Truly an amazing book. I am so glad that I got into reading because this book exists. I don’t think anything can top this book in the grimdark genre. Between Two Fires captures how famine, war, pestilence, and religion looked in 1348, along with the historical aspects of the time period, extremely well, while perfectly blending them with fictional elements. This book reached beyond its dark setting to touch the soul through valuable lessons about love, forgiveness, and redemption, especially in the presence of war, famine, and pestilence. Please give this book a chance and be prepared to experience the terror of the world Buehlman created. You won’t regret it.

A great book, touches on love, life, faith, loss and forgiveness. Good action at many parts and great characters.

Horrible! Very hard to follow. I finished but felt totally let down. Don’t bother.

This was by far the best book I’ve read all year. I had seen reviews but didn’t believe them. This was an awesome adventure that had you at the edge of your seat and wanting to know what the next page had in store. This book had an excellent blend of religious, darkness, humor and awesome characters that made this book a top tier choice. The medieval aspect and dark themes portrayed throughout was unlike anything I had ever read! I will be recommending this book to anyone looking for a dark and interesting adventure where unlikely companions become true heroes.

I heard good things about this book and I’ve not read in quite some time, so I decided to start here. I was at first apprehensive of finishing the read but was unanimously hooked after a few chapters. I’d describe this book less as horror and more as religious adventure, with an excellent sense of humor and world building. My only qualm with the book was that it was too short.

A gothic fantasy that includes disgruntled, disenfranchised knights, a mystical child, river monsters and the very worst that hell and demons can disgorge. Heavy on the gruesome bits down to every disquieting detail, but also full of sweetness and kind-hearted sentimentality. Really about as much fun as an author can have within the genre of medieval kingdoms and otherworldly warfare. There are few moments of seriousness in this irreverent odyssey, but when Buehlman occasionally decides to settle down from all the chaos and revisit his recurring thematic motifs, the tone gets serious fast and drives each point home like a war-axe through rusty, worn chainmail and armor.

Though I didn’t always understand what I was reading, a lot of old and French words throughout, I enjoyed the read immensely.

Terribly misleading synopsis. Two stars for the descriptions, which do a good job at making certain scenes really feel medieval. Other than that, this book was disjointed and unclear in its plot. I never DNF books and I wanted to, just a few chapters in, but decided to push through. There was no payoff. SPOILERS AHEAD: The characters are all haunted, so I thought there’d be a redemption arc for them. There is for one of them - the horrible, unlikeable character Thomas, and the other one turns out to be an angel (or maybe Jesus himself?) I thought this was going to be a medieval horror but it’s more cosmic fantasy, with no real explanation of why or how anything is happening. Maybe that’s the point. If so, I missed it.

This book was 150 pages too long. It has an absolutely incredible first and second act. The last portion was long and drawn out. I couldn't finish it.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I put it down at any given time.