The Devils (The Devils #1) by Joe Abercrombie

The final act in The Devils was a complete ten out of ten, from the betrayals to the reveals and secrets. I’m intrigued to see what comes next.

Joe Abercrombie’s latest novel, The Devils, is a solid example of why he’s referred to as “Lord Grimdark.”

The Devils captures three strong points of Abercrombie’s writing: a great cast, good dialogue, and relentless grimdark battle scenes. It’s an adventurous, fun ride with dark humour and blood being spilled at every chapter, typical Abercrombie style.

Synopsis

In this book we meet seven distinctive characters, the devils; a spirited yet not so faithful monk, an immortal warrior, a nonchalant ex-pirate, an antique vampire, a forgetful werewolf, an uncongenial elf and a selfish sorcerer/wizard or “magician” as he likes to correct people, who are tasked on a mission to company a thief to turn into an Empress from the Sacred City to Troy.

The mission will require bloody measures from them all to achieve its righteous end.

Writing and Plot

The mission is simple: Brother Diaz must travel with the devils to transport Alex to be anointed as the new Empress, but challenges arise along the journey.

This book reminds me of Best Served Cold by the same author, and in the best way possible. It features that trope where a band of unlikely characters will do anything to protect not just the package but each other as well.

The Devils is a fast-paced book divided into parts, in which the characters face different challenges, all designed to keep them from reaching Troy and eventually to prevent Alex from becoming the new Empress.

I loved the comic relief of adult humour and sarcasm; however, I do think it was overdone a bit, and it felt tiresome after a while, taking away from the serious action and dialogue happening. This is why I think this book felt a bit short of Abercrombie’s best, despite being a great piece of art.

There’s very little world-building, only just what the reader needs to know, and little else. The use of magic is minimal; however, mythical creatures play significant roles in the story.

Characters

The Devils has unique characters, from our main character Alex to Brother Diaz, who surprised me in so many ways.

As someone who took his commendation and grand holy assignment with the hope of getting a higher position in the church, Brother Diaz was rather self-centered and self-entitled about many things. Regardless, I was really surprised by how he turned out during the course of the journey and how he grew into the group not only to be a team player but to open up about his actual stance on religion and himself as an individual.

Alex had the best character development of the entire group, starting out as a thief before evolving into an Empress- no mean feat. She had to learn and unlearn a lot in a short time: learn the truth about her parents, confide her darkest, deepest secrets to one of the group members, and find love in the unlikeliest place she could have imagined. She was even surprised by how she turned out, because she wanted to continue stealing and run away from the new life being forced upon her.

All the characters had their moments; even the least expected ones showed up to better the mission. Abercrombie creates an emotional attachment between the reader and the characters, and I found myself caring about what happened to some of these characters. I also loved how the characters developed as the plots became riveting, which I think was done deliberately to keep the two moving in parallel. In this way, characters were forced to grow thick skin and learn amid the thick of things.

Well, evil people make the best friends, don’t you find? They’re prepared to do things for you that good friends never would.

A perfect quote to describe this group of characters.

Final Thoughts

This may not be Abercrombie’s best work, especially if you’ve read his books before. Still, it’s a good starting point if you want to get into the author, as it has a bit of everything he is known for.

The final act in The Devils was a complete ten out of ten, from the betrayals to the reveals and secrets. I’m intrigued to see what comes next.