The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
Publisher: Tor BooksPublication Date: May 13th, 2025
Hardcover. 550 pages.
About The Devils (from the publisher):
"A brand-new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie, featuring a notorious band of anti-heroes on a delightfully bloody and raucous journey
Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.
Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.
Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it's a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side."
Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.
Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.
Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it's a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side."
The Devils is arguable one of the most anticipated fantasy releases of 2025, and I have to say--it's wroth the hype from Abercrombie fans! The Devils is an absolute riot in the best way possible and I had a blast with these characters and their ridiculous, chaotic journey that was almost constantly beset by obstacles and enemies.
Brother Diaz has been summoned to embark on an ambitious holy assignment--though it's not quite what he's expecting. At the same time, a young thief living on the streets named Alex has recently been discovered and told that she's actually the long lost heir to the throne, and she's to be escorted there immediately. This escort is the holy assignment Brother Diaz has been tasked to, and he and Alex are to be joined by a motley crew of "devils" who are all together meant to escort Alex safely to her destination. brother Diaz is not at all keen to be a part of this group, but he is willing to do his duty, and thus begins our story.
The cast of characters in The Devils is excellent (which, given Abercrombie’s reputation for strong characterization, this was not surprising to me, though it was welcome). We have, of course, Brother Diaz, as well as a vampire, Baron Rikard; a werewolf, Vigga; an elf, Sunny; an arrogant, grudging sorcerer, Balthazar Sham Ivam Draxi; the experienced and unkillable Jakob the Thorn; a pirate, Baptiste; and, last but not least, our soon-to-be-crowned heir, Alex. There's a lot of great character development throughout this story, and I enjoyed seeing so many unique dynamics explored between the characters given their history, species, etc. There was one romantic aspect that I didn't entirely expect, and almost one that I sort of wished wouldn't develop once I realized where it was heading, simply because it didn't seem to fit for me, but I think Abercrombie did handle it well and showcased their growth together incredibly well.
As you can no doubt tell, The Devils has a fairly large cast of characters. And these characters are, indeed, an extremely dangerous and morally questionable lot. The story visits most of these characters and their individual perspectives at different points, and I will say it was a lot to take in. I somewhat think the story could have benefited from getting to go a bit deeper with just a few of the characters, as having so many left things feel not quite as deep or developed as I might've liked. That being said, what Abercrombie managed to do with all of these characters in the time he did is very impressive and I do feel like by the end of the book I had a very distinct impression of each character and who they were. I loved our vampire and genuinely appreciated just about every bit of dialogue or action he contributed to the story. I also found the incredibly grumpy Balthazar amusing to follow as well as he realized how stuck he was with his situation. And then, of course, Jakob the Thorn also stuck out to me as a grizzled older fantasy character who reminded me a lot of characters from other stories--in a good way--and I enjoyed learning from him as well.
This setting is a sort of alternate historical Europe that I was a little confused by at first when trying to orient myself, but I figured it out soon enough and was excited to dive into it more. In this world, there is large schism between the West and East factions of the Church (not an uncommon concept). There is also a looming threat of invasion by elves, which has many people on edge. I was really intrigued by this world and almost wish I had gotten a bit more in-depth information about it since I feel I was left wanting a bit more from it. I love exploring the worlds and backdrops Abercrombie creates, and I thought The Devils definitely reinforced what I enjoy about his worlds and their raw reality and gritty sense of both normalcy and complete chaos.
The Devils is absolutely action-packed and has a lot going for it. I feel like this book is paced and plotted in a fairly consistent and steady manner. The general premise is set up, the crew meets each other, and then everyone sets off. From that point on, a majority of this book is very much a travel journey as they head to the throne with Alex. Along the way, they are hit with somewhat episodic encounters where something attempts to stop them or some wacky, unpredictable shit happens and the crew is forced to partake in some exceptionally violent fighting. There are some highly entertaining moments throughout all of this and it was a lot of fun seeing our characters learn how to interact with one another and even--maybe, somewhat--trust one another at various points.
The conflicting part of all this starts with the fact that Abercrombie is an excellent writer. He has no problem writing absolutely compelling action scenes or getting readers like me to be riveted to whatever is happening on the page. But the conflicting point is that it almost felt a bit... repetitive at times. I found myself getting wearied of doing the same general thing multiple times over. I tend to really enjoy plots involving travel, but this felt a bit too formulaic at times, which I find really weird to say about something Abercrombie wrote.
The banter and humor is top notch and absolutely had me laughing throughout the book; there is no doubt that Abercrombie excels in this area. That being said... it also felt like it was a little too much at times, and it felt like each page was unnecessarily stuffed full of sarcasm, cheap jokes, and excessively witty dialogue that didn't need to be as much as it was. Abercrombie has always been excellent at crafting work that is dark, intriguing, and full of wit, crass jokes, and everything in between, and that definitely shines through in this book, but much in the same way I mentioned the pacing being a bit formulaic and repetitive at times, the jokes also felt a bit repetitive and left me feeling some could have been cut.
