Joe Abercrombie’s new novel, The Devils, is violent, chaotic, devious—and I loved every page of it. I knew when I picked it up that I was going to get high-stakes fights and superlative, gritty worldbuilding, given my experiences with other books he’s written. I wasn’t expecting the emotional depth Abercrombie developed along with the snarky banter and backstabbing. I loved this book so much that I ended up with a significant book hangover. This hasn’t happened to me in a while, but I actually had to sit with my feelings for a bit after I finished this outstanding novel.
Brother Diaz thought he was going to be given a sinecure by the Popess1 as a reward for fixing things for his previous boss, only to find himself in charge of the Papacy’s secret Congregation of Holy Expediency. This congregation includes a knight who cannot die, a woman who’s done a little bit of everything, a necromancer, a vampire, an elf, and a Norse werewolf. Their objective is to deliver the long-lost daughter of the deceased empress of the eastern empire to Constantinople and see her crowned. This motley crew barely makes it out of Rome before people start attacking them.
Abercrombie leavens all the blood and gore (and there is a lot of both in The Devils) with scenes of genuine comedy. Necromancer Balthazar Sham Ivam Draxi—who insists that he is a wizard, thank you very much—provides a lot of it with his constant efforts to get rid of the magical bond that prevents him from buggering off back to his library and experiments. There’s also the delightful banter from Baptiste, a woman of all trades with friends and enemies everywhere, and Vigga, a werewolf with a lust for life. I laughed and snickered along with them as they trudged down various Mediterranean roads. Vigga especially stole my heart. I worried about her every time she had to fight, even though she seems near impossible to kill.
Abercrombie is rough on his characters and, unlike a lot of other genre writers, isn’t afraid to actually maim or kill off his characters. Consequently, my heart was in my mouth every time Alexia and her escort had to square off against yet another cousin who wanted the Serpent Throne. This genuine fear for the characters plus the outstanding worldbuilding of The Devils made this one of the best fantasy books I’ve read in a long time; it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a while in any genre. I am so glad that the last chapter of the book started to set the stage for a sequel. I very much want to spend more time with these violent, lovable weirdos.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
- Not a typo. There are a lot of points where this world’s history diverges from our own. For example, the characters reference a Carthaginian empire, rather than a Roman one. The popes in this version of Christianity are all women. ↩︎