akshat_verma's review against another edition
4.0
A great book!! Great Story!!
The author made the story grand while focusing On a small city!
But most importantly A VERY BEAUTIFUL AND EFFICIENTLY WRITTEN STORY!
There is a right man for a right job , and the author proved he was the right man for this job!!
The author made the story grand while focusing On a small city!
But most importantly A VERY BEAUTIFUL AND EFFICIENTLY WRITTEN STORY!
There is a right man for a right job , and the author proved he was the right man for this job!!
righteousridel's review against another edition
5.0
All cards on the table - this gritty, realistic, military-fantasy is the kind of novel that fits me perfectly. If you are a reader wondering if this book is for you, let me go over my favourites... I am a reader of military-space opera (ex. Castle Federation and Honor Harrington), I have read probably a hundred novels in the Warhammer 40k universe, and when it comes to fantasy, I appreciate the nasty realistic low-fantasy approach such as the Black Company, Game of Thrones, Mistborn / Words of Radiance, as well as the Codex Alera and Dresden Files. If these novels are in your wheelhouse, I think you'll fall in love with Priest of Bones as quickly as I did.
If you haven't heard of those previous novels, let me describe the setting and you can make a decision if this is for you. This is not high fantasy, and there are no happy endings. Just because the world is medieval doesn't change how people act. Mature themes are littered throughout the book as we cover drugs, prostitution, slavery, and some of the worst acts imaginable visited upon children. Corruption is everywhere and people are doing just about anything they can to survive. The setting is just after a war that has practically crippled the country -- it's very post-WW1 in feel. Depressing does not begin to express what horror it would be to live in such a world.
Into this comes the incredible antihero of Tomas Piety, a priest of a religion we wouldn't recognize, whose voice is charming and his practicality something fearful. Tomas Piety is the other reason this novel is a success. Yes, he was a thug. His service in the war was admirable though and through bloody experience, he is now a government-trained ex-military thug. His competence is incredible, his morals questionable, but combined with his practical military mindset... this is a strongman that many will be glad to stand behind.
I have nothing left to add. By now you'll know if you want to read Priest of Bones. Go. Go do it right now.
As well, the novel suffers from the classic case of moving from smaller, tactical matters where you feel the death of every single member of Tomas's crew, to forgetting who is who and battles at such a large scale that you no longer care that he's lost men. Folks that deserve more characterization (the False Knight, Will the Wencher, Black Billy) start to shift into the background and get zero screen time.
That said, Tomas himself is moving up in the world and this is meant to showcase that. Perhaps similar to Tomas, I am also sad that he's leaving the streets behind. Elsa is a real piece of work and I like how Tomas spent time expressing how he's truly starting to fear her.
Anyways, the final twist was excellent. Setting up the Governor to be Tomas's next antagonist really showcases how much things have changed. I wouldn't have considered them remotely equals when initially introduced, but it's clear at the end that while Tomas is still the underdog, they're in the same weight class now.
If you haven't heard of those previous novels, let me describe the setting and you can make a decision if this is for you. This is not high fantasy, and there are no happy endings. Just because the world is medieval doesn't change how people act. Mature themes are littered throughout the book as we cover drugs, prostitution, slavery, and some of the worst acts imaginable visited upon children. Corruption is everywhere and people are doing just about anything they can to survive. The setting is just after a war that has practically crippled the country -- it's very post-WW1 in feel. Depressing does not begin to express what horror it would be to live in such a world.
Into this comes the incredible antihero of Tomas Piety, a priest of a religion we wouldn't recognize, whose voice is charming and his practicality something fearful. Tomas Piety is the other reason this novel is a success. Yes, he was a thug. His service in the war was admirable though and through bloody experience, he is now a government-trained ex-military thug. His competence is incredible, his morals questionable, but combined with his practical military mindset... this is a strongman that many will be glad to stand behind.
I have nothing left to add. By now you'll know if you want to read Priest of Bones. Go. Go do it right now.
