Reviews

This is gonna be a whole essay honestly, this was the best introduction I could have had to Christopher Buelhman’s work. I fell in love with this story and the characters so hard from the get-go omg.

A dishonored knight, traveled with a group of men during the plague in France, they were stealing, killing, looting, and raping to satisfy themselves and survive. The group of men is approached by an orphan, a young girl, who asks them to bury her father who died of the plague. Thomas, the dishonored knight ends up leaving the men after being witness to their disgusting antics to the girl and gets them to bury her dead father. The girl decides to follow Thomas, viewing him as a good man since he prevented her from getting assaulted by the men. However, he prefers to be alone, so they built this dynamic that I loved immediately.

Their relationship showcased Thomas as a character and it was chef's kiss. He always uses vulgar words that consistently trigger the young girl, making him use them more. He has this attitude that’s so so entertaining to read, especially in combination with the girl’s personality.

At the start, Thomas was always plotting to try and leave the girl, seeing that he was better off alone. Within this time, she leads him to a church where another character joins the party. A priest, Perre Mathieu. Mathieu added to this amazing dynamic and they became a trio that I came to love very much. Both him and Thomas and him and the young girl, as well as all three of them together have this comedic and heart-warming relationship that makes you want the best ending for all of them.

It’s revealed that the young girl, taking them on a journey with her to Avignon, is very very special. A saint? A witch? She claims to listen to angels as they lead her and soon enough the knight and priest build this faith and fondness towards her. Although the priest is timid in comparison to the knight, he still does his best to protect her as does the knight, who ends up devoting his life to protect her.

This is basically found family during a deadly plague and war, and one of the best imo. Both the priest and the knight come to be fond of the young girl, they treat her as if she were their daughter, and she, especially towards Thomas, wishes him to be a second father to her. It’s just ahhhgghdh such a good dynamic!!! They’re on this journey to save people on earth, led by the young girl and in doing so, the priest and knight could redeem themselves and their sins.

On that note, this story has pretty ‘religious’ tones, not in the preaching sense but it’s the basis of this. I mean, there is the involvement of saints, angels, demons, devils, priests, etc, allll throughout. But it isn’t in any way bad, however, even then the religions mentioned in this book aren’t mentioned or really portrayed in a fond sense. But I definitely don’t think it’s meant to disrespect it, it just builds upon just how insane that era was.

The writing is great, the scenes are vivid too! The horror isn’t too profound but the visuals that are built from his writing is definitely vivid and disturbing, some scenes were even fever-dream-like. You get to learn more about their fears and desires through these “dream/illusion” scenes and even those, no matter how insane, I loved reading. I mean it’s a fucking medieval religious apocalypse of war in heaven on earth, it’s such a good read.

I wasn’t expecting to cry but I did… a LOT. I came to love these characters a shit ton; their dynamic, themselves as an individual, everything.

I’m 100% going to re-read this for years to come. This is going to forever be a favorite of mine.

Content Warnings

gary_yerace's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

idk just didn’t do it for me. the main character was boring. i was confused by some of it. the action didn’t hit hard. and it took place in *France* ew

i was hooked in the beginning and then the story began to meander so much that i was asking “what are we doing here?” i could see how others would like this but i wasn’t crazy about it

maybe i just don’t like stuff anymore lol

3/5 fine book

jomojobo's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

marengray's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was an interesting horror book with lots of gore and spooky demons. I liked the backdrop of the black plague and the main cast of characters. I didn’t love parts of the ending which was disappointing and I did feel that Delphine didn’t get as much character development as I was hoping. Overall in interesting book though!

megan_albs's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

4.0

I survived. I still can’t decide if this book religious or sacrilegious? A well written book that is poetic and grotesque. Not my cup of tea but definitely a different vibe than what I usually read.

maartyrant's review

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adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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