House of Open Wounds (The Tyrant Philosophers, #2) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Jun 29, 2024 Nataliya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, 2024-reads

I loved this book, although I do realize it will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s very long, and is not as much plot-driven as just structured episodically, with the point being the journey and not the destination, with heavy emphasis on characters. In the analogy where a regular book is a two-hour compact blockbuster, this is more of a measured multi-episode season of a TV series. And for me it was worth all the hours spent — and there were many of them, alternating between long walks with au I loved this book, although I do realize it will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s very long, and is not as much plot-driven as just structured episodically, with the point being the journey and not the destination, with heavy emphasis on characters. In the analogy where a regular book is a two-hour compact blockbuster, this is more of a measured multi-episode season of a TV series. And for me it was worth all the hours spent — and there were many of them, alternating between long walks with audio version and many pages of a (very belatedly started) ARC copy.

The setting changed from the first book. Instead of the streets of an occupied city-state, we get the days in the routine of the experimental field hospital in the middle of a war that is a blend of fantasy and World War I trench warfare. There’s no heroism, just the need to survive and in the process maybe do a little good in the times where everything seems hopelessly awful.

Only one character from the first book, City of Last Chances, makes it to this one. Formerly known as Yasnic, he now is Maric Jack, a foreigner forcibly taken into the occupier Palleseen army and assigned to an experimental field hospital where healing is done with magic, despite the supposed Palleseen rationality. Jack’s companion, willing or not, is his God, the diminished remnant of god of healing who will save you from your injuries by turning you into a determined pacifist or else — not great for the soldier trade as far as anyone in the army is concerned. Jack joins the ragtag bunch of the hospital attendants, but unlike the true ensemble cast of the first book in this one Jack takes most of the spotlight, streamlining the narrative.

“He suddenly understood the sentence of death that every one of God’s victims lived under.”

The daily life of the hospital is brutal, and even if we don’t see the war directly we get to see its fallout on the sidelines, a bit of realism among the magic. And it’s often grim and mostly dark — and yet not utterly depressing, peppered with (often darkish) humor and grey morality. The episodic day-to-day life of the hospital staffed with conquered people in the conqueror army is surprisingly fascinating and immersive, and even slower pace was captivating. Demons, necromancers, priests of formerly powerful gods, lost heirs to the throne, thieves, alchemists, poisoners, divine healers, golems, flying islands and all kinds of opportunists — it all mixes exceptionally well, written sharply, cleverly and with precise intent, leading to a book even better than its predecessor.

4.5 stars.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA | Head of Zeus for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Aug 22, 2024 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, 2024-shelf, fantasy

I honestly can't believe how much fun I had reading this. The first book was pretty great, but not nearly my favorite among all of Tchaikovsky's works. And then, when I read the blurb on this one, I wasn't sure.

And then, as I followed the war-camp life, I was doubly-sure that I was unsure. The Butcher is a surgeon but is considered a serious torturer.

I thought to myself, "Uh-oh, we're in Grim-Dark territory."

Imagine my surprise when it evolved into a pretty amazing amalgamation between early Ab ...more

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Dec 16, 2023 Cathy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish

M*A*S*H in a Fantasy setting with Gods and magic. Slooow! I like the plot, what little there is of it. And the little gods are amusing enough. But I was really bored. 600+ pages, much too long. DNF at 49%.

What is it all about or rather, what does it start off with? A priest is captured and pressed into service in a field hospital during a prolonged war. Fantasy setting, a magical world with conjurers, necromancers and incantations. Magical energy is stored in small tablets for later use and peop ...more

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Feb 22, 2024 Lata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, sf-f-h, 2024-read

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “House of Wounds” is a ferocious indictment of war and conquest. Picking up about a year after “City of Last Chances” in his "Tyrant Philosophers" series, the author drops you immediately into a nightmare, as a Pallaseen mobile army hospital staff works, often desperately, to triage and treat an ever-arriving number of wounded.

The mobile army hospital and its eccentric staff of misfits are the focus of this big book. While the previous entry chronicled the stirrings of rebel Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “House of Wounds” is a ferocious indictment of war and conquest. Picking up about a year after “City of Last Chances” in his "Tyrant Philosophers" series, the author drops you immediately into a nightmare, as a Pallaseen mobile army hospital staff works, often desperately, to triage and treat an ever-arriving number of wounded.

The mobile army hospital and its eccentric staff of misfits are the focus of this big book. While the previous entry chronicled the stirrings of rebellion in Illmar against its Pallaseen conquerors, this deals with the heavy burden of trying to save wounded, only to send them back out to commit violence and die.

Tchaikovsky introduces all new characters, except for one, Yasnic, Illmari and formerly acolyte of a cranky God. Yasnic is thrown in with the mobile hospital staff, who deal with an ever-arriving onslaught of ravaged and torn bodies. The staff’s leader, the Butcher, triages the wounded, while Alv, heals terrific injuries using her magic to take an injured soldier’s damage into her body. In fact, the healers use a variety of abilities and skills, whether drugs, surgery, magic, or necromancy to save soldiers’ lives.

Yasnic has no medical skills, but can fetch and carry. He keeps a box with him that contains God, and an assortment of other gods. God is incensed that Yasnic is part of an army; but Yasnic was offered little option by the Pallaseen after the rebellion. Yasnic is dubbed Maric Jack by the others in the hospital, and gradually becomes part of the group.

Each member of the hospital has their own magical skills and functions, and we get to know them slowly. From the outset, we know there are multiple magic systems, and some frictions amongst the staff, but much more politicking in various elements of the Pallaseen army: invigilators, archivists, spies, monitors, etc.

When Yasnic/Jack convinces God to help him save lives, the being heals some soldiers, which causes tremendous disruption and anger, particularly for those who are invested in the constant Pallaseen conquest of other countries. There are a number of delicious scenes of Yasnic arguing with God while trying to figure out who he is now, and of the various muckety-mucks plotting to mitigate Jack's actions, while the bodies continue to flow into the hospital.

This book was darkly comic and disturbing; in densely written prose, Tchaikovsky had a lot to say about the impetus for war and those invested in the use of violence, its effects on the healers and troops, the obligations of duty, as well as tolerance for different cultures and religions.

Tchaikovsky constantly balances horror with humour, and even amidst all the crushed and mangled bodies, there are moments of great humour, camaraderie and warmth.

As a loose follow-up to "City of Last Chances", this succeeds. As a standalone story about the ethics of the use of violence, this works outstandingly well.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Bloomsbury USA for this ARC in exchange for my review. ...more

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