British fantasy author Joe Abercrombie kicks off his new fantasy series The Devils in the way it is meant to continue: chaotically. The two opening chapters introduce Brother Diaz, a hapless priest on his way to meet the Pope, stuck in traffic caused by a Saints Day, and Alex, a thief being chased through the same streets by a couple of brawny enforcers. The streets are noisy, dirty and packed with beggars and pilgrims. The world in which they live is a twisted alternate medieval Europe in which the Pope and the clergy of the Western Church are women and are in an ages-long dispute with the Eastern Church. But everyone is aligned against the Elves who seem to hold the Middle East and against whom there have been a number of crusades.
The Devils kicks into gear when Father Diaz finds that he is to take charge of a group of evil doers – a vampire, a necromancer, an elf, a werewolf, an ancient soldier and a former pirate – who have been pressed into service by the Church, to escort Alex, who turns out to be the long lost heir to the throne of the city of Troy, where she is to be crowned Empress. The idea being that, once this happens, Alex will help bring about a rapprochement between East and West. The only problem is that Alex’s five cousins are keen to kill her so that they can inherit the throne and have eldritch forces of their own.
The Devils is essentially a medieval Suicide Squad. Each of the members of Father Diaz’s group has their own unique powers which come into play in varying ways when the going gets tough. And the going gets tough a lot. Abercrombie delights in lengthy set piece battles between his central group and the various forces that stand in their way. And while these are bloody and fun for the most part, they do start to get repetitive after a while. Probably the most interesting part of the journey is when the group is forced to split up and the action is more about influence and manoeuvring than fighting.
The Devils is Grimdark-light fantasy. There is plenty of mud, blood and other bodily fluids, body horror, monsters, sex and depravity. But it is also a bit tongue in cheek. Abercrombie goes for a more humorous mode which works for the most part to lighten what is otherwise a fairly grim progression from one ultra-violent set piece to the next. And again, similar to the Suicide Squad model, each of the characters has a wisecrack or two up their sleeve no matter how grim the situation gets.
While there is a fair amount of world building in The Devils, there is also much that is left unexplored, in particular the apparent threat posed by the Elves who hold the lands further East of Troy. So while the action in this book is wrapped up, it is clear that Abercrombie has more story to tell. And he has created an engaging group of characters so hopefully the next instalments will be a little more varied in their plotting.
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
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