Thomas is a disgraced knight traveling with some men during the plague and wartime. These are not good men. Our story begins with these guys raping and pillaging. They are eating some poor farmer's donkey when a girl walks right up to the men and asks them to help her bury her father. Ambiguously Human: Everyone notes that there is something off about Delphine, even though she's just a little girl by all appearances. Thomas and Matthieu can't tell if she's a prophet, a saint, or a witch, and even the demons they encounter can't put their finger on what she really is either. As it turns out, she is the Host to God.

Now as for *those* across the river? Yeah, I didn't like them so much. You best run and run fast or better yet just avoid this town altogether. Frank and Eudora should have heeded their warning to stay away but hindsight's a hungry bitch! 4 stars! The narrator, Mark Bramhall, was absolutely phenomenal-I loved his Southern accents and voicing-they brought the story alive for me. I will be keeping an eye out for more of his work in the future. As for right now? I'm on to my next Christopher Buehlman book! I mentioned this in my reading progress notes, but I will mention it here again. I have a very strong feeling that the different places our characters pass by correspond to the 9 circles of hell. It is extremely subtle and I might be wrong, but it's so brilliant! We see our three heroes facing lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery not only in other people but in themselves as well. The only circle missing I think is the first one - Limbo (phew, that would've been awkward...) Book Genre: Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Medieval, ParanormalBuehlman έχει μια ενδιαφέρουσα λίστα από βιβλία που κανέναν δεν μοιάζει με το άλλο, αλλά όλα όμως μοιράζονται μια κλίση προς το σκοτεινό και το βίαιο. Κάτι που επιβεβαίωνε αυτό το ευανάγνωστο κράμα μεσαιωνικού μυθιστορήματος με φανταστική λογοτεχνία που είχα ξεκινήσει να διαβάζω. Ο Buehlman μπορεί να αποπροσανατολίσει τον μέσο αναγνώστη: είναι άγνωστο από που εφορμά – του αρέσουν ο Άρχοντας των Δαχτυλιδιών; Ή μήπως προτιμά το Όνομα του Ρόδου; Η γραφή του και η προσέγγισή του μου θύμισε τον Ken Follet από το Pillars of the Earth, με αρκετή δόση προσεγμένου χιούμορ. Ή αυτό που εγώ προσλαμβάνω ως καλή αίσθηση της πραγματικότητας και του τσίρκου που αποκαλούμε ζωή. Ο μεσαίωνας του Buehlman είναι πραγματικά ζωντανός, η βρωμιά και η εξαθλίωση, ο μαύρος θάνατος που αποδεκατίζει σαν ραπανάκια τον πληθυσμό της Ευρώπης – μια ζοφερή πραγματικότητα που ο συγγραφέας παρουσιάζει με αξιοθαύμαστη λεπτομέρεια αλλά και εξόχως λεπτεπίλεπτη εγκράτεια. Η ερευνά του –οι σύντομες ευχαριστίες στο τέλος καλύπτουν ένα τεράστιο έυρος που καταμαρτυρά έναν πραγματικό ερευνητή και άνθρωπο με ποικίλα ενδιαφέροντα- είναι ενδελεχής αλλά εξυπηρετεί μόνο την υπόθεση. Κάπου σε όλη την ταραχή κλιμακώνεται η επικυριαρχία των έκπτωτων άγγελων επί της γης. Ένας ξεπεσμένος ιππότης και μια κοπελίτσα που φαίνεται να είναι κάτι παραπάνω από αυτό που δείχνει, ακολουθούν έναν ασαφή σκοπό για να σώσουν τον κόσμο. Αυτή είναι συνοπτικά η υπόθεση και αν θέλει κανείς παραπάνω να διαβάσει το βιβλίο. Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Ra'um's true form has six arms, and several other demons produce extra limbs at will. Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Thomas and Marguerite's marriage ended up being this, at least for a while (although the "arranged" part is downplayed, because he asked her father and she agreed to the suit almost immediately once she saw him). Se puede decir que es una novela "lenta" en el sentido de que el terror demora un poco en aparecer. Sin embargo, esto no me pareció malo porque en la primera parte se van acumulando algunos datos oscuros que Frank comienza a averiguar para escribir su libro y recién terminan siendo explicados por completo al final del libro; es como que todo el tiempo sabemos que algo horrible va a suceder, y Buehlman juega con esa ansiedad que nos generan los secretos del siniestro pueblito de Whitbrow.

