The Great Bazaar and Other Stories

Shame on me for not having read Peter V. Brett???s The Warded Man and The Desert Spear yet. I have them on audio and I look forward to reading them ??? I just keep thinking that I???ll let Mr. Brett get further along in the series before I jump in (the series has been progressing slowly, but book 3, The Daylight War, comes out next February). Yet I???m attracted to Brett???s world and after reading his novella Brayan???s Gold, I wanted more, so I picked up the audio version of The Great Bazaar, another novella set in this land that???s overrun by various types of demons every time it gets dark.

Peter V. Brett explains in his introduction to the print version of The Great Bazaar and Other Stories that The Great Bazaar is chapter 16.5 of The Warded Man. Similar to Brayan???s Gold, it???s one of the short tales detailing Arlen???s work as a messenger. The stories were cut out of the novel to save space and make the story move faster. Brett explains that he???s got plenty of tales to tell about Arlen during this period of his life, so I expect we???ll be seeing more of these tales. Some can already be read in the print version of The Great Bazaar and Other Stories (available on Kindle for $5) and other deleted scenes can be found at Peter V. Brett???s website.

In The Great Bazaar, Arlen is travelling through the desert of Krasia with a map provided by Abban, a dealer in the bazaar. He???s looking for Baha kad???Everam, a deserted city famous for its expensive pottery. Nobody had been there for years because the place has been overrun by demons (including a type that Arlen has never heard of before), but Arlen hopes to find some pottery that will make him rich. Besides these new demons, Arlen also has to deal with the immortal rock demon he calls ???One-Arm??? who holds a The Great Bazaar by Peter V. Brettgrudge against Arlen and has been pursuing him for years. At the end of the story, Arlen sets out on another interesting quest. Will it be successful? I???ll have to read The Warded Man and The Desert Spear to find out.

I listened to the audio version of The Great Bazaar which was produced earlier this year by Recorded Books. The recording is 1?? hours long and is expertly read by Pete Bradbury who also reads the Brett novels. He does a really nice job and I???m definitely looking forward to beginning The Warded Man.

Its nice to have a small chapter on Abban. He has always been an interesting character and Great Bazaar does him good service. But we also get a glimpse of Arlen from the older days and its pretty fun to read. I got to get me some wards!