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A review by emergencily
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
5.0
This book was such a page turner for me - I finished the whole thing in about 3-4 hours.
It takes place during the Black Plague in France and follows the mysterious, holy journey of a young girl with unexplained spiritual powers and prophetic visions. She is accompanied by a disgraced, aged old knight who’s made it his sworn duty to guard her on her journey, and a gay priest ostracized by his own flock seeking a reason to uphold his faltering faith.
Absolutely loved the fantasy/historical setting with the Black Plague, the Crusades, war, and total social upheaval ravaging Europe. All the while, metaphysical wars are waged between heaven and hell in dimensions beyond human comprehension, holding
life on earth as collateral in the balance. The settings were perfectly complementary, with the gorey, visceral body horror of the Black Plague, and the violations of humanity's self-destructive violence amid total social collapse juxtaposed against the unknowable, unexplainable vengeful violence of god's angels and hell's monsters. I'm a sucker for historical fiction with a fantasy twist.
The ending was perhaps a bit cliche, but by then the main characters have suffered so much that you don't even care that it's a bit cliche, you just want to see them have a modicum of any kind of peace.
It takes place during the Black Plague in France and follows the mysterious, holy journey of a young girl with unexplained spiritual powers and prophetic visions. She is accompanied by a disgraced, aged old knight who’s made it his sworn duty to guard her on her journey, and a gay priest ostracized by his own flock seeking a reason to uphold his faltering faith.
Absolutely loved the fantasy/historical setting with the Black Plague, the Crusades, war, and total social upheaval ravaging Europe. All the while, metaphysical wars are waged between heaven and hell in dimensions beyond human comprehension, holding
life on earth as collateral in the balance. The settings were perfectly complementary, with the gorey, visceral body horror of the Black Plague, and the violations of humanity's self-destructive violence amid total social collapse juxtaposed against the unknowable, unexplainable vengeful violence of god's angels and hell's monsters. I'm a sucker for historical fiction with a fantasy twist.
The ending was perhaps a bit cliche, but by then the main characters have suffered so much that you don't even care that it's a bit cliche, you just want to see them have a modicum of any kind of peace.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, and War