Between Two Fires

It has been a long time since a book was added to my 'Favorites' shelf. This one earned it.Between Two Fires is my type of book. Meaning I recognize that I am its audience. I had heard about this book through the grapevine over the years... Mostly that it was A) good and B) similar in tone and content to games like Dark Souls. Both of these things turned out to be true, which, for me, you're pretty much guaranteed a homerun at that point. But Buehlman's novel also has the "it" factor that pushed it above something I merely enjoy.Set in medieval France during the Black Death, Between Two Fires is an expert example of genre-blending. It put me in mind of Robert Eggers' film The Witch, in that the setting is informed by the belief system of the historical period. Meaning, in the case of Buehlman's novel here, that God, his angels, Heaven, Hell, Lucifer, and all manner of devils, are not just real entities, they have great agency in this story, and their inclusion within it is handled with a deftness that maintains an incredible realism, and ensures that these elements are lent the proper weight, so that even though you're reading something that could at times be mistaken for mere historical fiction, the story is greatly served by its horror and fantasy elements. Perhaps even made by them.Having said all that, while this story does reach some epic peaks, it is a much more grounded story for most of its page count. And this is where I connect with it most deeply. At its heart, it's a story about a disgraced knight, and a young girl, traveling France together. It's extremely atmospheric, the cast is small, the dialogue is terse but often humorous, even amidst the darkness (some of it feels like Cormac McCarthy dabbling in genre fiction, which is also up my alley). And as I mentioned before, the way Buehlman puts it all together is simply masterful. Angels war outside the walls of heaven. Devils walk the earth and monsters roam the countryside each night. And yet my favorite parts of the book were quiet conversations between the characters; small laughter breaking through the night.'She became confused about whether he was dead. Perhaps not, but, like her, he would be soon. Everyone would be soon.'

Entertaining. Visceral. Few spots dragged here and there but fairly easy to get through. May need to google a few French and Latin terms but at least this doesn’t read like the author was pulling words from a thesaurus. Blood, guts, demons and angels. This was a good read for me.

"And the Lord made answer."What a wild, wonderful, harrowing ride. I wept tears of joy, and sorrow. This was a masterfully written horror with such depth of human will weaved throughout. This book does a tremendous job of exposing the true good and evil of people, of the spiritual world, and all the gray and grace in-between. Truly a book I will cherish in my heart, and tell all my friends to read.It's not for the faint of heart, but if you endure the horror, you will come out better for it.

I really enjoyed the story, but that's obvious. The 9x6 size of this book and the large font made me realize why I have been struggling to read for so long. It was a breeze, like reading on the tablet!The main cast is increasingly endearing; I don't know why other reviewers didn't connect with them. They will even leave you with a slight, sweet taste after all the darkness and terror. I'll likely read it again soon.

I had been searching amazon, google, reddit for the best horror books to jump into. Author Chris Buehlman and this book (and his others) came up frequently, so I gave it a chance. I was initially hesitant due to the religious aspect of the book's description. What I discovered was my new favorite book and the standard I hold all my other fantasy or horror books against. The religion is not presented in a preachy way, just part of the story. To me, the perspective and writing style were dream-like. I felt like I was watching the story with focus on the characters and everything around them slightly dulled, in a good way, like murky danger is around every corner. The reader is shown what is going on without pages of fluff or unneccessary descriptions. The closest similar experience I can imagine is a mix between The Road and The Witcher. Lovable characters, action, horror, adventure await. It even had one part that scared me and that is difficult to do. It also moved me to tears at two points. I cannot recommend this book enough! I have also read The Necromancer's House (same author 4.5/5 also made me cry), and cannot wait to read the rest of Mr. Buehlman's work!

Great book, starts fast and heavy, by the end of the book you could sort of tell the inexperience of the author at the time (he is/was an independent author at the time of the self publishing of the book) ending kinda felt rushed.