Many thanks to Jo Fletcher Books and Netgalley for the advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.
A sequel to the fantastic Priest of Bones, and book two in Peter McLean’s War for the Rose Throne series, Priest of Lies is another brutal, brilliant fantasy tale of gangsters, spies, violence and intrigue. Life is complex for Tomas Piety, self-made prince of Ellinburg and reluctant servant of the Queen’s Men. For all his successes, he’s still driven – largely by the demands of his wife, the Queen’s Man Ailsa – to keep fighting for his city, and for the crown. As the situation in Ellinburg deteriorates and Tomas is drawn into the murky political waters of the capital, Dannsburg, he finds himself increasingly out of his depth and troubled by the consequences of power.
Following on quite closely from the events of Priest of Bones, the first third of the book focuses on what happens next in Ellinburg. Tomas is once again the narrator of this story, and his voice comes through strongly – rough, brutally honest, vicious, manipulative yet strangely honourable – as though he’s speaking directly to the reader. With his city changing around him and becoming increasingly dangerous, Tomas has to try and balance the vicious back and forth of gang warfare with the concerns of the bigger picture that he’s slowly coming to understand, but can’t fully explain to even his closest companions. When he’s then taken away from what he knows and introduced to the veiled threats and dangers of Dannsburg society, leaving behind Bloody Anne, Billy the Boy, his troubled brother Jochan and most of the Pious Men, he finds himself challenged to see his life and his home city in a new light.
It’s a good move on McLean’s part, broadening both Tomas’ and the series’ horizons by continuing to explore Ellinburg and also starting to reveal more of the wider world in which the series is set. If at first it feels like this is more of the same – and considering these characters that’s absolutely a good thing – once events move to Dannsburg the pace starts to pick up, the stakes rise and the tension really begins to develop. There’s a fascinating conflict here between Tomas’ role as a businessman (read: gangster) and the responsibilities that comes with, and the demands of the Queen’s Men, and his identity is challenged as his relationships with those he cares about are threatened. On the one hand he’s forging stronger ties with both the strange youngster Billy and his wife-in-name-only Ailsa, but on the other hand the growing pressures of his secretive, uncomfortable agenda are drawing him away from the Pious Men.
Running beneath the surface throughout the book is the painful presence of battle shock and the lingering effects of war, a constant reminder of not just what has been escaped but also what might yet happen and what’s at stake. For fans of Priest of Bones, while there’s lots to enjoy here with the development of the overarching plot and the exploration of this intriguing world, the main draw is surely the opportunity to spend more time with these characters and watch them continue to develop. For all the action and excitement – and it’s apocalyptically violent in places – this is primarily a character-driven story dealing with nuanced characters forced to change by the uncompromising nature of their grim lives. As compelling and gripping as the first book, this is a powerful continuation of what’s turning into a brilliant series with its own unique voice.
Check out an interview with Peter about this book here.