Spoiler
I was disappointed at how quickly everything wrapped up near the end. I felt like the author wanted to jump to the wedding scene (which is a very classic, set-piece mobster scene) and a lot of the earlier characterizations were brushed aside to avoid dragging out the novel. The Piety family had been giving Tomas a lot of grief about his over-expansion and excessive bloodshed, and none of this was addressed. To have suddenly jumped to marrying his fancy-girl, who started acting and talking like high society, this seems like something that Tomas's brother and his aunt would have needed careful adjustments to accept.As well, the novel suffers from the classic case of moving from smaller, tactical matters where you feel the death of every single member of Tomas's crew, to forgetting who is who and battles at such a large scale that you no longer care that he's lost men. Folks that deserve more characterization (the False Knight, Will the Wencher, Black Billy) start to shift into the background and get zero screen time.
That said, Tomas himself is moving up in the world and this is meant to showcase that. Perhaps similar to Tomas, I am also sad that he's leaving the streets behind. Elsa is a real piece of work and I like how Tomas spent time expressing how he's truly starting to fear her.
Anyways, the final twist was excellent. Setting up the Governor to be Tomas's next antagonist really showcases how much things have changed. I wouldn't have considered them remotely equals when initially introduced, but it's clear at the end that while Tomas is still the underdog, they're in the same weight class now.
hruberen's review against another edition
3.0
Too short, and I would have preferred some romance in the political marriage
eb00kie's review against another edition
1.0
For the following three reasons - this is barely passable as an airplane read:
1. It's nigh identical to the Peaky Blinders TV show up to the 50% mark, then it has a wedding scene almost scene-by-scene mirroring The Godfather movie baptism scene. It's not 'inspired from...' so much as 'Frankensteined from...'.
The main character named Thomas (same as Shelby) is a cold calculating leader, whose aunt was supposed to manage the gangster business while he was at war and he has an out-of-control troublemaking brother and a spying barmaid, in his main place of business, the tavern.
How original. Which leads us to:
2. The characterisation is shit because the author throws things things that do nothing to influence the character's behaviour. It's trauma. Anne has trauma, Thomas has trauma and Jochan has trauma, and Thomas is a priest and Billy is goddess-touched and occasionally fucks with people. There. That's all the character-development. Trauma is not characterisation if it doesn't influence you as a character. Without the 'trauma' would Thomas and Jochan act and speak and think exactly as they do? YES. It could just as well be the war PTSD. It's pointless and sloppy.
The cast. Big and amorphous, the army men are goop. Does Thomas being a priest change things? No. It's a leadership gimmick. There are no consequences.
3. The conflict is nonexistent as Thomas basically spends the book brawling various groups of people. There is no fear, no tension, just drudgery. Everyone is helping him and the naysayers are misdirected with eloquent logical persuasion.
Spare me.
An unoriginal, sloppy medieval brawling mess.
1. It's nigh identical to the Peaky Blinders TV show up to the 50% mark, then it has a wedding scene almost scene-by-scene mirroring The Godfather movie baptism scene. It's not 'inspired from...' so much as 'Frankensteined from...'.
The main character named Thomas (same as Shelby) is a cold calculating leader, whose aunt was supposed to manage the gangster business while he was at war and he has an out-of-control troublemaking brother and a spying barmaid
Spoiler
that he eventually marriesHow original. Which leads us to:
2. The characterisation is shit because the author throws things things that do nothing to influence the character's behaviour. It's trauma. Anne has trauma, Thomas has trauma and Jochan has trauma, and Thomas is a priest and Billy is goddess-touched and occasionally fucks with people. There. That's all the character-development. Trauma is not characterisation if it doesn't influence you as a character. Without the 'trauma' would Thomas and Jochan act and speak and think exactly as they do? YES. It could just as well be the war PTSD. It's pointless and sloppy.
The cast. Big and amorphous, the army men are goop. Does Thomas being a priest change things? No. It's a leadership gimmick. There are no consequences.
3. The conflict is nonexistent as Thomas basically spends the book brawling various groups of people. There is no fear, no tension, just drudgery. Everyone is helping him and the naysayers are misdirected with eloquent logical persuasion.
Spare me.
An unoriginal, sloppy medieval brawling mess.
readingwithrogues's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Rape
burnet's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Child abuse