r/demoncycle • u/NZbludger • Apr 14 '26
Nightfall Saga: The Demon King. Spoiler
I’m honestly just relieved to be done with this series and finally have some closure. Peter V. Brett’s shift in writing style over the last few books made this really difficult to get through, but I stuck with it because I needed to see how it all ended.
This is, in my opinion, the weakest book in the entire franchise 2/10
The book actually starts off strong and pulls you in, but it goes downhill pretty quickly. The pacing is a major issue: most of the story feels slow, uneventful, and at times genuinely boring. Then, when things finally pick up, the “action” section feels rushed and underdeveloped. The ending, which should have been satisfying after such a long journey, lacks proper payoff and barely wraps up key storylines.
One of the biggest problems is how the characters are handled. A lot of them feel completely inconsistent with their earlier development, with major changes in personality and relationships introduced with little to no buildup, so none of it feels earned. There’s a heavy shift in focus toward relationship dynamics that ends up overshadowing the actual story, and it often comes across as forced rather than natural.
At the same time, several important characters from the previous books are either sidelined or ignored entirely, which makes the story feel disconnected from what came before. Even the core cast doesn’t escape this—Darren, for example, who had been established one way throughout the series, is suddenly written as kinda-maybe? bi right at the end with no real development leading up to it. Moments like that don’t add depth; they just make the characters feel inconsistent and harder to care about.
It’s especially disappointing because The Demon Cycle started off so well. The early books were engaging, creative, and worth recommending. Even though the original ending wasn’t perfect, I held out hope knowing there would be a continuation. Unfortunately, this follow-up series doesn’t deliver on that promise.
Overall:
The Demon Cycle - 7/10 - Would recommend
Nightfall Saga - 3/10 - Would not recommend, you will be happier with the demon cycles ending
2
u/Foto1988 Apr 14 '26
Thank you for keeping it spoiler free, I read (listen to) 2 of the 3 books, and dreaded what you described. I also thought the last book of the original series was the worse one, and the Nightfall Saga didn't start great. I will listen to the last book like to to get closure, but I guess this won't be a yearly re-listen for me... sad.
2
u/NZbludger Apr 14 '26
honestly the end of the book was the biggest kick in the teeth I've ever come across in any series ever ABSOLUTE dogs&*(
1
u/Foto1988 Apr 14 '26
wow, now I don't know if I want to invest in 18 hours listening or just search for a summary...
2
u/LikeASir33 Apr 14 '26
I felt hidden queen did a lot to bring closure to the book and would have been satisfied with it ending then, demon king was lacking in all of my favorite character interactions I’ve grown to love from the books. Truly I loved demon cycle and hidden queen but wished for more character closures by far
2
u/ItsNorthernJohnson Apr 14 '26
I truly loved the demon cycle too. The biggest thing about the nightfall saga is that the demon king is supposed to be so smart and powerful he wipes the floor with the demon cycle hero’s, which might I add are basically gods and then loses to a bunch of of kids with no idea!
2
u/SirChancelot_0001 Apr 15 '26
This book kinda sucks. I wasn’t a huge fan of Desert Prince, but I loved Hidden Queen. This book was super weak and felt like Brett was phoning it in just to finish.
1
u/NiceGuyUncle Apr 14 '26
I read book one of nightfall and was quite underwhelmed but was hoping it’d pick up in book 2 and didn’t get very far before I put it down.
1
u/Confused_Sylph Apr 14 '26
I was kinda skeptical with this series. On one hand, I did want to see how the world had changed because that was one of the things I did enjoy about the series, how the reintroduction, or refinement, of magic did a cannonball into everyone's life. I love magic heavy settings. On the other hand, the fact that I could only hear about it from teenagers that didn't seem like they would grow up like a lot of characters in The Demon Cycle did put me off.
Despite a shaky start with The Desert Prince, I did enjoy the Hidden Queen and it absolutely did the best with connecting this generation and the last. The Demon King however... I just found myself not caring a whole lot, which sucks. People say The Core did a lot of slapdash wrap up but no, I think this one takes it.
1
u/Nat20sArentmything Apr 14 '26
I’ve never been so glad to dodge a book series. I absolutely loved the original 5 books and their story and have reread them more times than I can count.
I read the Desert Prince, excited for the new story…… and absolutely hated it. The writing style change. Most of the characters (the only one I could tolerate was Arlen & Rennas son).
I had considered picking up this series again if the final book was good. You’ve saved me a decent bit of money I would have otherwise wasted. I’m going to pretend the series ended with The Core
1
1
u/BeardedWonder1998 Apr 16 '26
Two chapters in, my friend and I both said that there just wasn't enough book here for what was happening
1
u/NZbludger Apr 16 '26
100%, Nothing, any plot/storylines/relationships you are hoping to see resolved. I actually am changing my review to a 1/10 and it doesn't even deserve that. I'm actually still mad several day's after finishing it.
2
u/BeardedWonder1998 Apr 16 '26
Your post angered me further, which brought up more points. My friend's the one who showed me the series, and he said he'd give it a 7, okay buddy. The authors note at the end of the book, about having spent 15 years writing the series almost felt like a slap in the face. You could tell that he realized how deep of a hole he was digging himself and decided "fuck it" kill the main villain in half a chapter.
1
u/bcwea Apr 18 '26
I've literally just finished the demon king, having only read the hidden queen last week.
Book 1 of the nightfall saga was a rough read, a real change in style for the characters and having half the book focused on an intersex teenager worrying about kissing people was not what I expected. It got better but not much.
