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Thomas, an excommunicated-knight-turned- thief, gets mixed up with Mathieu, an alcoholic priest, and an orphaned pre-teen called Delphine. (I know they didn’t use pre-teen in medieval times but it’s the best way to get the picture.)

The three of them travel through plague-infested, medieval France, pushed on by some vague Holy purpose that guides Delphine. They run across horrors including monsters, devils, and some really awful people. Some good people two.

I liked the tension created with the two men who had a dubious connection to their religious faith and questioned their own worth in contrast to Delphine who was always sure of her purpose and steady in her belief in the goodness of her two companions.

I was having more fun reading the earlier chapters of the book. The characters, especially the priest and the knight, were so complex and well done. Lots of humor and good dialogue. Some of the backstory seemed unnecessary as we understood what happened and how it affected the characters without seeing details.

As the story went on, and Delphine’s larger quest was revealed, the novel lost some traction. It got more than a little surreal. I agree with the other reviewer who mentioned that this is a literary equivalent of a Bosch painting. The shift to dream-like fantasy is not a bad thing unto itself but the entire tone of the book changed when it was going so well before.