Saved by a power cut - Rated 
After His Dark Materials and the Sword of Truth series (the final book is sitting on the shelf, untouched, waiting to be read), as well as the Well World series (which, although it's classed as science fiction, is more fantasy than classic SF), I've been looking for another series to get into and The Painted Man looked the part.
Humanity is trapped in the near compulsory (for fantasy) medieval era while magical things happen. In this case it's night-demons, or corelings: basically elemental spirits made flesh. Magic wards set up a sort of force field that they can't penetrate, but in a medieval society, with only horses for transport, these need to be portable. Further the wards have to be visible as their magic seems to depend upon their visibility.
So what did I think? For the first hundred pages my enthusiasm waned and I considered the ethics of shredding the book to make it into briquettes to burn for warmth over what is reckoned to be going to be a cold winter. By page two hundred I was preparing to write a review giving the reasons why I hadn't finished the book and why no-one else should bother either. At page three hundred I was actively looking for tables or chairs with short legs that the book could prop up. This all took a month, the book was such hard going...
Two days ago we had a power cut, a regular enough occurrence out in the sticks, and I settled down with the final 225 pages of The Painted Man. The final third of the book, when all the characters due to make it to the next book come together is good stuff - it`s almost as though Brett has realised that he has to pull something out of his hat to make people buy the book and its sequels!) and has accordingly upped his game.
As a trilogy, it shows promise, as a stand-alone book it's pretty dreadful. Even as part one of a trilogy it's sorely in need of a severe pruning in the first half. If Lord of the Rings were written on the same basis, Bilbo wouldn't be having his party until his 200th birthday instead of his eleventy-first.
I feel fairly confident that I'll be getting at least volume two. Whether or not I bother with volume three depends on volume two - no pressure, then. Not the best book to read to discover if you like fantasy, but Brett eventually shows promise.
Slicker than your average swords and sandals epic - Rated
The Painted Man is a slightly different beast when it comes to the fantasy I remember reading in my youth. Unlike the fantasy I read when I was younger 'The Painted Man' is refreshingly character driven and doesn't have scads of maps, glossaries or a character play list for the reader to have to wade through. The style of writing is stripped down and almost noirish.
I particularly liked the characters Arlen, Rojer and Leesha as they each had a magical gift that would need to be utilised to fight back against the darkness in society. The main plot and setting reminded me in some ways of Pitch Black but with demons! In the Painted Man's setting demons are real and they rule the land between sunset and sunrise leaving the normal folk at their mercy huddled in their settlements protected only by ward signs. A definite plus to this novel is that the world building and use of magic is very strong, nothing comes easy so that each of the protagonists has to struggle to learn to harness their powers which I felt added a nice note of realism (one of the reasons I stopped reading fantasy was the plethora of kitchen boys who became the most powerful magicians in the land in the space of a tea break!)
I would definitely recommend this for its characterisation and world building alone and given how much I enjoyed it I suspect that you wouldn't necessarily have to be a fantasy fan.
Outstanding and original debut fantasy novel - Rated 
The Painted Man, by Peter V Brett is the first in a trilogy of fantasy novels.
I chose this book on a whim, not expecting anything particularly special. So often debut fantasy novels seem to be variants on a saga in the style of Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter. The Painted Man is very different.
The story opens with Arlen, a young boy in a rural village. Every night the Corelings (demons) rise out of the earth and attack and kill villagers whose homes are not properly protected by Wards. Wards are symbols carved into surfaces, that demons may not cross. Arlen shows some early promise at carving these symbols, and when his mother dies as a result of a Coreling attack, he decides to leave for the city and find a way to fight the Corelings, rather than just rely on the Wards for defence. The other two central characters are Leesha (a herbalist and healer) and Rojer, a type of travelling entertainer called a Jongleur. This first instalment in the trilogy follows the story of all three children as they grow to adulthood, and meet and fight their first joint battle against the Corelings.
This was a great book, and I am looking forward to reading the next two books in the trilogy. The story is original, with an element of horror mixed in with the fantasy. The characters are clearly defined (if not quite as original as they could be) and the plot is well paced. Like all the best fantasy novels, it was very hard to put down until you reached the end.
Awesome - Rated
I picked this book at random as I was looking for something new to read. From the moment it was delivered and I started to read it took over my whole life!! I just couldn't put it down, the story was refreshingly different to other fantasy I have read and completely gripping, the characters were interesting with a good background which was explanined in detail as the plot moved on. The only problem was as I neared the end I became eager to find out what happend but incredibly sad because it was going to end. There are very few books that capture my attention so completely but this one did it with ease. I have already pre-ordered the next one in the series!!!!
Engrossing and convincing start to a well-conceived trilogy - Rated 
In Arlen's world, demons are real. They come out at night to attack the villagers, and all they can do is huddle together and hide in their houses and shops, hoping for the runes etched on walls and doors to save them, hoping nobody's protection will fail, waiting for the dawn when the corelings are driven back. Arlen wishes people would fight back and defend themselves, especially when a demon attack rips his family apart - and then he meets the brave travellers who risk moving between villages and towns, taking news and trade from one place to another, keeping ties between a society fractured by the demons' actions. And if one person can travel safely, or learn the runes and skills to do so, what else can one person do?
I loved this book with its clearly imagined world, and the three strands following Arlen, healer Leesha and jongleur Rojet. It owes a lot to the standard elements of the fantasy genre but most of the narrative is built up from how people react, with fear or with determination, and how education and greed, a desire to help and a wish for power all battle it out to dictate how life is led day to day. There are no magic wands here, and the system of runes takes time and study to learn, as do other bits of useful knowledge, where it hasn't already been lost by the upheaval the corelings caused, that is. The three leads are all young but I wouldn't class it as "young adult", the plots is quite complex and there's rape and murder and gory death here, giving what could be a standard monsters and magic type book a gritty underside - it gets quite grim at times, in the main because Peter V Brett's writing is vivid and detailed, everything comes alive to the reader.
First part of a trilogy, so the author has had time to let his backstory and character traits develop, and introduce many new and interesting ideas - just wait till you find out what the "painted man" of the title refers to! I was engrossed in this from the start and recommend it highly to readers of fantasy.
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