Book Review: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

Pros: has a degree of historical accuracy, interestingly flawed characters, horrifying monsters

Cons: uses slurs, some disturbing scenes

The black death rages across France as demons test God’s concern for the earth. A disgraced knight saves a young girl from his companions and, against his will, agrees to accompany her to Paris and Avignon. He quickly realizes there’s something special about her, but is she a saint or a witch?

The book is set in a historical place and time that was clearly well researched (with some good acknowledgements in the back). The author weaves in some horrifying monsters and clearly inaccurate fantasy elements that fit the medieval mindset.

The are rich descriptions of setting that allow you to vividly picture the action. Given some of the monsters this isn’t always a positive.

Thomas is a great character. He’s flawed in several ways but grows as he travels with the girl.

One main side character is gay and they encounter Jews a time or two. Be aware that several slurs are used in the text when discussing these groups that fit the time and place, but may be distressing to read. There's also the threat of sexual violence several times.

It’s a brutal look at the middle ages with some horror elements added regarding Biblically accurate angels and demons. It’s a difficult read at times, so not for everyone.

Shout-Out: The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman

The secret is, vampires are real and I am one.

The secret is, I’m stealing from you what is most truly yours and I’m not sorry...

New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybody—he has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the city’s sidewalks.

The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. It’s almost too easy.

Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him…or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.

And neither are the rest of us.

New Author Spotlight: Christopher Buehlman

New Author Spotlight is a series designed to introduce authors with up to 3 books in the different SF/F subgenres.

Today's spotlight shines on Christopher Buehlman!

Winner of the 2007 Bridport Prize in Poetry and author of several plays, his novels are:

• Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman (Ace)
• Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman (Ace)

Here's the cover copy for Those Across The River:

Haunted by memories of the Great War, failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate-the Savoyard Plantation-and the horrors that occurred there. At first their new life seems to be everything they wanted. But under the facade of summer socials and small-town charm, there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.  

It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of the Savoyard Plantation still stand. Where a long-smoldering debt of blood has never been forgotten. Where it has been waiting for Frank Nichols…

Check out these other books if you like horror novels about things lying in wait in old houses:

• A Twisted Ladder by Rhodi Hawk (Tor Books)
• Black Creek Crossing by John Saul (Ballantine Books)
• Neverland by Douglas Clegg (Vanguard Press)