Jacey Bedford's Journal

He's risen to be a knight on the ruling council, but has come to realised that Dieter Vogel is more like a gangster than a politician in his methods and begins to have deep suspicions about the man. Tomas receives information that changes everything, if only he can bring himself to trust the Skanian who delivers it.

The capital is groaning under the weight of religious nutters who believe the little queen (who was killed by her own out-of-control magic) has ascended as a martyr. They aren't above riots and acts of terrorism, but they might be just the people Tomas needs if he's going to foment a revolution. There's a high price to pay for what Tomas wants to achieve.

I ate up this quartet of high body-count books and though there are places where the pace drops a little and there’s a lot of violence, Tomas is a sympathetic thug. (Yes, he’s still a thug despite all that happens – but he’s a thinking thug.) His successes are balanced by his tragedies and it’s a bittersweet, but satisfying, ending.

I ate up this quartet of high body-count books and though there are places where the pace drops a little and there's a lot of violence, Tomas is a sympathetic thug. (Yes, he's still a thug despite all that happens - but he's a thinking thug.) His successes are balanced by his tragedies and it's a bittersweet, but satisfying, ending.

Thomas Piety, ex soldier, army priest, mob boss of the Pious Men, and now reluctant employee of the Queen’s Men is married to Ailsa, though it’s all a sham as his wife is his handler, a spy, and a Queen’s Man herself. Favourite characters from the first book are still in there: Bloody Anne, Thomas’s second, Billy the Boy. There’s magic and a lot of blood and death. In this book the action moves from the streets of Ellinburg to the capital where the wealthy and influential are equally as dangerous as thugs with sharp weapons. It’s been hailed as Peaky Blinders with Swords, and that’s possibly close to accurate.