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Christopher Buehlman

Between Two Fires Paperback – October 2, 2012

by Christopher Buehlman (Author)

4.6 4,832 ratings

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His extraordinary debut, Those Across the River, was hailed as “genre-bending Southern horror” (California Literary Review), “graceful [and] horrific” (Patricia Briggs). Now Christopher Buehlman invites readers into an even darker age—one of temptation and corruption, of war in heaven, and of hell on earth… And Lucifer said: “Let us rise against Him now in all our numbers, and pull the walls of heaven down…” The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm—that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict. Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission: to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned. As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.

Print length

436 pages
Language

English
Publication date

October 2, 2012
Dimensions

6 x 1.09 x 9 inches
ISBN-13

979-8662731349
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Popular Highlights in this book

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Love is always harder. Love means weathering blows for another’s sake and not counting them. Love is loss of self, loss of other, and faith in the death of loss.
Highlighted by 519 Kindle readers
Heaven was a woman holding your head in the crook of her arm and looking down at you. Heaven was a warm hand on your cheek and the smell of soup with garlic on the fire.
Highlighted by 216 Kindle readers
“I don’t know,” he said. “But don’t you see? This is the one thing I can do as well as anyone else. I can’t plow. I can’t build. But I can suffer. God wants suffering now.”
Highlighted by 215 Kindle readers

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08C9D71PS
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (October 2, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 436 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8662731349
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.41 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.09 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #22 in Historical Fantasy (Books)
- #119 in Horror Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.6 4,832 ratings

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Christopher Buehlman

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Christopher Buehlman is a native Floridian and author of the literary horror novels 'Those Across the River' and 'Between Two Fires.' He is the winner of the 2007 Bridport Prize in poetry, and the author of several provocative plays, including Hot Nights for the War Wives of Ithaka. Many know him as comedian Christophe the Insultor, something of a cult figure on the renaissance festival circuit. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. His first novel, 'Those Across the River,' was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for best novel in 2012.

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Matthew Boyd

Not my favorite, but decent in certain aspects

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2023

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For starters, this book took a while to get cooking. It doesn’t reach out and grab you from the start, and it doesn’t even attempt to. I was very put off by the first creature you encounter, as it wasn’t scary or interesting to me. I thought if this is what the book was going to be I wouldn’t enjoy it. It does get better however. I read some reviews that say if you’re struggling, just wait until Paris (although there is a good scene before they get there) and I agree it’s better after that. The pacing is a bit slow at times and at some points it’s hard to comprehend the dialogue as there are instances where spiritual voices (angels and demons) are popping in and out and you don’t know who is saying what. The author does have some good parts of setups and recalls. The conclusion of the book is, well, I’ll let you make your own conclusion on that.

Part of my disappointment might have been from the hype I gave myself about it. From judging the premise, I expected colossal battles and terrifying scenes. This book is not that however.

Pros: some decently creepy scenes and demonic figures, slight humor, decent setups, and good battles
Cons: slow pacing, inconclusive finalities, confusing dialogue at times

2 people found this helpful

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Heather

Amazing Medieval Horror

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2023

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I received a somewhat damaged version of the book. It had weird, smudged prints all over the covers that never come off. I would get a hard cover version of this since I love the book so much, but I'm obsessed with the cover art for the paperback.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS**
A knight, a priest, and a little girl walk into a bar. No, but really. These three do indeed walk into a lot of places. A lot of unpleasant places. Easiest five star rating I've had to give for a book.

A disgraced knight, a guilt stricken priest, and an orphan girl happen upon each other and embark on a mission across France amidst the Black Death. First of all, the character building as well as the environment building is *chef's kiss* perfection. I instantly fell in love with these characters. I want them to succeed, be happy, and get everything that they're in search for this whole novel. In terms of world building; the environment is palpable. You can see yourself in these places, experiencing the things our characters are going through physically, which with the plot of this novel is not very pleasant. Three people need to travel to the other side of the country through endless danger in order to stop the demons of Hell just because a strange, orphan girl told them they have to? Better yet, because an Angel of Heaven told the little girl, who then told two strangers, that this needs to happen? So this creates a perfect dynamic in the beginning. Does Thomas, the disgraced knight, truly believe she's telling the truth, or is he just along for the ride because he feels responsible for this child after their not so polite introduction. The creature designs are also very grotesque, but amazing. All in all it's just a very bleak, depressing world and pair that with the love that these three develop for each other, I just could not get enough. This book had me crying by the end, maybe because I'm a parent. Quite possibly going to be my favorite read of this year.

