House of Open Wounds

Behind the front lines of a crusade to scour the world of magic, the crew of a field hospital confront the horrors of war. A companion novel to Adrian Tchaikovskys award-winning fantasy novel City of Last Chances City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. As their legions scour the world of superstition with the bright flame of reason, so they deliver a mountain of ragged, holed and scorched flesh to the field hospital tents just behind the front line. Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit. Led by the Butcher, an ogre of a man whos a dab hand with a bone-saw and an alchemical tincture, the units motley crew of conscripts, healers and orderlies are no strangers to the horrors of war. Theirs is an unspeakable trade: elbow-deep in gore they have a first-hand view of the suffering caused by flesh-rending monsters, arcane magical weaponry and embittered enemy soldiers. Entrusted for now with saving lives deemed otherwise un-saveable, the field hospitals crew face a precarious existence. Their work with unapproved magic, necromancy, demonology and Yasnics thoroughly illicit Gods could lead to the unit being disbanded, arrested or worse. Beset by enemies within and without, the last thing anyone needs is a miracle Reviews for City of Last Chances: Paints a vivid detailed backdrop SFX Brilliant chaos ensues Daily Mail Some of Tchaikovskys best prose SF Crowsnest An intriguing tangle ingenious Locus Endlessly creative Patrick Ness Rich, inventive worldbuilding Publishers Weekly Ilmar is vividly alive David Towsey A master at the height of his powers Ian Green An ambitious epic fantasy read Grimdark Magazine