The Demon King

Nightfall Saga #3

by Peter V. Brett

The third and final book in The Nightfall Saga, the thrilling and action-packed epic fantasy series set in the world of The Demon Cycle, from New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett

“Heart-wrenching, smart, and modern . . . The Desert Prince has set a new standard for fantasy.”—Wesley Chu, author of The War Arts Saga

He is known as The Prince of Lies. The Father of Demons. He is Alagai Ka, the Demon King.

Though humanity won a hard-fought victory in its war against demonkind, the Demon King has escaped in search of a new queen to restart his dark hive, and has found signs of one on a distant shore.

But pursuing him are humanity's best Olive Paper and Darin Bales, whose legendary parents brought demonkind low once before. Olive and Darin will not rest until the demons are defeated, and so relentless is their hunt that they have followed Alagai Ka across the sea to a strange new land.

There they discover a culture unlike any they have never known, where demons live alongside humans as servants and companions. And there they meet the demon's masters--including a seductive prince who is drawn to Olive--who seem unable or unwilling to understand the danger they are in.

Because no human is safe from the Demon King's thirst for war--and every human must join the battle against his kingdom of death.

Book Three of The Nightfall Saga

Don’t miss any of Peter V. Brett's riveting Nightfall 
THE DESERT PRINCE• THE HIDDEN QUEEN • THE DEMON KING

Genres: Fantasy, Adult, Fiction, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

Unknown Binding

Expected publication April 7, 2026

About the author

Peter V. Brett is the internationally bestselling author of the Demon Cycle series, which has sold over four million copies in 27 languages worldwide. Novels include The Warded Man, The Desert Spear, The Daylight War, The Skull Throne, and The Core. Other works include the Red Sonja: Unchained graphic novel and the Demon Cycle novellas The Great Bazaar, Brayan's Gold, Messenger's Legacy, and Barren. The Desert Prince, the first installment of his Nightfall Saga, published in August 2021. The sequel, The Hidden Queen, is due early 2024. He lives in Brooklyn.

www.petervbrett.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/PVBrett
Instagram: https://instagram.com/pvbrett/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PVBrett/
TikTok: @PVBrett

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

not out yet, but someone gave it 1 star, so I gave it 5 stars to balance it. Not fair.

[Petra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Demon Cycle is a favourite series of mine, and I was really excited to dive back into this world with The Demon King....boooyy it delivered, and then some. Continuing the journey exactly where we left off in the previous book - on the hunt that takes our main characters far away and introduces a new civilisation with all the challenges that come with it. As always, the writing is perfectly paced, and I love how Olive and Darin's POVs were utilised perfectly. The subtle nudges of info were delightful giving you the perfect amount of information to juggle your memory from previous events if you need it.
The switch between them was perfectly timed and so satisfying. Plenty of action, and I really enjoyed the gripping feeling of high stakes that circulates like a hum through you while reading the book. Everything was perfectly wrapped up without loose ends, but low-key, I really hope it wasn't the last we see of this gripping, immersive world.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of The Demon King by Peter V. Brett. All thoughts are my own.

This was easily my favourite book in the series so far.

The new setting and characters made the story feel fresh and exciting, while still feeling firmly grounded in the world that’s already been built. I really enjoyed getting to explore a different side of the universe, and the new relationships added a lot to the story.

The pacing was especially strong. It kept things moving in a way that made the book genuinely hard to put down, with enough tension and momentum to stay engaging throughout.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable read and a standout entry in the series for me. If you’ve been followingi the series, this one is well worth the time.

I will say that I wish we had a little more closure at the end. I’d have liked to have known more about certain characters.

[Elli (Kindig Blog) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Peter Brett’s The Demon Cycle Saga, and was excited to hear there was a sequel series called The Nightfall Saga. Having been lucky enough to read ARCs of the last 2 books in the series – The Desert Prince and The Hidden Queen, I was excited to read the next book which is out soon called The Demon King.