7 people found this helpful

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John Brocato

An absorbing, surprisingly emotional horror story

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2023

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If you’re a fan of horror fiction, I highly recommend Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Its subtitle is “An Epic Tale of Medieval Horror,” which neatly sums it up: the Black Death, events like the Battle of Crécy and their aftermaths, a lapsed knight, a lapsing priest, and a spiritually precocious little girl, all framed by a rekindled war between literal angels and devils. By about the fifth page, I said out loud, “I can’t believe I haven’t read this until now.” It is phenomenal.

As a writer myself, my reaction to some books I read is “I could do the research required to make this story legitimate” (even if my prose talents are lacking by comparison). I did not react this way to Between Two Fires; it boasts a level of detail on, e.g., medieval Europe, the dialects of 14th-century France, and pre-Reformation Catholicism that is mind-boggling. Against this backdrop, Buehlman crafts a compelling narrative — at times it feels like a macabre amalgam of The Canterbury Tales and Pilgrim’s Progress — that becomes the perfect substrate for some imaginatively frightening scenarios. In particular, chapter 12, “Of the Ones Who Knock by Night,” is among the more shocking, horrifying things I’ve ever read. It’s right up there with Room 217 in Stephen King’s The Shining, the basement in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and the hotel room in Adam Nevill’s Last Days for sheer set-piece terror.

I read this book twice, starting over from the beginning as soon as I finished the last pages. It’s that good, and I plan to eventually read it again.

9 people found this helpful

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Jeremy C.

Amazing Book

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2023

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I am a person of fantasy and I truly love this book. The beginning of it starts off slow, but at the right pace to allow all of the characters to develop. Overall, it hits all the points that I am looking for. I am truly glad I found this book.

One person found this helpful

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dora

Fun combination of existential dread and adventure

Reviewed in Germany on September 8, 2023

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I enjoyed Between Two Fires, and wolfed it down in a matter of days. Highly recommended for fans of supernatural and religious horror, especially if you are also into period drama like I am.

The book is well written, fast-paced, and imaginative. It plays with gritty realism on the one hand, like when it describes Thomas' experiences on the battlefield or the devastation of human bodies and communities due to the plague, but has the feel of high fantasy on the other hand, describing discussions between angels or showing Delphine use her wits to escape a hungry demon (my favourite scene, actually). The three main characters, Thomas, Delphine, and father Matthieu, are sympathetic, well-developed, dynamic, and interesting, if a bit ahead of their times in terms of their thinking and speaking. However, this did not detract from the period feel for me. Instead, I enjoyed Thomas' journey from grizzled killer to father figure, Matthieu's journey from coward to hero, and Delphine's journey from little girl to something else, and back again.

Christopher Buehlman paints a grim but believable picture of 14th century France. Storytelling ranges from very matter-of-fact to poetic, and the scenes we follow go from intimate, emotional ones where character share their past trauma over wine or laugh at each other's farts, to truly epic ones, where angels battle it out while souls get tortured in hell. Overall, the storytelling is very focused on visuals and seems to spend more time describing what the characters are seeing, than anything else they might be sensing. Since Buehlman describes truly fascinating imagery, this is far from a problem.

Buehlman reimagines Christian mythology in a way which simultaneously feels very period-appropriate, and extremely contemporary, even new-atheist. Since I am an atheist myself, this did not bother me in the slightest. Very religious Christian readers might prefer to give the book a miss, though. Despite clearly showing demons as evil entities, angels and the Christian god they serve are not shown as straightforward good guys. God, in particular is morally ambivalent at best, an arbitrarily cruel and incompetent tyrant at worst. Having said that, the book does not have an answer to the question of whether the Christian god is good or not, the same way it doesn't answer a few other deep questions it raises, like the nature of sin or the value of forgiveness. While I like that I could make up my own mind about those, I would have wished Buehlman gave us a more definitive statement on at least some of those philosophical issues.

The book gets somewhat repetitive around the middle of the story, as our trio walk southwards, encounter yet another plague-stricken town, defeat a supernatural evil at some terrible cost, and move on towards Avignon. However, since I found the episodes entertaining, and the associated imagery fascinating, this did not detract from my enjoyment of the text.

All in all, great, easy read for horror fans, particularly those who enjoy visual and body horror, with a few whiffs of epic fantasy/adventure, and some period drama thrown in. Loads of fun!

Albion DuLac

An exciting historical fiction

Reviewed in Mexico on July 25, 2023

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It is as bleak as books come, but speaks about hope. The book does an excellent job at setting the atmosphere. The characters are flawed and relatable, gray, but not crude or cynical.
All in all, it is a good plague tale that has just enough biblical lore and Bloodborne-esque action in it to appeal to everyone into historical fiction and horror.

