Historically Horrific in the Best Way
I wanted to read a horror book for Halloween this year. Cliff tried to get me to read IT, having read the book before he dove face first into Wheel of Time (which has consumed a year of his life at this point. I have read so many books while he’s still working on that series, but the Stephen King novel wasn’t going to be one of them.
While I was reading the Sun Eater series, a nice looking hardcover book with a wonderfully designed cover was released. Amazon was pushing it. I read the synopsis and I just bought it. I wasn’t even aware of the fact that it wasn’t new. In true Tyson fashion, I then just left it on top of a pile of books which itself sat on top of one of our (many) book shelves.
Lovecraft was a thing I did back in High School but that barely qualified as scary. Horror is not a genre I search out. Well, I kinda did. Terror by Dan Simmons a historical horror novel was cool, but I read it for the author, not the genre. I liked the “historical” part, taking something or somewhen, then twisting it. That’s the part that got me and caused the impulsive clicking of the buy button.
The novel Between Two Fires was released in 2012 by Christopher Buehlman. He crafted a historical fiction tale that is a work of both gothic horror and dark fantasy. It’s as grimdark as Game of Thrones, working biblical angels, both the standard and the fallen type, into a harrowing tale of brutal medieval horror along with more laughs than feels appropriate for the subject matter.
According to Wikipedia, Christopher Buehlman is a comedian on top of being a writer. It shows: I laughed out loud multiple times, even woke Kera up on several occasions. One time, I full on read her two pages so she would would get the punchline that had caused me to rouse her from slumber. Not jokes, which would undermine the severity of the book, but ironic situations that lent a little levity to keep the book just under oppressive.
What is it?
Between Two Fires takes place in France during the plague. Yup. The black death. 1348. Turns out the plague is a cover for a war against heaven. Upon the earth it must have felt like the end of days. With so many dead, how could it not? The supernatural part of the horror is set within human despair flooding across Europe at the time.
Obviously, the article will be lightly spoiler-ly going forward. Hopefully only enough to give you a taste and make you crave for more. Be careful, gluttony is one of those deadly sins…
The book starts out with Thomas, a wrongfully excommunicated knight, being barely the good guy: he stops the group of bandits he is with from raping a teenage girl. Pretty low standards when the plague is killing people and everyone believes they are already in hell. Thomas has lost his faith (and has a filthy mouth) and lost his way but didn’t entirely lose who he is. His lands were taken, along with his honor and his wife.
Forced to steal just to survive, he is alive but not living. While he has become a brigand, the intentions of the group he is with towards the girl is too much. He wont have it. So he kills people. He is hesitant to make human connection. He won’t even tell the girl his name. Several chapters in Thomas realized he didn’t know what her name was when she informed someone else: its Delphine.
To me, Between Two Fires feels like a gothic era Last of Us. Delphine has a purpose: she is needed. Although its unclear for a while just what she is needed for. Her tale represents a shard of hope amidst the landscape of horror. Turns out the would-be savior girl that he saved talks to angels, or, at least she says she does. Thomas decides to do whatever he needs to get her where she is needed.
They undertake a medieval road trip across a ravaged France. Along the way they meet a drunken priest who can barely live with himself. His human mind has made him think about normal human things. Its more that Mathieu can’t be forgiven for his transgressions according to the religion and society of the times. It feels very modern.
The character work is great. Delphine may be nuts or may actually talk to angels, regardless she doubts herself. Thomas doesn’t believe her but wants to. The priest does believe but hates himself and struggles with faith. They are all very human. They go through a lot on the road, all the while unsure if the girl is on the level.
There is a lot of mud-slogging. The nightmare castle is a thing. Monsters with weirdly human body parts. crazy ass shit that belongs in a Hieronymus Bosch painting. The horror is the Christian aesthetic of fallen angels brought to earth. Its just wonderful. and I couldn’t have loved it more.
Alongside the Last of Us, where an adoptive father takes in an important girl and learns to care again (just in case you haven’t seen or played it), this story made me think of another piece of media: the Green Knight. Somehow this movie created both a realistic look at medieval life for Sir Gawain and a fantastical interpretation of the Green Knight. While the mythic Knight was clearly otherworldly, everything else around the story was seated in the real world. I enjoyed this aspect of the book a lot.
The trio runs around France, attempting to avoid people and the plague: they don’t do a great job with either. They find themselves in trouble several times, of both the mystic and the mundane variety.
What did I think?
The world of Between Two Fires is dark and demonic, but light shines brightest in contrast to the devilry. We see that good can overcome evil, but not without a cost. The evil only happened because good wasn’t watching to stop it. When good (ie, God) finally noticed what was happening, it fucked up the evil in a titanic way. But Our characters were the conduit.
Ultimately, Between Two Fires ask a question: What does faith asks of us? What are you willing to give up? How can you persevere through hardship toward the unknown on faith alone. on top of this, Thomas is repeatedly asked not to kill, to avoid violence, even though it is easier and all about him. But he tries, because Delphine asked it of him. The question is did he pass the test? Is it even possible for him to succeed, considering his dubious past, and that is after his time away at war.
The book shows us that rehabilitation is not easy and likely includes punishment. And there is punishment, pure fucking grotesqueries abound at the hands of biblical brutes. Nothing that is truly important can be easy. Not life. Certainly not family, and this is a story about a found family.
This all struck me as meaningful without ever actually preaching at the reader. Faith in ourselves and our loved ones. Striving to make ourselves better while surrounded by shitty things. At the beginning I was intrigued. When the weird biblical Boschian shit started hitting, I was ready, willing and able to take it in. As the story progressed I cared about their suffering and hoped to see an end of their pain. I knew full well it was unlikely, or at least it was going to be hard-fought.
So, yeah, I fucking loved this book. It was a fun read, different from the other fantasy I had read and crafted with a flair that I enjoyed.
The first thing I thought of when I finished the book was “I wish it weren’t over so quickly” but, realistically it was as long as it needed to be. Stretching it out more would have spread the wonder thinner and maybe it would have lost some of the appeal, if not the intensity.
The second thing that ran through my mind was “well, fuck, I have to buy his other books.” I already added them to my Goodreads “want to read” list and they may or may not be hovering in my online cart. I am definitely adding some more books to my To Be Read list.
You will have to read Between Two Fires to see if Thomas finds redemption in himself. and through him the world of man. Ultimately it’s his change that’s important. Can he lets go of his past? Is there hope in all the horror?
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Tyson
Obsessive and neurotic collector of little plastic men, novels about the same little plastic men and paints to make the little plastic men pretty. Married to Kera, who puts up with him and pretends that she doesn’t hear him speaking to the little plastic men in between making pew pew noises in the hobby room. Requires adult supervision. A menace to himself but rarely to others. More beard than man