The Demon King picks up where The Hidden Queen left off – with protagonists Darin Bales and Olive Paper hot on the tail of the fleeing Demon King. Their journey takes them far across the sea, to a land which sees demons very differently to their own world view…

It’s been a little while since I read the last book, particularly as I read it before it officially released, but Peter Brett is, as always great with exposition. Reminders about characters, plotlines and backstory are seamlessly woven into the plot in a way that does not make them feel like vast swathes of information. This ensures the reader is not taken out of the immersion of the story but just introduces little jogs to the memory to keep you on track. That said, this is book three of a series and it is not a standalone story – so I would only start it if you have read the other two books (although also reading The Demon Cycle Saga is not strictly necessary).

I really enjoyed the plotline of this book – seeing how a different civilisation with a different timeline has fared in similar circumstances was really interesting and offered a fresh perspective throughout. Without giving away spoilers, this new way of working also had me on edge and agreeing with Darin that things were likely to go wrong at any moment, which kept the stakes sky-high.

As in the other books, the narrative alternates between Olive and Darin’s perspective, with Darin’s voice being accented. The alternating nature of the chapters does not follow a strict routine, and we stay with one perspective as long as is needed for the storyline to progress. I think this worked well and felt I wasn’t rushing from one perspective to get to the other – I enjoyed what each character brought to the table. There is also some great character development – with both characters meeting people who share their somewhat unique characteristics, which has been unusual in the series so far.

The events of the book were well plotted, although I did feel that there was a bit of unnecessary repetition in places. The reminders about characters, plots and motivations were needed at beginning when it referred to the other books, but when it became about events I’d just read in a previous chapter, I thought it started becoming a little tiresome. This could easily be edited down and make for a bit of a shorter, and more accessible read. The plot is action packed and fast paced though and wrapped up well though – to the point where I’m unsure if this is the last we will see of our characters or if book four is just around the corner!

Overall, The Demon King is another great addition to The Nightfall Saga – with a fresh, action-packed plot. Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Collins UK – Harper Fantasy – Harper Voyager for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For more of my reviews check out Kindig Blog

[AltLovesBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Trouble has a way of finding you, like it or not."

Olive and Darin are off on their own in a new, strange land in this final book in the trilogy. In pursuit of the Demon King after their clash in book two, they instead find a society that has turned demons into, essentially, livestock and pets. A society that doesn't understand their urgency in locating the king of all demons, and instead finds the two of them barbaric, uncultured, and not to be trusted. But in the midst of this distrust they find (somewhat reluctant) allies, and have to find a way to not only find the demon king, but make an entire culture see how everything they know may have been built on lies.

So for the good, I liked how this book really never felt slow or bogged down in minutiae. This is a fast-paced book from beginning to end, and I was really engaged with it the whole time. I also really liked this new society the author created, and allowing our two main characters space to really develop outside of The Hollow. The previous books were fun, but sometimes I felt like Olive and Darin especially were upstaged by some of the supporting cast. Finally, I really liked how this book felt like an honest ending to a series, rather than leaving things up in the air for maybe-someday sequels that never come.

For the things I liked less, I kind of didn't like how we met all these interesting new characters and this interesting new society in the very last book. It didn't feel like we spent enough time with them or their city to really see growth, or to really get a sense for the society itself. We have the main city, and then....everything outside that's kind of hand-waved away. Which is fine! All the action is here in the city anyway, but I couldn't help but feel like this might have been a better idea on its own, not as the third book in a trilogy that didn't start there. Also, and I realize this is going to sound like a contradiction because I listed it as one of my positives, I kind of didn't like how the ending to a whole 3 book saga (very ending spoilers here) being relegated to a short scene in a study. A lot of the characters we had gotten to know over two books just weren't heard from again after book two, if they didn't make it into this short study scene, and that's a bit of a letdown.

But this was still an enjoyable end to a really fun trilogy of books! There's lots to like in all of these books, and I'm glad I picked up The Warded Man years ago.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

[Terence · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the time of The Return, demons devastated an unprepared humanity who believed they were only myths. While Thesa and Krasia saw their numbers dwindle with few remaining settlements, in a different part of the world another society handled The Return better. Alagai Ka fled his old hive in defeat to the shores of this society. He is hoping to avoid death and he's been drawn as he senses a demon queen. Olive and Darin have followed him as well. They have arrived to a place where humanity learned to subjugate demondkind.

The Demon King was in many ways what I thought the sequel series should have been about. The children from the Demon Cycle exploring the wider world, encountering new societies, and battling demons in different ways. My challenge with this book is it removed a number of familiar elements that I did appreciate from the earlier books, namely every character we know outside of Olive and Darin. We spent two books getting to know these other characters only for them not to appear in the concluding book of the trilogy.

