ARC Review – The Priest of Lies where we are back with some great characters and an unique style #TeamPiousMen

Hello wonderful people! How are you? And how are your reding going? I’m happy because I am back to reading and that’s amazing. And I have read a really great book, so I want to share it with you all!

Thanks to NetGalley and to the Editor. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. And here I am to deliver it to you!

Title: Priest of Lies
Series: War for the Rose Throne #2
Author: Peter McLean
Page count: 368
Expected publication date: July 2nd, 2019

Tomas Piety has been many things: soldier, priest, gangster…and spy. As Tomas’s power grows, the nobility better watch their backs, in this dark and gritty epic fantasy series.
People are weak, and the poorer and more oppressed they are, the weaker they become–until they can’t take it anymore. And when they rise up…may the gods help their oppressors.
When Tomas Piety returned from the war, he just wanted to rebuild his empire of crime with his gang of Pious Men. But his past as a spy for the Queen’s Men drew him back in and brought him more power than he ever imagined.
Now, with half of his city in ashes and the Queen’s Men at his back, the webs of political intrigue stretch out from the capital to pull Tomas in. Dannsburg is calling.
In Dannsburg the nobility fight with words, not blades, but the results are every bit as bloody. In this pit of beasts, Tomas must decide once and for all whether he is truly the people’s champion…or just a priest of lies.

When I read the first book (and you can find my review here) I was fascinated by a lot of things: the writing style, the various characters that we encounter in those pages, the fact that this is one of those books that tell you what happened after (after the big battle, after the war, after the saving of the world by the heroes, etc… ) and the story in itself.
And I was really excited when I get contacted to take part in this blog blast (and if you want to see who else is around for it, just check the end of this post!), and I am honored to share my review on the day that this second book gets out! Because let me tell you this: this one is a really good book, too!

Tomas is our narrator, and we get to hear the story by his voice. And that’s a unique thing because the voice is really peculiar, is really his voice and that’s one of the things that I have appreciated more. But that’s not the only one. Because we have a cast of amazing characters. And the great thing is that all of them are really complex, every one of them has a voice and a distinct personality. And that makes things harder for the reader and for the writer both. For the writer because this is a lot of work, and he did a great job. Yay! And for the reader, because more the characters are complex and complete, and harder it is to have an opinion on them. Or strong affection. Mind me, there are some of them that I love without doubts, like Tomas and Billy (and we get to see more of him around. I loved it!) and there are some that are in a sort of grey area, because I am fascinated by them (and I am speaking about Cutter, for example) but we don’t see more of them around (even if we get more of Cutter around and I was… wow!), or because they have some interesting quality but… would they be loyal or not? And here I am speaking about Fat Luka. I like him and I enjoy him, but I don’t trust him too much. I always fear that he would betray Tomas in the end. And I don’t know why. And then we came to one of the most complex characters: Ailsa.
In the first book, I didn’t like her so much. And it’s not that in this second book I like her more. But she’s more human, more complex, and in becoming more “human” it’s more difficult to despise her or to hate her. Even if she’s not the “good guy” here. She may not be the really bad one, but the good one? I don’t think so. But… what can we say? The right man for the right job! And it’s the same for all the characters. All of them reveal some deep truth or some more depth to them, and so you learn something new about them, and you have to reassess them, to think more and change your ideas. And I enjoyed it a lot!

But we have some other great things going on there! We have more intrigues, more twists, and we get to see Tomas out of his comfort zone. A good part of this story is set in another city, one in which he is not the big guy he is at home, but he is just a Father, and the husband of a lady, an important one at that, but nothing else. And I founded fascinating to see how he would get the gist of things. How he adapted himself, and manage to keep up with everything that is happening around him. It’s true that he’s not always on top of the things, and that he has some difficulties, and he did some missteps, but he managed to not be intimidated and to be true to himself and to his men. Because he takes hard on his responsibility, and I loved this thing.

And last, but not least, we have two other points: the ending and the general atmosphere. The ending was just perfect. So perfect that I was laughing out loud, even if it’s not a funny thing, and it’s really easy to see how things would move downhill for here (and sure, we can hope that the author shows some pity and won’t do worse in the next book, but… it seems unlikely) but it was just the perfect way to end this story, that I was amused, even if I am fearing what would happen next. And believe me, I am scared!
And for the atmosphere… things keep going darker and darker while the reading proceeds, Thomas is a hard man, but he is not cruel. But such are the times we live in, as someone can say and he has to be the right man for the right job. And so here we are, spectators in a story that became darker with every page turned. And I am not complaining, I was expecting it, and I knew perfectly well what to expect from this reading (even if I would be immensely happy to see that the author will show us some mercy in the next book because I really like Tomas!).

At the end of the book, there was an interview with the author and I enjoyed it, it was interesting and it made me even more curious to read the next one (and scared… a lot!). I need the sequel right now!