Priest of Lies

Priest of Lies continues to deliver the tale that Priest of Bones set into action, narrated by our antihero Tomas Piety's distinctive practical voice. There's nothing held back in detailing how the world really works... realpolitik is as natural as breathing and that's the way business is done in Ellinburg. If you were a fan of the first novel, Peter McLean ups the ante with adding more blood and politics, bringing the capital of Dannsburg to life, and adding a touch more fantasy into his turn-of-the-industrial-revolution setting.

In short: fans will get more of what they want. Turn away now if you thought the author might change the tone or deliver something different. For the rest of us: celebrate. This is a rare sequel that delivers and I suspect I'll be finishing the remaining 2 books of this series in another week.

I do find that this novel was not grimdark. The setting is poor, yes, and the government is corrupt and crime lords with a code are the law on the streets. However, it doesn't feel any worse than how the 1800s and early 1900s are described. To be honest, it feels like a fairly straightforward fight-corruption story and if it wasn't so damn entertaining, I probably would have docked it a star for not pushing the boundaries like the first.

That said - the novel has changed in format. Priest of Bones was about the expansion of military power for Tomas, and in this one, you see him start to play the game at the political level. It's subtle and never quite as obvious as the first in terms of military conquests, but the main character himself will note that he's gotten better at the game and it's somewhat amusing to realize how power is accumulating.

The ending is pretty much everything I expected starting from the first novel's final paragraph... the governor was set up as the next antagonist, and we get a massive showdown on the streets of Ellinburg. The classic people-rising-against-the-government scene was entertaining, as was the heel-turn of Captain Rogan. I had assumed Tomas would become governor but I failed to predict the mechanism: the entire Dannsburg subplot seemed to be written to introduce Vogel and then provide the requisite character building necessary for us readers to accept Tomas as a Queen's Man.

The character of the next novel will have to change, given Tomas's new powers and changed responsibilities. I'm not quite sure when he became such an ardent protector of the crown, but it's believable that all his time under the thumb of a Queen's Man, along with his own personal code of honour, has changed him. He himself realized that being governor was not different from how he ruled the Stink and the Wheels... so I accept his character growth.

That's just how business is done in Ellinburg.