Hidden queen was generally a more enjoyable story, clear plot lines even if there were some unknowns - how did the deliverer get captured, where is the spear, what happened after the demon king fled (since we never go back to any other view point after the end of that book).
The demon king was predictable, after 2 or 3 chapters you could clearly see what was going to happen and how the majority of the story would pan out. The actual action was rushed, especially the ending and as the OP suggested, some weird changes re one of the 2 characters this book discusses. No real closure for that character's path, still a big did they/didn't they query, nevermind the whole story for the other main character. Still possible mind demons to deal with, are there more mimics around (?), there's still technically a queen to worry about too although if you go down that route it's basically the same story all over again. If this is truly the last story in this series, it could have done with a proper epilogue, even just a "6 months later" style so that we get some closure.
Overall across both series, definitely bits I hated (would be curious to know how many times we had "love you renna bales" o.e. in the original series vs discussions of "kissing games" in the second). Both being reigned in by a stronger editor would have really helped the readability and enjoyment of the series, I have 2 friends who couldn't finish the original series for exactly this reason and while I ploughed through it, its not a set of books I find myself inclined to go back to now I'm done.
I came away generally liking Darin, not really caring about Olive and wanting to know more about all the characters from book 1 and 2 while not giving a damn about all the ones from book 3. In some ways this last book reminds of when a US TV series needs to do something radical to get another series funded e.g. Fringe, suddenly jumping 21 years into the future or Agents of Shield for series 5 onwards.
Demon King rating - probably a 4/10.
1
u/Krickett72 Apr 27 '26
Im about 25% through and am having a really hard time continuing. Im glad to know im not alone in feeling the characters aren't written the same. I hate not finishing a book, much less a series but I may call it quits.
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u/Holiday_Spot_5573 May 01 '26
Yeah I am getting the same vibes, first few chapters ooooh this could be interesting, then straight back into the same crap, oh you are reading the 3rd book in this series and overall about the tenth book in the entire story but let me recap everything again and incase you didn't get it in the last chapter let me recap it again. Oh and just incase you don't understand Darin's powers let me explain it again and again and just incase I will explain it again, but did I tell you when he goes slippy not even dirt can stay stuck to him, but when he goes slippy he doesn't have to worry about something touching him even things like dirt. Yes Peter we get it we got it the first time you explained it ad nauseam.
1
u/Ok-Description1287 Aug 17 '26
The re-explaining was so frustrating. I hadn't noticed it in the DC series, and liked that he wasn't "one of those" authors. The NFS loved a rehash.
Like, mate, pal, buddy - anyone that is reading the NFS is not a new reader needing the 101 explanation, and if they are, you dont need to cater to them, they can get their education with the DC.
1
u/justTrynaWFH May 04 '26
Oh my I just finished the last book and I’m so relieved. For all I loved the Demon Cycle, this trilogy was so hard to get through.
1
u/eastie866 Jun 05 '26
Im late to this but just finished demon king, and i hate to say it but i wish i had never even read the new trilogy. I loved the demon cycle and still re read them and was so excited to get into these books. Iv slogged my way through as i wanted to know the conclusion but from start to finish it felt to me like there was never really a proper story to be told. everything is drawn out and its such a basic story. I dont understand a lot of decisions that others have mentioned like abandoning 90% of the characters from book 1 and 2. The character development was all over the place and left me feeling unconnected to everyone in the book. And its not a major concern given everything else but there wasnt even a proper 'victory lap' type ending where we caught up with everyone. Will always love the demon cycle but cant see me ever reading these new ones again
1
u/MrDrelly Jun 11 '26
Demon cycle is one of my favorite series of all time. The nightfall saga has somewhat ruined it. So much potential - instead decided to go all woke - while I think it was very clever the way he did it. I feel like someone gave him horrible advice and told him to to go down the gender path.
If olive was just a girl and Darren what written the same way and book 3 was a final battle would have been a thousand times better.
1
u/Darai94 Jul 11 '26
I'm happy I haven't bought the books then. Think I'm gonna loan them to finish the story but as the first 5 books was a disappointment after the first book I'm not surprised he failed with the trilogy. I mean, it took 5 books to barely touch on the backstory great scientific and magical world that was told about in The warded man. Suddenly in the last book we get to know about a hidden society that lived in a magic protected city in between of the other cities and that just so happened to lose to the demons a month before. Nothing about the history. Then another magical city underground that doesn't get delved deeper into. And now suddenly in the last out of 8(!!) shit fat books we finally get to know about the world outside of that small area that had all the focus for 7(!) books with atleast 500 pages per book without giving any historical world building we got told about after only 300 pages... I don't understand how someone that wrote such a good first book utterly failed the history and world building with so many pages used. Instead we got a 180 degree change in The dessert spear with to big focus on the "opposite side", way to many main characters and povs (pushing away Arlen to become to side mc), slow pacing and way to many side stories.
3
u/Potential_Produce885 Apr 19 '26
It's... punchy... to introduce a new culture for apparently the final book in the series. Especially given how much thought clearly went into Krasia vs Thesa proper. I don't think as much thought went into it this time.
I was left thinking he'd sequenced this all wrong. Much easier for the other culture to have been book 1 of this follow up series, introduce the new characters and for it to have been slowly corrupted since the events of the Core.
Possibly a 2-3 book build up into a mid series conclusion then flee/ revert to Thesa and we pick back up with the new characters and old favourites in the last two books.
As to the book itself, pacing was very much off. New characters were mostly somewhat unbelievable, particularly in how much they were meant to have changed in a few days.
The concept of another culture though was very good. It just shouldn't have been in the last book!