Pretenders to the Throne of God

A lot can happen during a siege, enough so that you do not have to have a book full of battles, you could have just one about the siege itself. This is the setting of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s latest in the The Tyrant Philosophers series, Pretenders to the Throne of God. We will meet new friends and old, as one side of the wall fights the other, with some people happening to go from side to side.

Eres Ffenegh is a city known for many things. It sits on the back of a giant dead crab god, and it has some of the best demon brothels in the land. What it is known for right now is that it is under siege from the Palleseen army who wish to bring it into the light of Perfection. Well, the people of Eres are not perfect, far from it. If they are not consorting with demons, they have run from the Pell army. They will have to fight to the death if they want their way of life to survive. Or is there another way?

I do enjoy a siege novel; they set a very different tone from your typical epic fantasy novel as the setting and characters are all contained within a few square miles. The Tyrant series is a special one, one of the best series of fantasy novels that has come out in recent years. Tchaikovsky works with your typical fantasy tropes, but there is a deep intelligence here and wonderful writing.

The style remains all Tchaikovsky. Like in previous novels in the series, it is an ensemble of characters, many of which have evolved since the last books, but will prove recognisable. The narrative moves through the characters, from one to the other. I imagine the author like a god themselves who zooms in on one character in a chapter, to then zoom out, and back in again to another location nearby. The story organically moves forwards as if in real time. You can imagine the other characters in the book are getting on with their lives as you currently spend time with a fallen priest, or a necromancer, or a Madame at a demon brothel.

The tone of Pretenders is dark, but also humorous. The Pells are a joyless bunch, but you can see that apart from the true believers, nature finds a way and Pells’ gamble, cavort and kill as much as the next person. There is a story here of bureaucracy and government overreach, a sort of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil told in a low fantasy world. There is that sense of macabre humour that even if life goes to poop, you have to laugh at it.

I loved the use of various magics within Pretenders. Unlike with lots of low fantasy, the book does not shy away from it. Magic is real, so are gods. The problem is that the Pells have found a way to drain these things and use them in their weapons. Once more taking things that are unique and wonderful, and making them bland and conformative.

I hugely enjoyed getting to meet so many characters, new and old, but the book was a little confusing in places, especially in the set pieces when the format moves from one character per chapter to jumping around quickly. It is the type of book that benefits from reading at a steady pace and taking it in. Not only does this allow you to better comprehend the story, but also to bask in the fantastic world building and characters that Tchaikovsky has created. I see the Tyrant Philosophers series being remembered as one of the all-time greats, they are that good.