Wow! Talk about a dark and satisfying read!

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Priest of Bones (War for the Rose Throne #1) by Peter McLean      
    
McLean has pressed all the right buttons. A cynic, a soldier, a gang leader, a spy for the Queen's Men and a priest. That's Tomas Piety, returned from the body and mind breaking horrors of the recent war to reclaim his territory in the city of Ellinburg.
Along with those who fought by his side and survived, like Bloody Anne his sergeant, and now his "second in the Pious Men and his most loyal friend", and Billy the Boy, a young child survivor found amongst the horrors of Messia. Billy though has 'cunning' (something akin to a hedge witch skills) but becoming more powerful.
Of course the Pious Men survivors are a tight knit, experienced group who know how to fight, and have every reason to.
The Queen's Men have not finished however with Tomas. It seems his homecoming has strings, or maybe that's fishhooks attached and securely embedded. Tomas discovers that once a Queen's Man, it's a life sentence.
Tomas knew taking back and extending his holdings was always going to be bloody but it seems that there will be more than even he bargained for. I am reminded of Steven Erikson's Malazan works and some of David Gemmell's Drenai tales, not in storyline but with the oppressive atmosphere lightened by moments of understanding and benevolence, even as violence becomes the byword.
I must admit I'm asking myself how did this first in the series slip through my net? However I was able to read this and the next in the series, Priest of Lies, back to back. That's a win!
I loved every word! Thank you Peter McLean!

 A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley

*****

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