LoveReading Says
I announce this absolute humdinger of a LoveReading Star Book as an extraordinarily powerful and provocative read. As the Palleseen army invade, battle, and retreat their way in a never ending cycle, the crew of a field hospital just behind the front line battle to save lives and each other. Carrying a box of Gods on his back, Yasnic is sent to join the bizarre medical team led by the Butcher. This is the second book in the The Tyrant Philosophers series, you could very easily read this as a standalone, yet I recommend starting with City of Last Chances in order to experience the beginning of this world. And, oh, what a world, so fiercely different, and yet with aspects that are strikingly recognisable. It is wonderfully easy to step into the pages and immerse yourself, to believe, to exist in what you can see, hear, and feel around you. A political and social commentary lies beneath the surface, allowing the reader to find and draw their own conclusions. House of Open Wounds slapped my attention from the get-go and never let me go. It is both epic and intimate in scale, capturing the structure of fear and hope in a war-torn existence. Author Adrian Tchaikovsky is able to burrow down into the essence of what it is to be human. He looks past the surface and into the chaos that lies within, those intricate layers built as a result of decisions, deeds, and events over years of existence. His characters (including the Gods) scream with vivid intensity, each one meticulously constructed and evolving through the novel. The relationships and energy between the characters ensures a connection, and one that I didn’t want to let go. I fell deeply in love with this wonderfully tormenting and impressive read, House of Open Wounds is so dynamic and potent it hurts, highly recommended.
Liz Robinson
Find This Book In
Primary Genre |
Fantasy
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Other Genres: |
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House of Open Wounds Synopsis
FROM THE BSFA AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF CITY OF LAST CHANCES
City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. As their legions scour the world of superstition with the bright flame of reason, so they deliver a mountain of ragged, holed and scorched flesh to the field hospital tents just behind the front line.
Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit.
Led by 'the Butcher', an ogre of a man who's a dab hand with a bone-saw and an alchemical tincture, the unit's motley crew of conscripts, healers and orderlies are no strangers to the horrors of war. Theirs is an unspeakable trade: elbow-deep in gore they have a first-hand view of the suffering caused by flesh-rending monsters, arcane magical weaponry and embittered enemy soldiers.
Entrusted – for now – with saving lives deemed otherwise un-saveable, the field hospital's crew face a precarious existence. Their work with unapproved magic, necromancy, demonology and Yasnic's thoroughly illicit Gods could lead to the unit being disbanded, arrested or worse.
Beset by enemies within and without, the last thing anyone needs is a miracle…
About This Edition
ISBN: |
9781035901388 |
Publication date: |
7th December 2023 |
Author: |
Adrian Tchaikovsky |
Publisher: |
Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
Format: |
Hardback |
Pagination: |
608 pages |
Series: |
The Tyrant Philosophers |
Primary Genre |
Fantasy
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Other Genres: |
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Recommendations: |
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About Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Lincolnshire before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. He subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and has trained in stage-fighting. He's the author of Children of Time, the winner of the 30th Anniversary Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Sunday Times bestseller Shards of Earth.
More About Adrian Tchaikovsky