The Great Bazaar/Brayans Gold
is an elegant volume containing two novellas by Peter V. Brett in his world of The
Painted Man. The novellas were previously published in 2010 and 2011 but this is the
first time they have been available as a collected joint set. The first novella is Brayans
Gold (although this was written second) and concerns apprentice messenger
Arlen Bales, the central character of the series, first mission. Here he shows his
steadfastness of purpose as a messenger and his integrity of character.
The second novella The Great Bazaar also features Arlen Bates
and is set in the southern lands of The Desert Spear, the second
book of the series. Here Arlen displays greater knowledge of the night demons and has the
beginnings of an idea of how to effectively destroy them.
These two stories were not only complete in and of themselves (both could stand alone
if need be), but were very good tasters to Mr Bretts Painted Man trilogy,
and were also useful backgrounders to the tales told in that series. They left me wanting
more, which isnt always the case with fantasy. I will also note that the volume is
very nicely packaged in faux leather binding with gold script and cover art. As I noted
above: a very elegant volume.
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