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Buehlman is an excellent writer - in my opinion he's a cut above the great majority of successful writers out there. I love his prose and the way he animates his story. He's an efficient writer who leans into (wonderful) dialogue to do a lot of the heavy lifting. He can do in 10 words what many writers will waffle for a paragraph to do half as well.

This book is in large part the works of Hieronymus Bosch brought to life.



A compromised, world weary knight and a mysterious child cross plague-wracked France on a mission related to the newly expanded battle between heaven and hell.

That makes it sound rather familiar - the angels vs devils set up spans many eras in fantasy literature - I've just finished Sandman Slim which is exactly this in 2000's Los Angeles. And I've read an angels vs devils in medieval France fantasy before too - Son of the Morning. And of course, the combination of crusty old(ish) man and a child who slowly unwinds him, is pervasive in many genres.

HOWEVER, Buehlman made it something I was eager to read. This is allegedly horror, but could have been marketed as dark/grimdark fantasy. There's lots of dying, from plague, from devils, from chopping with swords, and it's gory. There are quite a few devils who are entertainingly scary, there are the tortures of Hell and the tortures men inflict on each other. Good, bad, and indifferent people die. It's not a gentle book.

But our two main characters have charisma and won me over swiftly. Along with the horror and the adrenaline, there are genuine moments of emotion - the final one hitting me hard.

It's an excellent book. I feel that The Blacktongue Thief is more excellent still, and The Daughters' War even better than that. But I had a blast reading this one.

Buehlman doesn't, in this book, keep a tight point of view, his writing wanders (against modern advice) from one head to another. But these "rules" are to help writers who need that help. Buehlman is good enough to twist them to his own ends.

Two tiny gripes:
(i) I felt they ran out of donkey meat way too quickly.
(ii) I personally find it hard to buy into worldbuilding where a benvolent god sanctions torture.

A fine book. Read it immediately!








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