Scan barcode
A review by willrefuge
House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky
5.0
9 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/12/30/house-of-open-wounds-by-adrian-tchaikovsky-review/
Inch by inch, city by city, the Palleseen Sway have brought their brand of perfection across the land. It was all well and good when they were imposing their will upon independent kingdoms and city-states, but when their might is run up against that of other would-be empires—the work becomes harsh and bloody.
This is where our story begins, and where God’s unfortunate Priest, Yasnic, finds himself. Or, should I say, God’s former priest. For Yasnic has Fallen, and found himself with the peculiar ability to see gods of all types. This divine sight could’ve seen him killed outright, but instead finds Yasnic assigned to a field hospital on the frontlines of the Palleseen’s never-ending war for perfection.
This experimental department—made up of those conquered but deemed ‘useful’, condemned to death but too valuable to kill—is on the very edge of what the Sway deems permissible. Warlocks and priests, necromancers and cannibals all gather here—if they are useful to the cause.
Fellow-Inquirer Prassel is a necromancer, in charge of the division. While not a criminal herself, she has tied her wagon to this experiment, and lives or dies based on the results. Her past unimportant, military, unique amongst the department, whose histories are cloaked in shadow; their own to tell.
The Butcher, a Pal magician of alchemical science, is Prassel’s second. He oversees a disparate company of medics: a Divinati wizard focused on balance; an orderly promoted and demoted so many times as to have a station unique to herself; an artificer, a bundle of priests, former troopers, demonologists, and criminals. But whether Yasnic—or Maric Jack, to his present coworkers—will fit in with the rest or fall out, remains to be seen. He is but a footnote to history, though his death would have unintended effects for his bevy of vagrant gods, hiding in plain sight from the Protectorate that wants them decanted, distilled in magic, and used for the war effort.
—
Balance, right? Leave the world like you found it. Only if you found it dying and bleeding, then… then what have you gained, right? Except, in the meantime, you get to know those people, those people who would’ve just been meat. You made them back into people and they became people you got attached to. Possessive about, almost. Because you’ve brought them back from the meat. And they’ll be meat again. Any moment.
—
Sequel to City of Last Chances, House of Open Wounds is an incredible fantasy book in an underdone and niche subject, that of healing magic as a lead element. I mean, there are a lot of fantasy books with healers, or healing magic. But these most often focus on some other, offensive magic as its core concept, rather than something entirely clerical. In fact, as I write the review, I’m hard-pressed to think of something else quite like this.
After the events of CoLC, Yasnic’s looking a little worse for wear. He had a tough go of things, and it was legitimately pleasing to hear from him again. He’s a bit of a pushover, really. Perpetually downtrodden and walked upon. So it was nice to see him reinvent himself and change his destiny. That is, until the story got going. And Maric Jack’s back to his same old tricks, which… really isn’t a bad thing, mind. For the story, at least.
And the story is an entertaining thing, if a bit dark and depressing. Not that this detracts from the story—in fact, a bit of dark fantasy is good every now and then. And this one is dark. Set in a field hospital on the frontlines of a never-ending war? A dark and bloody business, that is, very dark and bloody. But good, nonetheless. I never thought of calling it quits, never thought of giving up, it was consistently on my mind in the week or so it took me to finish. Where City of Last Chances was chaotic in an off-the-wall kind of way, House of Open Wounds is chaotic in a very regimented way. In a way that only war can be. As much as I enjoyed the chaos that was the first book, I doubt another in the same vein would’ve been as enjoyable. It’s quite hard to bottle lightning multiple times without getting struck yourself. Instead, this went for the chaos of a field hospital: always bloody, full of life and death—you knew what you were getting. And yet, despite this, it was so easy to read and get immersed in, and so easy to get caught up in the story and carried away.
TL;DR
A story of two tales, this. Where City of Last Chances was a book about chaos in a place famous for it, House of Open Wounds tells a tale about taking chaos and asserting control on it, and the results therein. Centered around our old friend Yasnic (aka Maric Jack), House of Open Wounds tells of the conquered magicians and priests, healing soldiers of the Palleseen Protectorate on the warfront. While you may suspect that an entire book focused on the healing of wounds might be quite dull—prepare to be proven wrong. There was never a dull moment in this. Several twists and turns—be they with the characters, with the war, with Jack’s love life even—keep the story new and interesting, while the overarching doom was always well within reach. It’s a dark story, is Jack’s, a bloody slog full death and chaos. But I never had any doubts about finishing it and always came back for more. I feel the better for this book in a year that was up and down—whole-heartedly recommended.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/12/30/house-of-open-wounds-by-adrian-tchaikovsky-review/
Inch by inch, city by city, the Palleseen Sway have brought their brand of perfection across the land. It was all well and good when they were imposing their will upon independent kingdoms and city-states, but when their might is run up against that of other would-be empires—the work becomes harsh and bloody.