Olive and Darin were forced into a difficult spot in The Demon King and they grew because of it. The new society they arrive in is quite familiar with humans who merged with siblings in the womb and people who have consumed the flesh of demons. They have hundreds of years worth of history with these sorts. So the pair get to learn far more about their powers than they ever could have before.

The new characters we meet in this book felt too rushed to truly invest in. They have some aspects to them that are familiar to people we've met over the Demon Cycle and the Nightfall trilogy, but a society that has subjugated demons for hundreds of years is vastly different from the world Olive and Darin have grown up in. If the series would have arrived in this new location earlier, the payoff may have been more rewarding.

The Demon King seems likely to be the conclusion of Peter V. Brett's demon world. This isn't like the conclusion of the Demon Cycle with the heroes all having their own children. This feels more definitive, with maybe a small crack left open to do something new if the author truly desires to do so. I'd be open to a prequel about Kaji though if he ever wants to write it. This trilogy was fun in its own way even though I would have loved seeing demonkind exterminated at the conclusion of the Demon Cycle series.

3.5 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Josh Talbot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC

Brett’s book are always well paced and thought through, with a clever and original style of fight/magic system that is refreshing amongst a genre that can be very repetitive. Having read (and re-read) a lot of Brett’s work over the years, both for my own enjoyment and for my work, this is a fantastic conclusion to the this Trilogy.

I did find that there where certain sections that felt slightly repetitive, whilst I appreciate that he links to previous storylines at the beginning, in case one hasn’t reread the previous two before starting this, it carried on throughout, sometimes linking back to a previous chapter. This felt unnecessary, but didn’t cause me to dislike or disfavour the book in anyway.

As we knew already so much about the lands the previous saga, and the previous two books in this trilogy were set in, it was a welcoming change to find ourselves in a new environment and land. Whilst there were certain links to Krasia, for example the language, it still felt like there was a chance to see how the land had developed and the culture evolved in its own way. With their own religion and mythology, and cultural aspects for Olive and Darin to learn from. I did miss, however, the characters we have learnt to love and become attached too, and felt they where shorted at the end by us not getting more of a ending for them, or at least understanding what they had gone through in the month this book was set. In wouldn’t have missed their presence so much throughout the book, if the conclusion had wrapped up some of their storylines for us. That being my only critique though, and most likely a very individual one, that definitely does not diminish Brett’s hard work and patience to create a strong world and story for his characters.

[Annabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started the Nightfall Saga before reading the Demon Cycle, but in the time between The Hidden Queen and now, I corrected that issue and though you don't strictly have to have read that series to enjoy this book, it certainly adds something knowing the history. As a housekeeping note, the book doesn't include a summary section of "So Far in the Series...", instead the author seamlessly incorporates the pertinent details of the past (even from the Demon Cycle) into the main characters' narration and it definitely does not come across as dry exposition. The story is narrated in the first person alternating between Olive Paper, Darin Bales, and to a lesser degree Alagai Ka. I have been waiting for this conclusion since the moment that I read the end of The Hidden Queen when we found out that Darin and Olive followed the Demon King across the sea and plan to hunt him down. We arrive to a new land with its own customs, including humans having demon companions, they make friends and enemies and get caught up in this culture but their target won't let them forget their mission and epic battle emanates. The ending caps off this trilogy nicely and it is clear that it is Darin and Olive's adventure as well as how they have grown from the experiences. With this last book complete, this also makes a very bingeable series for anyone (adult or young adult) who has yet to discover it.
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

[Deon Schalkwyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book in the series picks up where book two left off on the other side of the world with Oliver and Darin chasing the demon king all the while coming to terms with a new language and people and politics.

The book is a little slow to start but soon picks up once's were introduced to all the new characters and honestly sometimes you're just internally screaming at how silly these people are with how lax they are with their demons.

As ever politics and people of power are going to do what they do best and think they know best and Olive and Darin find themselves in trouble once again.

It's nice to see Darin finally come into his powers and understanding himself a bit more. Olive also has to adjust and is almost free as she is widely accepted in this new country.

