Item: Priest of Bones
Rating: 4.00
Author: wyvernfriend

by Peter McLean

'Charismatic and very more-ish' - Mark Lawrence, bestselling author of Red Sister

'Sixty-five thousand battle-shocked, trained killers came home to no jobs, no food and the plague. What did Her Majesty think was going to happen?'

Tomas Piety takes his duties seriously: as a soldier, as a priest of Our Lady of Eternal Sorrows and as a leader of men. He has come home from the war to reclaim his family business, to provide for his men and to ensure the horrors of Abingon can never happen in Ellinburg.

But things have changed: his crime empire has been stolen and the people of Ellinburg - his people - have run out of food and hope and places to hide. With his best friend Bloody Anne, his war-damaged brother Jochan and his new gang, the Pious Men, Tomas sets out to reclaim what was his.

And as Tomas is dragged into a web of political intrigue by the sinister Queen's Men, forced to work against the foreign infiltrators lurking in the backstreet taverns, brothels and gambling dens of the Stink, one thing becomes clear.

The war has just begun.

'Fans of Daniel Polansky, Mark Lawrence or, dare I say, Blackwing will most appreciate this book' - Ed McDonald, author of Blackwing

Grim but well done This is quite grim. There's a high body count and a lot of messy wading through blood stuff going on here. They conscripted Tomas Piety and while he served in the Army he became a priest, almost by default. Now he's back to his home town to find it changed and to find that there are things he will have to do to save his business, his town and possibly his country. His life will never be the same again and politics will take him from his ordinary life.It's interesting, grim but you can see the reasoning for the grim, there is some of the violence that is a little over the top but he's a mob boss trying to reclaim his territory, this is all pretty much par for the course. Many of his underlings are well drawn and I cared for some of them. You can see Tomas' motivations and while some of them weren't things I cared about I could see where he was coming from. He cares about his people and will do anything for them but his definintion of his people is mutable.It's interesting and well done and I'm looking forward to more in the series.

Priest of Bones (War for the Rose Throne, #1)

by Peter McLean

Reviewed by wyvernfriend on Nov 26, 2018

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