After his village is attacked by demons, young Arlen escapes to train as a messenger and learn how humanity can fight back against the nightly demonic threat. The Warded Man tells the story of Arlen, a young boy living in a rural village in a land beset by nightly onslaughts from bloodthirsty, elemental demons. The only defense that Arlen and his village have against the demons are a series of complex wards that they paint on their homes and villages to stop the monsters' advances. But the wards are not foolproof. The smallest scratch in one of the arcane markings can result in catastrophic demonic invasion.
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As a boy Arlen witnesses his mother's murder at the hands of earth and fire demons. His father is too afraid to intervene, which disgusts Arlen. Soon after the attack, Arlen runs away from home intent on discovering a path for people to fight back against the demonic hordes. He becomes a messenger, a sort of warrior mailman, who travels the world with the aid of a portable ward circle. The messengers brave exposure to demons on the road to help maintain links and trade between the various villages and cities of the world. Arlen enjoys being a messenger, but he is really only using the profession as a pretext to search for the lost combat wards that will allow humanity to fight back against the demons.
Arlen's journey eventually brings him to the city of Krasia, a desert country where warriors fight a nightly ritual battle against the demons called "alagai sharak." Although the Krasians hate outsiders, their leader Jardir eventually befriends Arlen for his bravery and willingness to fight demons. One day, while exploring the vast deserts of Krasia, Alren discovers a spear covered in unusual wards. As it turns out, this spear is a lost relic of Krasia and the wards on the spear are some of the lost combat wards. Arlen demos his spear for the Krasians during that night's alagai sharak. The warriors of Krasia cheer him on as he uses the warded spear to fell demon after demon.
Jardir double crosses Arlen after alagai sharak, stealing the spear away from him and dropping him, unarmed, in a pit with a sand demon. Arlen manages to defeat the sand demon with his bare hands and climbs out of the pit. Amazed at his strength, Jardir decides not to kill Arlen directly and simply abandons him in the desert. To survive, Arlen tattoos the combat wards from the spear onto his skin and feeds himself on demon flesh.
Two other POV characters intersect with Arlen at the end of the story.
Leesha Paper is girl in the logging village of cutter's hollow. She loses her marriage prospects when her boyfriend falsely claims to have deflowered her before marriage. The boast ruins Leesha's reputation and she goes into an apprenticeship with the village gatherer, a sort of medicine woman with knowledge of herbs and potions.
Rojer's house wards fail when he is just a small boy. His family is killed by demons, but he escapes with a traveling jongleur--and kind of bard or who entertains villages with songs and tricks. Rojer apprentices under this jongleur and ultimately becomes a master fiddle player. He realizes that he can control the demons with his music, pacifying them and stirring them to rage. At first sight, Rojer becomes enamored with Leesha Paper.
The story ends when the three protagonists lives finally cross. Arlen saves Leesha and Rojer from certain death.
Best part of story, including ending:
The Warded Man is an excellent debut novel, the setting and the three POV characters are fully realized. Arlen's story is a classic bildungsroman with a creative twist.
Best scene in story:
Arlen, disarmed and trapped in a pit with a vicious sand demon, manages to use quick defensive wards to cut the demon in half. He survives the death sentence and climbs out of the pit hand over hand to confront the friend who betrayed him.
Opinion about the main character:
Arlen is an easy character to root for. His drive to help humanity fight back against the demons is the primary thrust of the narrative.
