The Devils by Joe Abercrombie feels fresh while still retaining the style of writing the author has become famous for. It’s set in a new world, our world in an alternate timeline Europe, where the church wages war with elves that eat the flesh of man and are waiting for their chance to wage war against humanity yet again. A fellowship of an immortal, a jack-of-all-trades, a necromancer, a vampire, a werewolf, a monk, and an elf has to escort a thief turned princess across Europe while the many sons of her usurping sorceress aunt send human animal hybrid monsters after them. The Devils is full of hijinks, violence, characters with cut-throat dialogue, and emotional intelligence underneath that will cut you deep with how heartbreaking these monsters can make you feel.

Abercrombie balances familiar and fresh with his writing, vastly different from the world of The First Law and The Age of Madness series, but the staples of his writing style remain. Joe’s sardonic humor remains mixed in with high-intensity action and an undercurrent of tragedy that both the reader and the characters are aware of, but the latter actively tries to ignore. The book feels reminiscent of the travels of Bayaz’s party in Before They Are Hanged and the different sections of Best Served Cold, taking place in different regions of Styria. However, both the character work of the party, which is a collection of classic horror monsters, and the different settings across the alternate Europe are on another level. A best of both worlds scenario elevated by the years since those books, where Abercrombie has tightened his writing even more. What continues are violent action sequences that are brisk, breathless, and brutal, but with prose that flourishes like poetry.

The author’s characters are consistently flawed to an extreme degree, but what makes them lovable is that they’re always willing to try to be better, sometimes succeeding, oftentimes failing, but always trying. Each member of the congregation of the Chapel of Holy Expediency, better known as the devils, comes with a unique set of circumstances that both puts them into the mess and gets them out of the mess, usually through just the right amount of violence. The characters who get points-of-view chapters, Brother Diaz, the reluctant monk in over his head, Jakob of Thorn, the knight cursed to never die, Sunny the disappearing elf who wishes she could understand humans, Vigga the lustful and unstable werewolf, and Balthazar Sham Ivam Draxi, as far as voices go, could not be more different. There is not one of the main characters, point-of-view or otherwise, that left me cold or uninterested in their development. The devils are lovable, horrible monsters who desperately need multiple hugs, but you should probably do so reluctantly. Except maybe Balthazar the necromancer, who prefers to be called a magician and his ego is large enough a hug he gives himself is enough. He is likely my stand-out character as someone who loathes Bayaz, First of the Magi. This character carries the same amount of hubris but is constantly humbled and embarrassed by Benedicta the First, the ten-year-old Pope, Baron Rikard, the aged vampire, and Baptiste, the jack-of-all-trades former pirate and scout for the devils, and yet his hubris is a ship that won’t sink.

The supporting cast outside of the devils do not feel quite as deep as in Abercrombie’s previous books, but from the conspiring members of the church to sons of Eudioxia, the recently passed Queen of Troy, and their human-animal hybrid henchmen, they are still entertaining. This, along with the fast pace of this over five hundred page book, that flies by, doesn’t feel as if those parts are missing, but more that this is just the beginning. The book does feel like an opening act of a larger story to introduce the readers to the characters that comprise the devils and the world they live in. The elves are clearly a future threat, with it repeated that Alex being on the throne of Troy is essential as the first line of defense when, not if, they strike. The rapid-fire pace of the plot may not leave much time for the extended cast, but there is a foundation laid down and threads left dangling by the end that are intriguing for the future of the series, which includes characters outside of the devils themselves.

Joe Abercrombie’s world-building remains in a class of its own above many. The threat of elves looms over the world of The Devils, and the mission of this first book, with each backdrop of this alternate Europe showing a ripple effect of previous crusades against the elves. Abercrombie isn’t heavy-handed with it, often interjecting information about the location and its history with the mission of getting the thief-turned-princess Alex to Troy. The plot is straightforward, which might not be enough for some returning readers, but I feel the characters bring a lot to the journey that more than makes up for it. The Devils is now at the top of my list of Joe Abercrombie books I’d recommend to new readers of the author. Grimdark sometimes carries this negative connotation of a series of bleak ultraviolent tropes readers roll their eyes at but grimdark as a subgenre of fantasy still thrives under Abercrombie and The Devils still fits the bill, but less so than a lot of his previous works. As far as grimdark is concerned, this is a fun romp with fascinating set-pieces, romance, magic, and a bit less hopelessness. Another aspect that lends The Devils to be easily recommended is that, while the author has always had sharp wit in his books, this might be the funniest, and that also lends to the pages to flip by fast late into the night and sometimes morning.

Speaking of magic, as a fan of Joe Abercrombie’s Circle of the World, a collection of series that has magic few and far between that is often described as fading from the world, I’m curious where magic will go in both this series and future Abercrombie projects. It has been a joy to read an Abercrombie novel with much more magic that straddles the line of having rules and being more free form, often hilariously read through Balthazar’s failures, despite his qualifications. I look forward to everything involving Balthazar, magic or otherwise. The Devils comes with a cast of characters easily loved and empathized with despite their flawed and maybe monstrous natures. The setting is full of intrigue, mystery, and dangerous secrets of a Europe unlike our own. The story is full of chaotic action, bloodshed, and amusement that already has me anticipating what is next for this series, just as I plan to reread Joe Abercrombie’s The Devils again as soon as this review is done. Here is to more monsters soon.

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Joshua was provided an advance copy of the book by Tor Books.

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