somewhat of a mess due to the lack of their leaders and I find it hard to see how it could possibly fix itself. But that just makes me all the more eager to find out whats next.
One thing I have noticed is that Brett has a tendency to add a new element on mass. In book 4 its Auras. In book 3 Arlen and Jadir both suddenly started to be able to see auras around people helping him determine there feelings and sometimes thoughts. In The Skull Thrones its seems that suddenly half the main cast can see them. Leesha, Inevera, Ahmanvah, the list goes on. I understand this is meant to be happening because of these peoples continued absorbence of magic, but it just seems a little strange how quickly it happens and to so many people at the same time. It feels more like Brett had a new idea and was desperate to implement it. These are minor quibbles in a series that I have, for the most part, very much enjoyed.
While these books suffer some pacing issues, their biggest strength is Brett's character building. He has a whole host of characters you will love, hate and at times both. Even Jadirs sons are brought more into the spot light and its great to see how they develop and try in their own way to prove their own worth to take the Skull Throne in their fathers place. Its unlikely you will be cheering them on but you will at least be excited to see what they do next.
It's a big step up from book 3 and has me looking forward to the final instalment.
A ripping good read
