Nicely, you possibly can’t say that studying Fantasy style books is ever boring. Having final learn and reviewed a beautiful e book involving magic and cats at a cat shelter, this novel is a little bit of an about-turn.
Between Two Fires is within the writer’s particulars described as a narrative of medieval horror. For these of a filmic bent, suppose Blood on Devil’s Claw, or Witchfinder Basic.
At its easiest, the story is a quest. The world of medieval France in 1348 is a world in decay, with a Nice Plague leaving bloated our bodies on the bottom and rotting in homes.
An adolescent lady, Delphine, persuades a weary excommunicated soldier, Thomas de Givras, to take her to Avignon. In a quite Joan-of-Arc second, she has had visions saying that she should go there.
The soldier is, as you may count on, reluctant, however feels an obligation to take her and shield her. A lot of the novel is in regards to the horrors that they encounter as they journey via small villages, cities Paris after which to Avignon. They meet a priest Frere Matthieu of Saint Martin le Preux, who additionally agrees to journey with them as he hopes to satisfy his brother, Robert Hanicotte who works as an aide to a cardinal who assists Pope Clement in his ecumenical duties there.
The larger image is that there are developments within the ongoing conflict between Heaven and Hell. The illness, the decay, the merciless heartlessness of most of the individuals they meet could also be a consequence of this, as devils appear to run amok on Earth while God and his angels seem to do little.
The e book is subtitled ‘An Epic Take of Medieval Horror’ and the outline appears apt. Buehlman doesn’t skimp on the visceral particulars of what the travellers see and expertise. There are depictions of killing and torture all through, to not point out beheadings, hanging, amputation and descriptions of these residing and useless contaminated with the Plague. It’s not a narrative for these faint of coronary heart or squeamish.
It might be straightforward to say that Buehlman has proven this merely for impact – as a result of he can – and that the ugly particulars of decapitation, amputation hanging and torture are like some medieval model of a Noticed film. At occasions, it nearly felt gratuitous. There have been occasions when this element stored me studying, in an “That was terrible – what can occur subsequent?” sort of view. Like a few of the depictions in work by Bosch or Breughel, the descriptions made me really feel that our characters weren’t simply travelling to Avignon, but additionally on a street to Hell, in the event that they weren’t there already.
And but, the violence has goal. The main points give the reader the impression of actuality, that this brutality is bone-crushingly reasonable for the time through which it’s set.
Buehlman is an skilled sufficient author to counterbalance this grimness with Grimdark humour to leaven issues a little bit. (I can see why Joe Abercrombie likes this novel.) In addition to this, there are additionally moments of magnificence amidst the carnage, to provide the characters and the readers hope.
Moreover, our characters usually are not the straightforward caricatures I anticipated at first however nuanced and complicated, even when morally ambiguous, which ends up in considerate discourse, and ruminations on philosophy and faith.
I additionally preferred that Buehlman’s use of language and his detailed and vivid descriptions handle to intermix historical past with fantasy. Thomas’s reminiscences on what occurred to him within the Battle of Crecy in 1346 present us the horrors of conflict, while the conflict between Heaven and Hell additionally exhibits us that battle isn’t just an Earthbound characteristic.
I’m not fairly certain why Between Two Fires has abruptly reappeared since its first publication within the US. (I imagine that this can be the books first printed UK version.) It’s surprising, violent and comparatively unflinching and unfiltered in its depictions of what Thomas Delphine and Matthieu expertise, and this can be the rationale.
Nevertheless, I believe that maybe it’s as a result of, as Joe Hill intimates in his Introduction to this e book, it speaks to us in 2026. In a post-Covid setting, having survived a world pandemic, and with society seemingly usually dependent upon self-centred individuals in energy who govern with a basic cruelness, it might resonate with readers much more now than it did in 2012.
In consequence, although, Between Two Fires could also be a e book that’s troublesome to advocate to everybody. It’s grimly engrossing, heavy on the Grimdark and sometimes unremittingly bleak in its depiction of a world the place morals and ethics appear to have been primarily forgotten, and a few might dislike the e book for these causes. Others (like I did) might discover the e book grimly engrossing, a narrative price telling, and is finished so with creativeness and intelligence. I believe that the creator deserves kudos for not being afraid to indicate horrible conditions unflinchingly.
Additionally it is a standalone novel, and today that can also be a rarity.
Between Two Fires is a e book that has issues to say about now, despite the fact that it’s set in a previous. From the attitude of 2026 it’s price being given renewed consideration, a welcome reappearance of a e book that ought to have been extra appreciated the primary time round. Not for everybody, however I believe it will likely be one I received’t overlook in a rush.
© 2026 Mark Yon
Hardback | Gollancz
BETWEEN TWO FIRES by Christopher Buehlman
First printed February 2012. This version is March 2026 | 358 pages
ISBN: 978 0356 529 318
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