Review of NETGALLEY arc – House of Open Wounds – Book 2 of TheTyrant Philosophers series by Adrian Tchaikovsky BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #HouseofOpenWoundsbookreview

I’m a fan of Tchaikovsky’s writing. His science fiction and fantasy novels and novellas provide impressive flexibility and range. Invariably, whatever genre or subject, he writes with wit and intelligence and I always find myself thinking about his books long after I’ve completed them. Which is why he is one of my go-to authors, as you can see from my reviews of his work – the Children of Time series, – Children of Time, Children of Ruin and Children of Memory – the Echoes of the Fall series The Tiger and the Wolf, The Bear and the Serpent, The Hyena and the Hawk – Redemption’s Blade: After the War, Guns of Dawn, The Expert System’s Brother , The Expert System’s Champion, Spiderlight, Ironclads, Dogs of War, Bear Head, The Doors of Eden, Firewalkers, Ogres, And Put Away Childish Things, , One Day All This Will be Yours, the Architects of Earth series – Shards of Earth, Eyes of the Void and Lords of Uncreation; Alien Clay; and The Tyrant Philosophers series – City of Last Chances.

BLURB: 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 frontline.

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. Their’s 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 Yansic’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.

REVIEW: For those of you lucky enough to have been around when the wonderful M*A*S*H series on TV was running – that vibe of a field hospital coping with the regular influx of wounded is the backdrop and narrative engine of this book. Though, in amongst the desperation of dealing with hideously wounded soldiers, those coming to their aid are… different. Despite rigorously expunging anything magical or religious from the cultures they conquer, the Palleseen find themselves in the position of having to utilise some of those touched by the uncanny. So prisoners able to wield magic to aid healing, or construct lethal weapons find themselves spared from the army’s mincing machine, which accounts for the selection of oddball characters at the Experimental Hospital. The woman able to take on a patient’s wounds and then heal herself… a revoltingly filthy flautist whose music keeps wounds from going septic… and the latest addition to the medical crew – an ex-priest with an odd collection of minor gods in a box which he carries on his back.

The story, which is long, charts the progress of those working within the hospital and the challenges they face, both within and without. While this one takes a bit of time to get going, it wasn’t long before I was utterly engrossed. To be honest – I’d been putting this one off, as the tenor of City of Lost Chances had been a tad on the bleak side and I’ve not been emotionally up to it. But the flashes of humour were more apparent in this one – to the extent that I laughed aloud in several places. Told in multiple viewpoint, I found myself really caring about all the main characters who end up working as a tight-knit team, which becomes more of a found family. Indeed, more than one war orphan ends up there.

In amongst the gripping story, Tchaikovsky isn’t afraid to address bigger questions – is it ever acceptable to sacrifice the interests and wellbeing of the few to safeguard the many? Is religion necessary? Is it vital to have an overarching belief in good and evil in order to keep one’s humanity? I like the fact that while he raises such questions and some of them get answered, those answers tend not to be particularly tidy or clearcut.

Tchaikovsky walks a tightrope between grimdark bleakness and the fey cuteness so often surrounding cosier fantasy reads – and manages to avoid landing in either camp. So while this is a gritty read with plenty of blood and violence – there is sufficient humour and humanity to make this ultimately a hopeful, uplifting read, without at any stage leavening the dire consequences of a long-running war of attrition. It’s a tricky feat to pull off, yet Tchaikovsky triumphantly achieves it.

I look forward to tucking into the final book in this series. It’s always a privilege to read a superbly talented author at the top of his game, who continues to push the envelope – apart from anything else, such writers are rare in any genre. And if you’re looking for such an experience, then get hold of this book. While the first book was an outstanding read – this one is even better. While I obtained an arc of House of Open Wounds from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10