Caveman

One of the best novels I have ever read, period

Reviewed in India on September 18, 2023

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I don't call it the best novel I've ever read lightly, it's honestly some of the weirdest dark fantasy I've ever read. It's weird, haunting, and sometimes hilarious, it's a must read for people who like something new and different, and also someone who has an interest in European history.

Ed Crocker

A horror masterpiece

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2022

Verified Purchase

Ok. Before we talk about this book, let’s talk about another one.

The Blacktongue Thief, the 2021 debut fantasy by Christopher Buehlman, was a marvel. One of the best fantasy debuts I’ve ever read, it showcased Buehlman’s talents: astonishing wordbuilding making each page come alive with new information; a deeply disturbing sense of the grim and the horrific; a pitch-perfect sense of comedy that made it the funniest fantasy since Pratchett; a penchant for the poetic, the tragic and the soulful that was all the more powerful for its conjunction with the aforesaid humour; and a talent for linguistic playfulness that meant that each page was an etymological meal in itself, to be slowly devoured lest the book ends too quickly.

Now before this turns into a review of that (yeah yeah, I know, too late) I want you to understand how excited I was when I discovered that Buehlman’s writing roots are in horror, not fantasy (horror being my other favourite genre, my blood-soaked Watson to fantasy’s Holmes). The book I chose to introduce myself to his horror oeuvre was Between Two Fires, which on its front cover is described as an epic tale of medieval horror, leaving you in doubt as to his ambition and intent here.

Between Two Fires is set in 14th century France, currently being devastated by the plague. But behind the plague there are more sinister and unholy forces at work, and an odd trio of an orphaned young girl, a knight stripped of his lands and an alcoholic priest must traverse this country ripe with pestilence and monsters, both human and devilish, on a quest to save both themselves and, perhaps, the world.

The first thing to note is that any book with the bubonic plague in has an in-built advantage that this is one of the most fertile grounds for horror. The terror of a village waiting for the plague to hit, the random unfortunate events that bring said plague to its walls; the sheer despair as vast populations are wiped out: Buehlman mines all the potential of the Black Death to its upmost.

But this is a book of monsters as well as plague, and while it would be spoiling it to say much more on this, take it from me that there are some scenes in here that will fester in your very soul and linger there, grinning. Those of you who have read the Blacktongue Thief and enjoyed the very vivid scenes of goblins, Kraken and the like can be rest assured that the creature moments here are of a dark variety so unhinged and hellish that even a jaded horror veteran like myself had to take a moment to collect myself after certain sections.

Buehlman is not just a purveyor of the depraved though (though boy is he that too); he is a master of character, and relationships. The character of Thomas, the fallen knight with a tragic past, is a classic one: a man tempted to do bad desperately struggling to keep on the righteous path. His relationship with Delphine, the orphaned girl who becomes much more than that, is complicated but redemptive in all the best ways.

But perhaps the best moments of character come when we are introduced to minor characters who appear only briefly (often before being dispatched in various horrific ways). Buehlman has a talent for making these brief cameos seem very real, often heart-breaking so; his penchant for realistic dialogue of humour and soul immediately creates very real relationships with the most passing of people. In this respect, Buehlman can put himself up there with the true master of this, fantasy legend Robin Hobb.

We also need to talk about this book’s ambition. While the first half is very much a tour of depravity and faint hope across the plague-torn villages and towns of medieval France, the second half, or at least the last third, becomes… something else entirely. I won’t give anything away, but Buehlman has a masterplan here, a grand scheme, and things get very chaotic very quickly. It’s at this point that you will know for sure if this book is for you.

Those of you who like their epic novels a little more disciplined, or structured, may get lost at this point amid the chaos. But if, like me, this book already had its gore-stained hooks in you by this point, then you will see meaning and planning in the chaos, and it will sweep you along to the supremely ambitious finale, which Buehlman pulls of (just). And it’s at this point that you realise what this book has achieved; a masterful tale about the redemption and hope that can be found even amongst true horror that can rank among the greats covering this fertile narrative ground.

Do I like it as much The Blacktongue Thief? No. But that’s an unfair comparison, like criticising the Hobbit for not being the Lord of the Rings. But it left a mark on me, and broke my heart and warped my mind in so many places I was exhausted by the end in the best way, having completed a brimstone-scorched marathon with the scars to prove it.

So there we have it. Buehlman is a master of horror as well as fantasy.

Lucky bastard.

11 people found this helpful

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De va en present.

Reviewed in Sweden on July 11, 2023

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Han blev nöjd så jag är nöjd .

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