The Devils by Joe Abercrombie – Review

Published: May 13, 2025

Publisher: Tor Books

Series: The Devils #1 

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 576 (Kindle)

My Rating: 5 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters, and the mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.

Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.

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I really didn’t have much in the way of expectations for The Devils, other than ‘it’s going to be awesome’ because everything I’ve read by Joe Abercrombie has been within the First Law universe. I think it’s safe to say I truly wasn’t expecting a historical fantasy set during what I interpreted to be the time between the second and third crusades, and even more unexpectedly, the enemy is a horde of man-eating elves. Honestly, the entire plot is delightfully surprising because the synopsis gives so very little away. All the reader truly knows is there is an assignment, a group of monsters, magicians, and/or murderers, and a monk who’s most definitely in over his head.

Brother Diaz believes he’s about to make his lucky break when he’s called to the Sacred City, but instead of fancy robes and a promotion, he’s assigned to a secret organization within the church designed exclusively to do dirty work. His new compatriots consist of a knight who can’t die, a woman whose resume is probably longer than she is tall, a necromancer, a werewolf, a vampire, and an elf. Truly the dregs and not the promotion Brother Diaz had pinned his hopes on! Now the assignment itself is quite exciting and most certainly dangerous – this group of devils must escort the long lost princess, Alexia Pyrrogenetos, to Troy where she will be crowned empress.  

As one would expect from Joe Abercrombie, this group of miscreants turn out to be a surprisingly likable bunch, as long as they’re on your side. Sure, they’re not perfect and the werewolf is as likely to eat you as she is to save you and the necromancer has been trying his damndest to break the seemingly unbreakable magical bond that holds him to the mission, but they really do grow on you. Alex, our scrappy missing princess, fits in well with this group thanks to a lifetime on the streets and you know, the fact that they’re the only thing between her and hordes of soldiers, assassins, and um, man-beast hybrids. This book really has a little bit of everything and it throws it at you chapter after chapter, thus keeping the reader on their proverbial toes. 

There’s plenty of battle action to go around, but there are some truly emotional moments with several of the characters. These are usually either interrupted or immediately followed by something irreverent or life-threatening, so don’t worry – you won’t be shedding any tears. And while Abercrombie was infamous for awkward sex scenes in the First Law books, I can safely say that the sex scenes were much less awkward and more vaguely detailed here which I personally appreciated. Also, before wrapping things up, let me just say that there are plenty of moments of delightfully dark humor so you’re really getting the whole package with this book. I wholeheartedly recommend this and though it doesn’t release until May 2025, this does give you plenty of time to add it to your Christmas list or pre-order it for yourself. I may very well re-read upon release in the audiobook format because Steven Pacey will be narrating and he really takes the story to a whole new level with his performances!