The Fires of December by Brandon Sanderson Book Review

 The Fires of December 

(Hoid's Travails #3)

(A Cosmere Universe Novel)

By Brandon Sanderson 

Published Year: 2026

Page Count: 452 pages 

Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader 

Genre: Science fiction, Fantasy, Time Travel, Science Fiction Fantasy, Romance, Demons, Good vs Evil, Alternate Realities, 2026-read.

Rating: 4.85/5 😎 😄 😄 😄 😄 

This is the third in series but happens to be my first book from the series. It can be read completely 💯 standalone. I didn't feel any lack in my understanding because of not picking this one in the set order.

The descriptions of the landscape and layout of the city, with the demon, felt difficult to follow but illustrations presented  alongside the text helped. There seemed to be some incongruencies where December, the main character, was trying to portray herself a mature woman to Flint, her current romantic interest and future husband, but was also flirting using tricks that naive, young girls do. I felt perhaps the author went a little overboard with the multiple rivers flowing out of the demon's body and making his body out of stone with passages for people to walk inside .. well this concept is so novel and eye popping I was stunned first and later accepted it for what it is. A genuinely original idea! 

 I think Sanderson has handled a very potential and complex subject deftly. This one is so much better than the usual science fiction fantasy (SFF)  books we see out there, even from noted authors. It blends elements of time travel, demons, multiple lives, alternate realities and magic masterfully and skillfully. I went into this blind and I wasn't able to discern what the story was about until quite a bit of it was finished. Then what came was a thrill of exhilaration. I love to read about time travel and demons. Two of my favourite topics and this one has both!! What more can I ask for, right?! These days every book I pick (randomly) happens to have something new and informative about demons .. maybe I am being haunted .. lol 😂 😂 

Coming to the story. December is a young girl orphaned when her mother died, kissing her through tears and planting a power in the babe that makes her special. She grows up and is married off to a rougish man that roughs her up one night, leading her to walk out on him. I felt really sad that she had no say in her choice for husband. Those are the times and it is a world where young women are given away to someone who seems even remotely powerful. He later becomes mayor to their town and makes her life miserable. She somehow sustains without losing her dignity. They are living in a remote town and hear rumors from the city that the king is murdered and there is a war going on among his dukes for the throne. They also learn that a demon who has been held in captivity by a powerful sword is released and the river of blood flowing from his body is drying up. 

Eventually, as the body of the demon rots and blood from his chest stops, the river fully dries and plague strikes their town. Everyone she knows and cares about perish but she lives on. She learns some healing working with a doctor,is nevertheless ostracized as a witch. At eighty years of age, she dies, in a cold bed, alone and unwept for. But her next life, she wakes in her 21 year old body, one day before her birthday. She realises she is granted another opportunity to set right a wrong that occured in the last, just finished life. Abandoning marriage, she travels to the city, becomes involved with Flint in romance, with a cat Beautiful who also has a piece of the demon's soul, embroils herself in court politics and desperately seeks for an exit from this demon situation. She reads, reads, gathers information, gathers skill and amazing will power but when the time comes to employ them, finds herself hesitating. She wants to forego the learnings and teachings of the tribes she spent time with and use some novel method for handling this situation with the demon. What does she do?

So freeing of the demon is inevitable. If not now then at some point in future. The demon is one gigantic spirit that got fractured into many many pieces, represented by animals, that come swirling back into the main framework when the demon is released. How does December find a way to keep the demon from eating all the souls and laying waste to the planet? And what happened to the prophet that has initially kept the demon locked? 

Very interesting read. I didn't know where this was going but amazingly the author remained on track without deviating and he has a way with imparting wisdom along with narrating a beautiful story! I liked the idea of dipping into this river of blood(which comes up in her life number two) , holding onto an image of a costume in mind and coming out wearing it.