Please note, Priest of Gallows is the third novel in the War of the Rose Throne series. If you haven’t read Priest of Bones and Priest of Lies then what follows will likely contain some spoilery type stuff.
Gangster, soldier, priest. Queen’s Man. Governor.
Tomas Piety has everything he ever wanted. In public he’s a wealthy, highly respected businessman, happily married to a beautiful woman and Governor of his home city of Ellinburg. In private, he’s no longer a gang lord but one of the Queen’s Men, invisible and officially non-existent, working in secret to protect his country.
But when the queen’s sudden death sees him summoned him back to the capital, he discovers his boss, Dieter Vogel, Provost Marshal of the Queen’s Men, is busy tightening his stranglehold on the country.
Just as he once fought for his Pious Men, he must now bend all his wit and hard-won wisdom to protect his queen – but now he can’t always tell if he’s on the right side.
Tomas has started to ask himself, what is the price of power? And more importantly, is it one he is willing to pay?
I’ve been waiting for ages for this title to reach the top of my review list. The first two books in this series were a great deal of fun so I had high hopes for book three. I’m glad to report that I was not at all disappointed. Everyone’s favourite thoroughly disreputable anti-hero Tomas Piety is back. His ongoing ascent from a lowly soldier to gang boss, and then into the realms of politics and power continues. The only problem, the higher up the social ladder he climbs the worse the people are he meets. At least you know where you are with a career criminal, there is a certain degree of honesty to a barroom brawler that you just don’t find in polite society. It turns out that the old saying is not true. Great responsibility does not come with great power. What comes with great power is a far more complicated life where everyone wants a piece of you. Among the great and, not so, good there are factions within factions. Tomas can’t even begin to know who he can trust. It comes to something when you find yourself pining for the good old days of brothels and street fights.
No longer a backwater governor, Tomas has relocated to the capital and reports directly to the head of the Queen’s Men*. This new station should be the stuff of dreams, but it quickly becomes evident that Tomas has wandered into a nest of vipers, politically speaking. Chief amongst those snakes is the Provost Marshal, Dieter Vogel, who runs the Queen’s Men with Machiavellian levels of ruthless efficiency. If there is an issue that can be resolved with people conveniently disappearing, then that is exactly what happens. Vogel’s sociopathic tendencies ensure he is the person best suited to do his job. I got the distinct impression that he views people as a problem that needs to either be fixed or, more frequently, removed.
The good news is that Tomas isn’t alone, he still has friends he can rely upon. Bloody Anne remains a constant companion and his de-facto conscience. Anne has a strong moral compass and is more than prepared to call Tomas out when he makes mistakes. She’ll speak the truth even if she knows Tomas isn’t going to like it. I love the dynamic between these characters. They have been together since their time in the military and that sense of comradeship that was forged in battle is so well observed. There is a bond stronger than blood.
Tomas is coming to realise that he has long since stopped being the boss of all he surveys. He has become a small fish in a far bigger pond and it’s Vogel who is in charge. As the plot unfolds there is more and more evidence of Tomas being uncomfortable with the situation that he finds himself in. I foresee a moment soon when our erstwhile hero is going to have had enough. I’d imagine when that happens things are going to get suitably bloody. I certainly hope so. Tomas Piety dishing out a bit of righteous anger and old school violence on his enemies is bound to be a sight worth beholding. We are building to a definitive conclusion here people and I can’t wait. There is going to be one hell of a reckoning.
I’ll admit that I had assumed Priest of Gallows was going to conclude the War of the Rose Throne, but I have discovered that instead there will be a fourth book. I’m beyond pleased to note that we are not quite done with the adventures of Tomas Piety and the rest of the Pious Men yet. I await Priest of Crowns with bated breath.
Priest of Gallows is published by Jo Fletcher Books and is available from 27th May. Highly recommended.
For previous novels in this series, I have been inclined towards the most obvious choice when it comes to musical accompaniment. You know, Peaky Blinder related stuff. In this instance, however, I have gone a completely different direction. As I mentioned earlier Tomas Piety’s life appears to be taking a darker and darker turn so I thought something a bit more sinister would be fitting. The eerie, ambient soundtrack to the Tom Hardy movie Capone by El-P feels about right.
*A clandestine organisation that has carte blanche to do whatever needs to be done for the good of the kingdom.
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