Hi everyone, welcome back to an extended book review! I'm working on my posting schedule here, and in depth reviews are one of my favorite things to do, so I'm going to be doing more of these going forward. if you're new here, my name is Bob, and I love talking about reading, with a focus on Fantasy, Sci Fi, and Horror. I also run a book club here on Bindery and in my Discord, and for September here my members chose Between Two Fires.

***Possible Trigger Warning - This post will discuss the use of the threat of sexual violence in books, so please read carefully!***

This review may also contain some soft spoilers - I will warn you in the text below before I get into it.

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman is a social media dandy - it is hard to scroll through horror and fantasy bookish social media and not see this book showing up everywhere, and nearly universally loved. When it was chosen as my book club's pick for September of 2026, I was really excited to check it out. It sounded right up my alley - I have been really loving some dark fantasy recently, and the combination of horror and fantasy elements is usually my thing. Unfortunately, this just didn't live up to the hype for me, and I have some major concerns about certain portions of the book.

First, let's talk about the good. Our three main characters, Thomas, Delphine, and Father Matthieu are a great group with interesting backgrounds. We start our story in plague ravaged France in a time after a French military defeat at the hands of England. Thomas is a fallen knight, Father Matthieu a disgraced priest, and Delphine a girl without a family who feels a mysterious calling. My favorite parts of the book were when our main trio were traveling across the countryside, trying to survive horrific encounters, seeing a world of horrors (both natural and supernatural) ahead of them, and learning about what brought them to this point in their lives. During these moments, the characters were rich, the horrors abounded, and the backstory and relative morality of the world was really well explored.

But I do have a major issue with how Delphine in particular is handled and discussed in this book, and this is where there may be some soft spoilers. Delphine is an adolescent at the start of the book, and from the first pages, is under a near constant threat of sexual violence. In fact, it colors our first encounter with her, and follows her throughout the book. At about the halfway mark, it does lessen, and we see it less and less in the later half of the book, but it is a major plot point of the early portions of the story. In fact, there is a chapter that was removed from the version I read (but is still present in older versions of the book and the audiobook) that the author has since discussed and removed that centered around this threat. in an interview with Grimdark magazine, here is what Buehlman had to say on the topic (the full interview can be read here):

"A human being changes in 15 years, And it’s tempting to make a manuscript reflect those changes— I did make one change. There’s a scene with an attempted SA that I originally felt important to the story but which I have since reassessed and omitted. Yes, the forces of hell would almost certainly use such tactics—but there’s a point at which potential reader trauma outweighs the benefit of including certain scenes in a fictional narrative, especially coming from an author not representative of the demographic whose suffering is depicted. The scene with struck a sour note with me, so I think the new version is stronger—and more importantly, kinder—for the change."

I really respect Buehlman for his introspection here, and overall I agree with the omission of that chapter (having read it he is right, it does not add enough to make it worth being included). However, even with this omission, there is still a lot of this threat early on. Understanding that this is marketed as medieval horror, and this sort of threat would have been a real thing around that time, this sort of threat is likely historically accurate. However, whenever I see these sorts of themes or events in a book, my question is always this: does it serve a purpose or is it needed for the narrative? In this case, the answer for me is no, it is extra unnecessary horror. There is more than enough going on in plague ravaged France with a girl who watched her parents die and is now a vessel for a supernatural entity who is trying to battle evil that this extra threat felt completely gratuitous. Additionally, Delphine is essentially just a vessel in this book, serving as a conduit for these supernatural powers, and does not know why she is doing the things she does, or saying some of the things she says. Between these two fires, Delphine is really diminished in terms of her role in the story.

The horror is really well done overall, a mix between real world historic horror. I think for all of us who lived through the pandemic, we can certainly relate to the horrors of a plague, and we see that in vivd detail here. We see the horror of grief and loss, and the horror of survival in some cases. We also get great supernatural horror. Certain elements are in the fantasy realm, although these elements are based on a real world religion, so I hesitate to call them fantasy. however, we do get some great supernatural horror, as well as some body horror and gore throughout.

I did quite enjoy the build up to the end, and the book had a very satisfying climax, with an ending that may split some. Thomas especially is an interesting character, grey to his core yet good in his own ways. I did think that the religious explorations were very interesting as well, focusing heavily on Catholic dogma and mythology. Those who are more intimately familiar with Catholic references and traditions will find little nuggets sprinkled throughout, and I thought a lot of these were really well done. I do think that those who are not as familiar with Catholic traditions and beliefs may not find that aspect of things quite as rounded out as some of them are somewhat specific. I do think the theme of good versus evil and the choices we get to make as humans are very interesting. I also think the theme of some of the downsides to organized religion, including corruption and the abuse of power, are really well explored here, and the idea that those we deem as good or bad based on our morals are not always what they seem. The idea of the religious warrior, or the soldier of God, is explored in a fascinating way. The ending certainly split my book club, but I thought it was a really satisfying conclusion personally. However, my favorite parts of this story, and the parts that I thought explored these themes the best, were really our core trio traveling through the French countryside, trudging towards their own apocalypse.

Overall, I left Between Two Fires feeling very mixed. there are some great elements here - great horror, some really good moments with our characters, and some great exploration of interesting themes. However, at the end of the day, there were certain elements of the book surrounding Delphine and her character arc that I just couldn't get past. At the end of the day, I do not think I would go rushing back to this author, although I applaud the choice to remove the chapter he did, as well as the introspection and growth demonstrated in how he talk about it. It is certainly a book with a lot to talk about, and while I am not hurrying back to read his other work, I would be open to it in the future.

So, what did you think? Have you read this book and, if so, how did you feel about it?

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DocoftheDarkArtsBob Stuntz • Sep 16