E.C. Ambrose's gritty, sharp historical fantasy series, The Dark Apostle, follows Elisha Barber through a magical reimagining of 14th-century England
England in the fourteenth century: a land of poverty and opulence, prayer and plague…witchcraft and necromancy.
As a child, Elisha witnessed the burning of a witch outside of London, and saw her transformed into an angel at the moment of her death, though all around him denied this vision. He swore that the next time he might have the chance to bind an angel’s wounds, he would be ready. And so he became a barber surgeon, at the lowest ranks of the medical profession, following the only healer’s path available to a peasant’s son.
Elisha Barber is good at his work, but skill alone cannot protect him. In a single catastrophic day, Elisha’s attempt to deliver his brother’s child leaves his family ruined, and Elisha himself accused of murder. Then a haughty physician offers him a way out: serve as a battle surgeon in an unjust war.
Between tending to the wounded soldiers and protecting them from the physicians’ experiments, Elisha works night and day. Even so, he soon discovers that he has an affinity for magic, drawn into the world of sorcery by Brigit, a beautiful young witch who reminds him uncannily of the angel he saw burn.
In the crucible of combat, utterly at the mercy of his capricious superiors, Elisha must attempt to unravel conspiracies both magical and mundane, as well as come to terms with his own disturbing new abilities. But the only things more dangerous than the questions he’s asking are the answers he may reveal.
Sadly, Elisha Barber wasn't my thing. I loved the idea of a barber-surgeon who suddenly discovers that he has magical abilities, but it didn't grab my attention like I was hoping. Elisha leaves home to be a medic on the battlefield after he attempts to deliver his sister-in-law's baby, mistakenly thinks he killed her, causing his brother to kill himself. While saving the lives of soldiers, Elisha meets a witch and learns that he is too. Meanwhile, there's the war and conspiracies and other things I simply didn't care about.
I never became invested in Elisha Barber. I was mostly extremely bored, because the first third or so is just Elisha doing medical stuff. Then he starts practicing magic, and I liked that part. But then it got repetitive with Elisha getting punished for doing the right thing, but ignoring orders from his superiors. He really had no sense of self-preservation at all! Then things got kind of exciting, then boring again, then it ended.
