** spoiler alert ** 
 So, I really wanted to give this book five stars. It was mostly well-written, action-packed, and I was pretty much unable to put it down. In fact, When I got done work this afternoon, I drove up to the bookstore to get the sequel because I enjoyed reading it that much. The problem is, just because I enjoyed a book doesn't necessarily mean it was good. Let's go through the reasons why I both love and and hate it. 
 Reasons I loved it: 
 1) For the majority of the book, I quite liked the characterizations of the main characters. I thought their childhoods were well done, and their personalities worked well with their surroundings. 
 2) Two related things: the action, and the gore. Oh yes. I won't even pretend that I don't love reading fight scenes, or that I think the goriest ones are the best. And to make things even better, the action never stopped! This is probably the strongest factor for my love of this book. 
 3) Also related to number two: the corelings. Oh man. I love me some demons, and these demons are utterly fantastic (if not terribly intelligent). I feel like some of the descriptions of what they look like could have been done better, though. I didn't really have a clear idea in my head of what any of them looked like. It didn't really effect my enjoyment of the battle scenes, I just like to have the pretty pictures in my head to go along. 
 4) I can at least appreciate his attempts at gritty realism. I don't think he always pulled off (see upcoming mini-rants), but, damnit, at least he tried. 
 Reasons I hated it: 
 [SPOILERS AFTER HERE. LOTS OF THEM.] 
 1) My first two reasons are kind of combined? The first is simply gender roles, and the second is, well, the topic of rape. So let's start with the gender roles, which obviously is your usual "women are subsurviant to men and only good for childbearing!" thing. Oh, there are some women in important roles, especially as Herb Gatherers, and supposedly when you go to the city, Mothers are super-important. Buuut they still aren't as important as men, and they still have to bear male heirs. Unfortunately, the reason why this is important is never actually explained in the novel: I just sort of ended up assuming that the main religion is just supposed to be based off the Christian religion, as filtered through all-important Rome. Whatever. But then there's also the sexism against men, where a) they can't be allowed to know the recipe of demonfire or whatever they called it because men will use it for everything!!!...but this "fire" is the only thing they know of that's capable of killing wood corelings (um...okay?), and b) if a man wants sex, there is absolutely no way he won't force the girl into it, and the girl won't be able to protect herself from it. So imagine my surprise during the first attempted rape scenes where Leesha managed to protect herself using her Herb Gatherer knowledge. It was awesome! I was all "YOU GO GIRL" the entire time. And then later on in the story, she does end up getting raped by some bandits. At first her reaction is pretty reasonable, the whole being in shock and then feeling dirty and trying desperately to wash her bits off so she'll feel clean again. But then, lo and behold! The Warded Man shows up! And within a dozen pages they're having sex in the middle of the woods before the sun has fully risen, which is, you know, dangerous. I shit you not, I was cheering for the coreling that showed up and interrupted them having sex. Fuck yeah, coreling! Even you know this is unrealistic and want this to get out of the story ASAP! So, yeah. Gender roles, man. If you're going to be ridiculously sexist, DO IT RIGHT. Especially if you want to use rape as a tool for character growth, which I personally feel should never be done. Rape isn't a tool; it's a tragedy. /mini-rant 
 2) Oh, come on, do we have to have the Middle Eastern villains again? And, yes, I'm sorry, but they are so obviously based on the types of Muslims that make women were burqas and whatnot that it's ridiculous. It was a nice touch that they were the only community willing to fight the demons, but their entire stupid society was based on it to their detriment. They kept fighting even though their numbers were dwindling and apparently the entirety of their civilization fit in one city. And order to be a true part of the community (as a man), you either had to fight the demons or become a religious figure. There were no other options. None. If you were a male and did anything besides fight demons or live by the book, you were considered a lesser person than, oh, let's say women. I swear this society is the bastard child of the worst aspects of super-conservative Islam and Spartan societies. Why is this necessary? Mr. Brett, I AM DISAPPOINT. 
 3) Very, very mild annoyance, but I can't help but wonder if this is where Brett actually got part of his inspiration from: the very, very strong echoes of Final Fantasy X in the backstory. You know, the part where humans were using machines and forgot the ways of god and were punished with demons? Yeah, that was the exact reason why Sin was around in FFX. Maybe I'm looking into it too much. I don't know. But it was a mild annoyance when I first read it. 
 4) I can't believe some of the really terrible characterization in some parts of the story. Erny, for example: timid little man, utterly terrified of his wife and allows her to beat his beloved daughter, but then the daughter gets a backbone so suddenly he does as well! It's like magic! Then of course, there's the post-rape sex scene. And then goddamn Arlen. What is your personality, Warded Man? Please pick one and freakin' stick with it. Thanks. 
 5) Despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed the childhood sequences, at least part of me wishes he had just skipped all of it and went straight to the action. Or, hell, even started in media res with whatever the sequel is about. Yes, their childhoods were important to understand where the characters were coming from, but the thing is, all of that is backstory. I think I would have much preferred the novel to focus only on Leesha's childhood, and then used her POV to later find out more about Rojer and Arlen as her adventure with them went on. I would probably like Arlen's persona as the Warded Man better if he was more mysterious, at the very least. 
 On the other hand, I do think it's somewhat worth noting that this is Brett's first published novel. Hopefully as he continues writing, these things will get better. If not, well, at least the man knows how to keep your attention. So his work will always be good as long as you don't expect every it to be fantastic. 
 That's...pretty much all I can think of right now. I thought I had more to say, but either I didn't, or I forgot about it. Oh well. XD