Author: Christopher Buehlman
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Length: 448 Pages (Hardcover)
Publication Date/Year: 2012 (Original) / 2026 (Reissue Edition)
Genre: Historical Horror/Dark Fantasy/Grimdark
Thanks to the good folks at Tor/Tor Nightfire for this review copy!
Christopher Buehlman is one of the unique voices in dark fiction. He brings a wealth of storytelling experience to the novels he writes and those novels often blend elements of horror and fantasy, touches of grimdark and often with a dark and wry sense of humor. Given he spent significant time as an infamous insult performer at Renaissance Faires, this makes complete sense. I’ve read a few of his novels and enjoyed all of them, but honestly, I was still a little unprepared for Between Two Fires.
In the late 14th Century, a disgraced knight, Thomas de Givras, is traveling with a band of highwaymen (brigands and rogues, unsavory men) when they happen upon a young girl who just wants to bury her father who succumbed to the Black Plague. When Thomas’s traveling companions set their lusty sights onto this young girl named Delphine*, Thomas’s knightly virtue returns and he saves the girl. She then becomes his traveling companion, much to his chagrin. The young girl is a hopeful counter to Thomas’s cynicism and despair and because he has no real destination in mind, the young girl convinces Thomas to escort her to Avignon. You see, this young girl hears voices and has had visions telling her she must go to Avignon. The two are soon joined by an excommunicated priest, Frere Matthieu of Saint Martin le Preux as he hopes to meet his brother Robert.
* It is quite late in the narrative when readers – and Thomas – learn her name.
Hilarity ensues.
Of course, the definition of hilarity here means nothing short of a war between angels and demons… a Biblical war a new or reinvigorated war between Heaven and Hell.
The trio’s journey to Avignon is beset by some of the most monstrous of demons, straight out of a Bosch painting or Giotto’s Hell. The demons are described in terrifying detail conjuring imagery that, were those images to come to life, the person seeing these creatures might be driven insane. Are our three protagonists on a journey across France or are they traversing levels of Hell?
These demons manifest as mangled bodies, as bodies mashed together, things that seem just “left” of the animals and lifeforms people know. Plagues are beset upon the populace as a way for Hell to conquer the world. Men are driven to inflict heinous acts. Were these things a result of Hell’s plans to overcome the earth? Possibly.
The demons and plagues are horrific and as I’ve suggested, the acts of violence are equally hideous. Buehlman paints an unvarnished picture of a time when things were filthy, people were dirty, and very little was pleasant. I felt dirty at times when I was reading this novel, so incredible is Buehlman’s evocative power in this novel.
Despite these horrors the young girl manages to be a brightness in the onslaught of Hellish, horrific assaults. She tries to bring Thomas out of his emotional quagmire, she tries to give him hope or ate least convince him to keep traveling towards Avignon. Complicating matters is that even if the trio is attacked, Delphine forbids Thomas from killing their enemies. Delphine also makes it clear they should eat very little… they must arrive as close to “pure” as possible.
As grim as this novel is (and yes, it very much fits into Grimdark), there is humor. The hopeful young girl and bitter older man naturally conflict because of their differences. The dialogue between them feels naturalistic, kind of what one might expect from two people with a similar goal, but with such a gulf of differences between them.
I can’t say this was a pleasant read… which is of course the point, but it was extremely compelling and fascinating. Life in 1348 was not easy, it was unclean, and unless you were of the highest and richest class, life was unimaginably difficult. Buehlman conveys these things very well, life was a trudge.
Is there hope? Well, it is not all grim and horror and although the Demons and monsters are unrelenting, the angels do appear now and again. These angels are equally unsettling, thought not quite as horrific.
This new edition (2026, Tor Nightfire) does the novel justice. The cover, a skull-faced knight on a bold red background, catches the eye and nicely encapsulates what the story tells under its covers. Tor went an extra mile adorn the book with black, sprayed edges, a popular effect these days, but it gives the book as artifact some weight. This edition has an introduction by no less than Joe Hill, one of the most prominent horror writers of this time.
Between Two Fires is a powerful novel, it leaves its marks in you long after you close its cover and put it back on the shelf. At times, I felt the pacing was a tad uneven, but that’s about the only slight I can level against the novel. Buehlman has a wonderful authorial voice, a wry sense of humor, a street-level grittiness that is very infectious. His stories get inside of you, they pull you along and make you feel and empathize with his characters. This novel does all of that, but goddamn does it drag you through the mud while doing so.
Recommended
Review © 2026 Rob H. Bedford
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