Format: Paperback, 362 pages
Release Date: May 27th 2021
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books
Source: Library
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Gangster, soldier, priest. Queen's Man. Governor.
'If you haven't yet picked up this riveting and unique series, I highly recommend you do' Fantasy Book Critic
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,
head of the Pious Men, but one of the Queen's Men, invisible and
officially non-existent, working in secret to protect his country.
The
queen's sudden death sees him summoned him back to the capital - where
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, Tomas must now bend all his wit and
hard-won wisdom to protect his queen - even when 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?
Priest of Gallows, by author Peter McLean, is the third installment in the authors War for the Rose Throne series. Tomas Piety, soldier, spy, priest, leader of the Pious men, Governor of Ellenburg, and recently Queen's man, thought he had seen everything in the days of war and his battles for the streets of Ellenburg. He has since gave the reins of his gang, the Pious Men, to his second in command, Bloody Anne, while he serves his role as a member of the Queen’s Men and Governor.
But nothing will prepare him for the chaos, and political machinations that will see him rise to new levels of powers whether he likes it or not. Timeline wise, it has been 4 weeks since his alleged wife Ailsa left for Dannsburg. Tomas is given dire news straight away. A courier arrives with a message informing him of the Queen’s sudden death and summoning him back to the capital, Dannsburg by Dieter Vogel, Lord Chief Justice, and Provost Marshal of Queen's men.
Tomas picks a few of his own people, including his adopted son Billy, to travel to Dannsburg and to protect his backside. To say that Tomas is unprepared for what he faces in the House of Law is an understatement. It's filled with backstabbing, conniving, underhanded powerful people who would rather kill you then make friends. Unsurprisingly. Tomas finds that high state politics and its intrigues aren't much different from being the leader of a gang.
“People
may revere the idea of heroic veterans, but they very seldom have the
time or the charity for the broken, battle-shocked men and women that
are the reality of what war produces.”
I can relate to this story on many levels. As a person with PTSD, Tomas has enough issues to write a 600 page novel. He's seen things, and done things that would make anyone shatter. It
is an intimate book; there were several outbursts of emotions that were
so heartbreaking and palpable. The past never lets up, and dramatic
changes are constantly coming to the life of these characters. They have
to deal with it the best they can. Those are the times they lived in. In desperation to prevent yet another war, Tomas is
forced to walk a dark line between what is right, and what keeps him
from being another casualty. Who is right, and who is wrong? How much power should one man control over people's lives? We shall see in the next installment!
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