The Devils - Outside of a Dog

560 pages

English language

Published May 13, 2025

ISBN:: 978-1-250-88005-5

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it's a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it's a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.

1 edition

73pctGeek reviewed The Devils (The Devils, #1)

Fun!

3 stars

A cast of extremely colourful characters disaster their way across an alternate Europe in an attempt to avoid suffering the consequences of their Papal binding.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. There were some glaringly obvious “twists”, and some rather more subtle ones, but even the ones I could see coming miles off were still pulled off to my satisfaction. There are quite a few characters, and they are all very, clearly distinguishable. Abercrombie also avoids turning them into caricatures, giving hints of depth to even the most single-minded ones. I liked the world-building, particularly the schism. One or two of the combat scenes dragged on a bit, but in general, this was a fast, fun read. Will be reading the sequels.

writh reviewed The Devils (The Devils, #1)

At moments, fantastic, at other sort of a drudge

4 stars

This book was, overall, really great. It had moments where the story got bogged down, and lost its way a bit. I don't think that made it bad, it just could have been a little tighter.

The worldbuilding was my favorite part. The bizarro version of medieval Europe was really cool. The religious aspect was fun and original.

The cast of characters was where this book really shined. Each member of ye olde suicide squad was unique and had a fun story to tell. I really liked that we spend so much time in the head of the thoroughly unlikable necromancer. Seeing other people's reactions to him, and how they didn't match up with his thoughts about himself was really funny.

I would say this book is for sure a 4. It was almost a 5, but it just struggled with the pacing at moments.

This book was, overall, really great. It had moments where the story got bogged down, and lost its way a bit. I don't think that made it bad, it just could have been a little tighter.

The worldbuilding was my favorite part. The bizarro version of medieval Europe was really cool. The religious aspect was fun and original.

The cast of characters was where this book really shined. Each member of ye olde suicide squad was unique and had a fun story to tell. I really liked that we spend so much time in the head of the thoroughly unlikable necromancer. Seeing other people's reactions to him, and how they didn't match up with his thoughts about himself was really funny.

I would say this book is for sure a 4. It was almost a 5, but it just struggled with the pacing at moments.