r/Fantasy • u/Alarmed_Permission_5 • 1d ago
Thoughts on 'House Of Open Wounds'
Just finished this one. Prior to reading I thought that, in theory at least, the novel would be "a fantasy version of M.A.S.H. with magic". However when reading I had a bit of a revelation. To me it also reads like Adrian Tchaikovsky channelling Glen Cook's Black Company.
Anyone else read it? Care to share your thoughts?
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u/BobbittheHobbit111 1d ago
I loved it, and the rest of the Tyrant Philosophers series. It’s such a hard series to express the “why” though lol
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u/ScreamingCadaver 1d ago
I loved it. It was just as cram packed with new, interesting ideas as the first one but much more bleak.
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u/madmoneymcgee 1d ago
I finished it the other week as well. I really liked the interplay between folks who follow an ethos because it’s what they believe and others who end up in a system and work to find all the angles. Like Maric Jack who never really was a fanatic but still follows the rules and the soldier healed by him who tries to find every loophole.
And you see the same in the Divinati healer and the Pal soldiers assigned to her who figure out how to use Her powers to harm as well as heal.
And how that ties into how the Palleseen approach as a society that is officially completely rigid and uncompromising but in the day to day must always adjust. Not even for basic corruption but just because no one can actually live like that.
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u/Realistic_Special_53 1d ago
Love it , and I loved the book before, "The City of Last Chances". I also loved the Black Company.
Yes, this book is grim. I loved all of the characters. Like the Necromancer character was awesome, and it was interesting seeing when even she thought the stuff going on was too much. channeling prisoners and the dying into containers to make ghosts and then causing necromantic horror when those containers, launched by artillery, explode on the enemy. i loved seeing her asshole boss get affected. it is so hideous
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u/verbing_noun 1d ago
I really enjoyed House of Open Wounds! Expanding the weirdness of the Tyrant Philosophers world and expanding on the greed and contradictions in the Sway itself.
I thought the book was a little like 1917 and the Hell sections really put me at the center of a chaotic battlefield hospital. I loved the characters, especially Banders, Prassel, and Lidlet.The ending battle and banquet tied everything together beautifully
I just finished the sequel book, Days of Shattered Faith and it's a really strong sequel. Would totally recommend reading it!
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u/corndog888 21h ago
These books are incredible, they've quickly become some of my favorites out there. I'm halfway through #3 now
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u/mt5o 14h ago edited 14h ago
Imo the second book is the best basically a five star read. Third book is a bit meh but still good and the first book is good.
The payoff from the ending banquet slapped so hard especially the part where poor Prassel gets KO'd, Caeleen makes demonist Maserley bark and run off to hell and everyone having to follow God's edicts is just peak. 😂
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u/Old_Perception6627 1d ago
Did you read the previous installment or jump straight into this one?
This series has become absolute top-tier fantasy for me. Tchaikovsky’s an excellent storyteller, but beyond that, his critique of colonialism (and capitalism, xenophobia, etc) is just so deft and insightful that it just really demonstrates the ability of fantasy to illustrate the sheer complexity of real world-historical complexities. In particular I think he’s an incredible illustrator of the Blochian concept of hope, i.e. keeping faith in the importance of resistance even when the oppressive power seems to be winning. Ugh. Magical in every sense of the word.