Reviews - House of Open Wounds

401 reviews for:

House of Open Wounds

Adrian Tchaikovsky

4.4 AVERAGE

handsomestephen's review against another edition

4.75

medium-paced

daveruff's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

For those not as familiar to Tchaikovsky, House of Open Wounds (HoOW) is the second novel in the Tyrant Philosophers series, following City of Last Chances (CoLC). It takes place in a fantastical, vaguely 1800-1900-ish European, world, with magic, gods, faeries, and demons trying to co-exist with a tyrannical, ultra-rationalist, Palleseen empire. The empire (a perhaps criticism of online atheism and supposed rationalists) are trying to stamp out, or at least enslave/control, all things not properly rational and to bring "order" throughout the world. There are currently three novels and a planned novella or two in the series (Tchaikovsky is ridiculously prolific).

To be very succinct, CoLC is Les Miserables, but fantasy, and deals with the Palleseen occupation of a single city whose various forces are bubbling up in rebellion. The sequel, HoOW, is MASH, but fantasy. It follows one character from CoLC, Yasnic, and his gods and God, to whom he's (kind of) bound in an oath of absolute pacifism. Yasnic, now known as Jack the Maric, joining an "experimental" field hospital unit for the Palleseen empire waging war on an equally big merchant empire. The primary themes are the brutality and pointlessness of war, and while you're hardly meant to sympathize with the Palleseen empire or their army, you should feel empathy for the wounded and those who (are more or less forced to) help said wounded, shunted through their hospital unit.

Unlike CoLC's very diverse narrative, HoOW is a lot more focused on the various main characters' POV. This is both a positive, as it made HoOW much easier to follow, especially listening on audiobook, but also a less unique experience, as I thought CoLC was just a brilliant weaving of a city-wide set of stories that really flexed AT's writing brilliance as he slowly drew them all together. HoOW also felt somehow lighter in tone, even though it has incredible amounts of grim imagery and topics, apropos of stories about a war hospital (but with added demons, gods (and God), and necromancy, oh my...), but there were plenty of real humor in the escapades of the motley crew of medics, which are told throughout the book in vignettes, many of them random seeming, until the main plot ramps up towards the finale.

And that finale, and the entirety of HoOW, was just an incredibly satisfying, how every piece ties together, something Tchaikovsky is stellar at. I couldn't put the "book" down towards the last few chapters, as I savored listening to the conclusion. Speaking of the audio format, I usually prefer reading e-books or physical media, but the narrator for HoOW was outstanding in affecting various accents for each of the characters, really bringing them to life.

I hesitate to rank Tchaikovsky's books or series, as I love them all, but so far the Tyrant Philosophers ranks toward the top, along with the Children of Time and the Final Architecture series. Of the Tyrant Philosophers, for quality of writing, I'd rank CoLC over HoOW, but HoOW was, again, just more satisfying. Straightforward narratives tend to be, especially on a first read, so I look forward to a full re-read of the whole series... one of these days. In the meanwhile, House of Open Wounds is a high recommend!

balefulknight's review against another edition

4.5

What a great book! Tchaikovsky's character voices are a close second to Joe abercrombie. They feel real and believably complex. I didn't know this was a sequel until I had already started it, but I think it works just as well as a standalone. That being said, I liked it so much that I want to go back and read the first book. I loved all the magical healing, and gadgets, and gods in this book. Overall, I wish I had red Tchaikovky's books sooner and I can't wait to read more!