Willst all this is going on the demon king is scheming as a demon king does and what follows is perhaps not quite as epic a battle as you'd expect but it does offer satisfaction after almost 9 novels.

All in all a great book and I'm hoping there will be a follow on as there's a few threads left hanging.

[Karen Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still remember being blown away by ‘The Painted Man’. A unique and detailed new fantasy world to explore! Many reviewers have said that the remaining four books of the Demon Cycle went downhill from there, and I agree to an extent, however the whole story was still very good, with excellent world building. This Nightfall series, of which the Demon King is the third book ( the last? I hope not), reverses the trend, being in my opinion the best of the three.
It introduces a whole new civilisation and culture to an already complex world, a culture with a far different ‘relationship’ with the demons to that of Krasia and Thesa. This is where Olive and Darin end up in their pursuit of the Alaga’kai, far, far from home, and they have to contend with the political machinations of this society, as well, of course, as a pantheon of demons.
The pace towards the end of the story is breathtakingly fast, and I had to, as Darin Bales quoted his mother saying, ‘Remember to breathe’.
I really hope this is not the end of story, as hinted at in the acknowledgements.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh lordy, I really fell apart while reading this one. Excellent on every level. Gold-standard epic fantasy.

Maybe it's a bit of the weight of all the history of the the Warded series and a great deal about the fact I've grown to love these kids so much, but being cut off from everything they knew and having to to navigate their way around a foreign country with very alien ideas and ideals, let alone technology, would have been enough for any standard fantasy novel.

It would have been enough to satisfy me.

But instead, Brett went all out and gave us not only a fantastic build-up, making me love all large cast of characters and their complicated setup, but really throws it all into the real shit AND we have to deal with some truly brilliant fights. And the scale? Never fear.

It's DELICIOUS.

This is and continues to be one of my all-time favorite fantasy series. Creative, clever, rich, rich, rich.

[Victoria Viper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Netgalley and the author for this Arc. I have read the rest of this trilogy and I was so excited when I got this Arc accepted.
I was missing the little drawings at the start of the chapters to know what character pov it was. I don't know why it wasn't in here, nothing worse that starting chapters and not knowing what character it was, yes you could guess it by continuing reading but still it should have been added either way.
I liked the change of scenery in this conclusion but I really missed Selen she was my favorite character.
Yndros was an amazing addition to the trilogy.
It was an amazing conclusion though I wish we knew more about other characters in the ending.

[Paul Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

So probably not a good idea to read a book that is 3rd in current series, saying that the author does a superlative job in recapping albeit in short form what’s gone before, I have to admit to having my flabber being ghasted by this book, it drew me in completely and spat me out wanting more, I will be getting the previous books posthaste

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. But it’s not the best written book. The pacing was the major problem because it was rushing. But I really do like the kind of different demons that appear in this book. I just can’t recommend this book.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Demon King feels like the book this sequel trilogy has been building toward, sending Darin and Olive across the sea into a civilization that has learned to live with demons rather than simply fear them. The new setting gives Peter V. Brett room to stretch his world in surprising ways, and watching the pair confront unfamiliar politics, powers, and expectations adds real tension to what could have been a straightforward hunt. The alternating narration remains sharp, and the reminders of past events are woven in cleanly enough that the story never stalls. The final act moves with breathless momentum and delivers a conclusion that feels earned, even if it leaves just enough space for more tales in this world.

Thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Demon King is the third and concluding book of Peter V Brett’s Nightfall Saga and, it seems, the author’s final novel set in the Demon Cycle world for the foreseeable future. You will need to have read the previous two books in the Nightfall Saga before embarking on this one, but not necessarily have read the preceding Demon Cycle pentalogy.
This book did not go in the direction I was expecting it to – and that’s no bad thing. Given that this is the author’s eighth novel in this world, it felt entirely fresh. The plot picks up directly from the ending of the Hidden Queen, following protagonists Olive Paper and Darin Bales as they track the fleeing Demon King across the ocean to lands new. The people there have a view of demon-kind which is very different from anything we have seen before.
The Demon King has a remarkably slim page count compared to the author’s other works, but I never felt short changed. The pacing of the story worked well for me and I zipped my way through quite happily.
I do hope the author decides to revisit this world in the future, but if not this is a fitting end to the series. Recommended.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, HarperVoyager, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.