Rating

• 5/5 Writing Style
• 5/5 Overall Plot
• 5/5 Characters
• 5/5 World-building

Review

This was a rare 24-hour read for me. Across 2 days I could not put this book down–any opportunity to read I took until this book was finished.

First up, and I think maybe the very first thing that gripped me and kept gripping me: there is no “on-screen” sexual violence in this story and to memory, very little explicit description of it at all other than as a situational fear when relevant.
As I was telling my book club bud Jasper, an immediate red flag for bad “dark fantasy” is gratuitous sexual violence employed as a hackjob attempt at plot development and horror.

Horror

The horror of this book is very solidly placed in the circumstances the characters find themselves in: lost, hungry, aimless, and constantly surrounded by the plague and the destruction it wreaks.

What makes this GOOD horror is that the characters themselves are forced to strive past the situational horrors as well as reconciling with their own flaws.

Devilry

Early on our knight and priest wander into a strange lord’s castle after he offers them feasts and sport—an immediate suspicious offering in such an otherwise horrifying circumstance. Yet despite their saintly(?) companion Delphine’s warning that they’re walking with devils, they enter.
As the reader the horror feels right around the corner. “Surely…something will be off about this.” But the author pulls you in just enough to let your guard down before our characters start to notice a thing or two here and there…
By the chapter end, our heroes realize they’re dining on filth with demons and devils. Pointedly mocked about their greatest regrets and failures, and goaded into deadly battle.

They escape the nightmare with barely a word said between them about the experience. Conveying in brevity the gravity of the fear they felt, and their newfound respect for Delphine’s warnings about things not being what they appear.

If I described a chapter aloud, it’d sound corny

There are so many wonderfully written scenes in this book that truly felt horrifying in that I could feel the fear of the characters, despite my strong faith in their plot armor.

The book does an excellent job playing upon the “ridiculous” fears of an average 14th century peasant—fear of god’s wrath, demons, outsiders, The English, etc. but making them real when it really counted.
Gratuitous violence and gore with the timing and rarity to make them weighty, to feel that not only are our beloved heroes so strong for making it through, but also that they truly cannot rest even for a moment. Danger lurks everywhere in inconceivable forms.

Recommendation

Art by Layton Doodles

This was my pick for the book club book and I feel I did a good job for myself haha. I studied Medieval Christianity in college and of course love any story that incorporates Christian mythology into the plot.

I am not a horror fan. But I think that might be changing. I haven’t read much horror (although recently Exordia did give me a pretty enticing taste of good horror writing among the only things it really did well), but I think Between Two Fires is helping me understand what good horror *is*. It’s establishing an air of uncertainty and fear, perhaps enhanced with the supernatural, but always driven by character relationships and personal flaws.

Overall I think if you want a cool dark fantasy story with a strong sense of style and characterization, and perhaps some engaging “Good vs. Evil” devilry, you’ll really want to give this book a shot.

Leave a comment?

• This comment system is custom built–loosely following Emily Goto's example on her blog.
• This is a static site, so comments are added manually by me
• I ask for a Bsky account because I'm lazily using their API to fetch avatar images from there (instead of using Gravatar, for instance)
• If you do not provide a Bsky account, your comment will have this picture of Wrex instead:

Name *

Website

Bluesky

@

URL

Comment *

Leave Comment