I know I've been a bit negative about the plot progression and excessive humor, but I really need to emphasize that this is still a fantastic story. The criticisms I have are really just picking out the negatives from an excellent story, and moreso remarking on my surprise at these issues from Abercrombie. Overall, I truly enjoyed The Devils and still consider Abercrombie one of the top fantasy writers out there right now, and I think any Abercrombie fans--and those new to Abercrombie--will have a great time with this one. Be sure to add this one to your spring and summer TBRs!
Brother Diaz has been summoned to embark on an ambitious holy assignment--though it's not quite what he's expecting. At the same time, a young thief living on the streets named Alex has recently been discovered and told that she's actually the long lost heir to the throne, and she's to be escorted there immediately. This escort is the holy assignment Brother Diaz has been tasked to, and he and Alex are to be joined by a motley crew of "devils" who are all together meant to escort Alex safely to her destination. brother Diaz is not at all keen to be a part of this group, but he is willing to do his duty, and thus begins our story.
The cast of characters in The Devils is excellent (which, given Abercrombie’s reputation for strong characterization, this was not surprising to me, though it was welcome). We have, of course, Brother Diaz, as well as a vampire, Baron Rikard; a werewolf, Vigga; an elf, Sunny; an arrogant, grudging sorcerer, Balthazar Sham Ivam Draxi; the experienced and unkillable Jakob the Thorn; a pirate, Baptiste; and, last but not least, our soon-to-be-crowned heir, Alex. There's a lot of great character development throughout this story, and I enjoyed seeing so many unique dynamics explored between the characters given their history, species, etc. There was one romantic aspect that I didn't entirely expect, and almost one that I sort of wished wouldn't develop once I realized where it was heading, simply because it didn't seem to fit for me, but I think Abercrombie did handle it well and showcased their growth together incredibly well.
As you can no doubt tell, The Devils has a fairly large cast of characters. And these characters are, indeed, an extremely dangerous and morally questionable lot. The story visits most of these characters and their individual perspectives at different points, and I will say it was a lot to take in. I somewhat think the story could have benefited from getting to go a bit deeper with just a few of the characters, as having so many left things feel not quite as deep or developed as I might've liked. That being said, what Abercrombie managed to do with all of these characters in the time he did is very impressive and I do feel like by the end of the book I had a very distinct impression of each character and who they were. I loved our vampire and genuinely appreciated just about every bit of dialogue or action he contributed to the story. I also found the incredibly grumpy Balthazar amusing to follow as well as he realized how stuck he was with his situation. And then, of course, Jakob the Thorn also stuck out to me as a grizzled older fantasy character who reminded me a lot of characters from other stories--in a good way--and I enjoyed learning from him as well.
This setting is a sort of alternate historical Europe that I was a little confused by at first when trying to orient myself, but I figured it out soon enough and was excited to dive into it more. In this world, there is large schism between the West and East factions of the Church (not an uncommon concept). There is also a looming threat of invasion by elves, which has many people on edge. I was really intrigued by this world and almost wish I had gotten a bit more in-depth information about it since I feel I was left wanting a bit more from it. I love exploring the worlds and backdrops Abercrombie creates, and I thought The Devils definitely reinforced what I enjoy about his worlds and their raw reality and gritty sense of both normalcy and complete chaos.
The Devils is absolutely action-packed and has a lot going for it. I feel like this book is paced and plotted in a fairly consistent and steady manner. The general premise is set up, the crew meets each other, and then everyone sets off. From that point on, a majority of this book is very much a travel journey as they head to the throne with Alex. Along the way, they are hit with somewhat episodic encounters where something attempts to stop them or some wacky, unpredictable shit happens and the crew is forced to partake in some exceptionally violent fighting. There are some highly entertaining moments throughout all of this and it was a lot of fun seeing our characters learn how to interact with one another and even--maybe, somewhat--trust one another at various points.
The conflicting part of all this starts with the fact that Abercrombie is an excellent writer. He has no problem writing absolutely compelling action scenes or getting readers like me to be riveted to whatever is happening on the page. But the conflicting point is that it almost felt a bit... repetitive at times. I found myself getting wearied of doing the same general thing multiple times over. I tend to really enjoy plots involving travel, but this felt a bit too formulaic at times, which I find really weird to say about something Abercrombie wrote.
The banter and humor is top notch and absolutely had me laughing throughout the book; there is no doubt that Abercrombie excels in this area. That being said... it also felt like it was a little too much at times, and it felt like each page was unnecessarily stuffed full of sarcasm, cheap jokes, and excessively witty dialogue that didn't need to be as much as it was. Abercrombie has always been excellent at crafting work that is dark, intriguing, and full of wit, crass jokes, and everything in between, and that definitely shines through in this book, but much in the same way I mentioned the pacing being a bit formulaic and repetitive at times, the jokes also felt a bit repetitive and left me feeling some could have been cut.
I know I've been a bit negative about the plot progression and excessive humor, but I really need to emphasize that this is still a fantastic story. The criticisms I have are really just picking out the negatives from an excellent story, and moreso remarking on my surprise at these issues from Abercrombie. Overall, I truly enjoyed The Devils and still consider Abercrombie one of the top fantasy writers out there right now, and I think any Abercrombie fans--and those new to Abercrombie--will have a great time with this one. Be sure to add this one to your spring and summer TBRs!
*I received a copy of The Devils in exchange for an honest review. This has no affect on my opinions.*
Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org
