Enter a darker age with USA Today bestselling author Christopher Buehlman’s Between Two Fires, a medieval horror adventure unlike anything on the shelf. The beloved BookTok sensation is now coming to Nightfire.
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.
My Review
Between Two Fires is a book that takes its time getting where it’s going, and I mean that both as a compliment and a gentle warning. Set in 1348 France at the height of the Black Death, this is a grim, gritty, beautifully written medieval adventure that follows a disgraced knight and a mysterious young girl across a devastated landscape toward Avignon. The writing is incredibly descriptive and visceral, which absolutely works in its favor, but also means you are getting every grim detail of plague-ravaged medieval France along the way. If that sounds like your thing, you’re in good hands.
My main critique is that the first two thirds of the book feel pretty meandering. It reads more like a series of interconnected vignettes than one driving narrative, partly because Delphine herself only knows they need to go to Paris, then Avignon, without knowing exactly why or what they’re looking for when they get there. It can feel a little directionless. But stick with it, because the final third is where everything starts clicking into place, and the ending is genuinely well-earned and super compelling. I could not stop turning pages once it got going.
One thing worth flagging: this is being marketed as horror, but I’d actually describe it as sword and sorcery fantasy with horror elements. The fantastical aspects really do overpower the horror, so if you go in expecting straight horror you might be surprised. That said, the medieval setting feels incredibly vivid and historically grounded, even if I can’t personally vouch for its accuracy! Overall a really solid read, just be prepared to be patient with it.
THE GOOD:
- The writing is gritty, vivid, and incredibly atmospheric
- The medieval France setting feels immersive and historically grounded
- The final third absolutely delivers and makes the journey worth it
- The ending is well-earned and genuinely compelling
- Thomas and Delphine make for a really interesting duo
THE NOT-AS-GOOD:
- The first two thirds meander quite a bit and can feel directionless
- The horror marketing is a little misleading, this reads more like dark fantasy
THE NEUTRAL:
- The descriptions of death and plague are extremely graphic and grim, which works for the book but won’t be for everyone
- Patience is required with this one, it rewards readers who stick with it
OVERALL RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Between Two Fires is a grim, atmospheric, and ultimately rewarding medieval dark fantasy that takes its time getting there, but absolutely sticks the landing.
PERFECT FOR:
- Fans of dark, gritty medieval fantasy
- Readers who enjoy morally complex protagonists on redemption arcs
- Anyone interested in historical fiction set during the Black Death
- Fans of sword and sorcery with a heavy dose of religious mythology
- BookTok readers looking to finally pick up a beloved sensation
