I read book 1 of this trilogy, The Deathless, almost exactly three years ago. Since I just finished book 2 (The Ruthless) and book 3 (The Boundless) together, I’m going to go ahead and review the entire series. No spoilers. Newman is better known in these parts for his Vagrant trilogy (though still not as well known as he should be). For those who liked that trilogy, odds are very good you’ll like the Deathless trilogy as well despite the notable lack of goats.


These books are set in a world largely ruled by demons (or, at least, creatures that the humans on this world call demons). Humanity is able to survive thanks to the godroads - ancient pathways that give off an energy that is anathema to demons. All human settlements are huddled up against the godroads - the people of the villages will venture into the Wild, in daylight and with great caution, to forage, but they never venture far from the roads. And when the demons start getting too active in an area, the settlements put out a call to the Deathless to drive them back.


The seven houses of the Deathless live in great floating castles held aloft by the energy of the godroads and rule over humanity. The Deathless themselves fight in great suits of crystalline armor, again powered by the energy of the godroads, that enable them to meet the demons head-on. They are called the Deathless because whenever one of them dies in battle against the demons of the Wild (which happens fairly regularly) they are, after an interim of a few years in most cases, reborn into the body of one of their descendants. Through working and fighting alongside each other for many lifetimes, they gain the skills needed to keep the Demons at bay.


The demons themselves are very interesting. They felt very similar to the demons of the Vagrant trilogy (there’s no explicit connection, but I’d be surprised to learn that Newman didn’t conceive of these trilogies being part of the same universe). They’re alien, and dangerous, and are quite happy to eat people, but they never really give the impression that they’re evil in the traditional sense. Monstrous, perhaps, but not evil. Indeed (again, here like in the Vagrant books) these are definitely fantasy with a hefty dose of horror mixed in. The demons one and all would fit right in with the taste of the folks over at /r/horrorlit. And the Wild - the forest beyond the fringes of the godroads - has its own personality and life as well. It reminds me quite a bit of the Wood from Naomi Novik’s Uprooted.


All of this is worldbuilding, and while worldbuilding is a definite strength of Newman’s, it’s not all he’s got going on. There are intrigues going on with the Deathless of House Sapphire, and the equilibrium that has endured for millennia between humans and demons is falling out of balance. I’m not going to go into the plot in any detail because that would be spoilers. I’ll say this much. I enjoyed book 1 quite a bit. I struggled somewhat with book 2, but I mostly blame that on not giving myself a refresher on book 1 before I read it. By the time I got about halfway through 2, I was on solid ground again. Things were still confusing, but intentionally so. The twists and turns were exciting, and the climax of the trilogy was almost impossible to put down.


And I really, really want one of you lovely people to read this trilogy, because I am dying to discuss the ending with someone. The conclusion to the series is perfect. It’s worth reading the entire thing just to get to.


The final book comes out August 21 in the US. Not sure of the UK publication date. Thanks to Harper Voyager for the ARC.