This is where our story begins, and where God’s unfortunate Priest, Yasnic, finds himself. Or, should I say, God’s former priest. For Yasnic has Fallen, and found himself with the peculiar ability to see gods of all types. This divine sight could’ve seen him killed outright, but instead finds Yasnic assigned to a field hospital on the frontlines of the Palleseen’s never-ending war for perfection.
This experimental department—made up of those conquered but deemed ‘useful’, condemned to death but too valuable to kill—is on the very edge of what the Sway deems permissible. Warlocks and priests, necromancers and cannibals all gather here—if they are useful to the cause.
Fellow-Inquirer Prassel is a necromancer, in charge of the division. While not a criminal herself, she has tied her wagon to this experiment, and lives or dies based on the results. Her past unimportant, military, unique amongst the department, whose histories are cloaked in shadow; their own to tell.
The Butcher, a Pal magician of alchemical science, is Prassel’s second. He oversees a disparate company of medics: a Divinati wizard focused on balance; an orderly promoted and demoted so many times as to have a station unique to herself; an artificer, a bundle of priests, former troopers, demonologists, and criminals. But whether Yasnic—or Maric Jack, to his present coworkers—will fit in with the rest or fall out, remains to be seen. He is but a footnote to history, though his death would have unintended effects for his bevy of vagrant gods, hiding in plain sight from the Protectorate that wants them decanted, distilled in magic, and used for the war effort.
—
Balance, right? Leave the world like you found it. Only if you found it dying and bleeding, then… then what have you gained, right? Except, in the meantime, you get to know those people, those people who would’ve just been meat. You made them back into people and they became people you got attached to. Possessive about, almost. Because you’ve brought them back from the meat. And they’ll be meat again. Any moment.
—
Sequel to City of Last Chances, House of Open Wounds is an incredible fantasy book in an underdone and niche subject, that of healing magic as a lead element. I mean, there are a lot of fantasy books with healers, or healing magic. But these most often focus on some other, offensive magic as its core concept, rather than something entirely clerical. In fact, as I write the review, I’m hard-pressed to think of something else quite like this.
After the events of CoLC, Yasnic’s looking a little worse for wear. He had a tough go of things, and it was legitimately pleasing to hear from him again. He’s a bit of a pushover, really. Perpetually downtrodden and walked upon. So it was nice to see him reinvent himself and change his destiny. That is, until the story got going. And Maric Jack’s back to his same old tricks, which… really isn’t a bad thing, mind. For the story, at least.
And the story is an entertaining thing, if a bit dark and depressing. Not that this detracts from the story—in fact, a bit of dark fantasy is good every now and then. And this one is dark. Set in a field hospital on the frontlines of a never-ending war? A dark and bloody business, that is, very dark and bloody. But good, nonetheless. I never thought of calling it quits, never thought of giving up, it was consistently on my mind in the week or so it took me to finish. Where City of Last Chances was chaotic in an off-the-wall kind of way, House of Open Wounds is chaotic in a very regimented way. In a way that only war can be. As much as I enjoyed the chaos that was the first book, I doubt another in the same vein would’ve been as enjoyable. It’s quite hard to bottle lightning multiple times without getting struck yourself. Instead, this went for the chaos of a field hospital: always bloody, full of life and death—you knew what you were getting. And yet, despite this, it was so easy to read and get immersed in, and so easy to get caught up in the story and carried away.
TL;DR
A story of two tales, this. Where City of Last Chances was a book about chaos in a place famous for it, House of Open Wounds tells a tale about taking chaos and asserting control on it, and the results therein. Centered around our old friend Yasnic (aka Maric Jack), House of Open Wounds tells of the conquered magicians and priests, healing soldiers of the Palleseen Protectorate on the warfront. While you may suspect that an entire book focused on the healing of wounds might be quite dull—prepare to be proven wrong. There was never a dull moment in this. Several twists and turns—be they with the characters, with the war, with Jack’s love life even—keep the story new and interesting, while the overarching doom was always well within reach. It’s a dark story, is Jack’s, a bloody slog full death and chaos. But I never had any doubts about finishing it and always came back for more. I feel the better for this book in a year that was up and down—whole-heartedly recommended.