Los del otro lado» es una novela de muy entretenida y se asemeja mucho a una historia de terror clásica. La originalidad de este libro se encuentra en los personajes y el maravilloso ambiente oscuro y pesimista que se mantiene a lo largo de todo el relato. Es un libro que juega mucho con la ansiedad del lector, la cual es provocada por los diferentes datos que va averiguando el protagonista y que recién son revelados en la segunda mitad de forma espectacular y aterradora. Buehlman makes France, as it is overrun by disease and demons alike, a sheerly awful place. There can be little doubt that Hell is making Europe over in its own image. What makes this effect all the more potent is how immersed the reader becomes in the worldview and mindset of its medieval Christian characters. The Church is central to their life, and in many ways it is the demons’ primary target. As Frank and Eudora begin to adapt to life in Whitbrow, they are are invited to a townhall meeting to discuss whether or not to abandon The Chase. What they decide will change Whitbrow forever. PDF / EPUB File Name: Between_two_fires_-_Christopher_Buehlman.pdf, Between_two_fires_-_Christopher_Buehlman.epubUntil one day when he decides to venture into the woods he was warned against. What he finds will haunt his nightmares until he's dead and buried. Buehlman is also careful to tease his readers very carefully with the mystery that surrounds Whitford. We see early on that something just ain't right here but Buehlman takes his sweet time getting there and the tension is terrific. There are some amazingly gripping scenes in the bayous surrounding the town that made my hair stand on end and all I was reading about was a bunch of men searching through the swamps not knowing what they were even looking for. Humanoid Abomination: Numerous people the characters encounter are implied to be demons trying to tempt them off their path or just hinder them otherwise. They appear perfectly human, but they always give away some sign of their demonic nature, such as changing their coat of arms or suddenly disappearing the moment no one is watching. Heroic Bastard: Thomas's father wasn't married to his mother. His wife pointed out to him that he's almost certainly the Comte de Givras's son, but the Comte never said anything.

Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Jehan and Annette, the kind couple who offered the protagonists shelter and food in Paris and looked very willing to adopt Delphine, are horrifically killed by a demon taking the shape of a statue of the Virgin Mary.Break the Cutie: Unsurprisingly happens to the pure-hearted Delphine. The death of Mathieu is what nearly sends her over the edge. Fearing that her very presence puts everyone she cares about in danger, she splits off from Thomas and attempts to go to Avignon by herself. And so you may not be happy, exactly, if you let Buehlman lure you across France with Delphine and Thomas, if you face with them the horrors unleashed by Hell upon a population that is left to question whether some great sin of theirs has earned all this wrath and punishment. But you will, indisputably, feel as though you have gone on the journey. In this book the reader takes every step along with its flawed and remarkable characters as they make their slow and frightened way to Avignon to see if they can save what remains of humanity… and possibly their own souls, too.

Thomas and the girl (you don't learn her name until much later, so I'm leaving that out) eventually meet up with a priest who becomes a third character to fall in love with. I was so invested in the fictional lives of these three people my heart physically ached with worry for them.

No Periods, Period: Averted. Delphine wakes up one morning with blood on her clothes. It's initially feared that she was raped, but it turns out to both her relief and amusement, that she just experienced her first bleeding. Between two fires του Buehlman, είχα πει πως σίγουρα θα διαβάσω όλα του τα βιβλία. Τέτοιος ήταν ο ενθουσιασμός μου και τέτοια η βεβαιότητα πως είχα βρει έναν συγγραφέα που θα αγαπήσω. Που θα τον τοποθετήσω δίπλα στους άλλους δυο που έχω μέσα στην καρδιά μου. Είναι κρίσιμος ο αριθμός των αγαπημένων συγγραφέων: πρέπει να είναι αρκούντως μικρός για να δικαιολογεί τον τίτλο αυτής της ιεράρχησης. Πρέπει όμως να επιτρέπει στον αναγνώστη μια ασφάλεια πως σε μια εύλογη χρονική συχνότητα θα διαβάζει βιβλία που καλύπτουν πλήρως τις αναγνωστικές του ανάγκες. Επίσης, καλό θα είναι να πρόκειται για ζωντανούς συγγραφείς, αλλιώς να έχουν αφήσει πίσω τους μια τεράστια εργογραφία. Even Evil Has Standards: While the brigands Thomas allied with before the book begins are remorseless thieves and murderers, they don't approve of their leader, Godefroy's penchant for raping children. Godefroy's attempt on Delphine is what prompts Thomas to turn against and kill him, along with the rest of his cohorts. Uno de los mejores libros que leí el año pasado fue el excelente Between Two Fires, escrito por Christopher Buehlman. Por eso este año me propuse leer sus demás trabajos siguiendo el orden de publicación, lo cual me llevó a leer este libro que fue su primera novela.