This book is hilarious! Abercrombie has taken a mixture of flawed and perfectly inhumane characters striving to do their best and helped them find their place in the world.

Add to this an epic adventure to end all adventures. One with Strife and trouble round every corner and twists and turns galore. I loved every minute of the journey and can't wait to get back for more.

I just finished The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, and I have to say—it’s exactly the kind of chaotic, blood-soaked ride you’d expect from him, with a few surprises thrown in. Abercrombie’s signature grimdark style is alive and well here: biting dialogue, flawed characters, and brutal action scenes that pull no punches.

One thing that really worked for me was the premise. Taking a squad of hell-bound misfits and dropping them into a demonic war with the promise of salvation? That’s just deliciously messed up. It feels like The Dirty Dozen meets Doom, with Abercrombie’s cynical humor and sharp character work driving the whole thing forward. The setting was also a standout, part theological mind-trip—with vivid descriptions and a sense of constant danger.

The characters, while entertaining, did veer into caricature at times. I found myself wishing for a bit more emotional depth from some of them, especially since Abercrombie is usually so good at peeling back layers. There are moments of real humanity and insight here, but they’re sometimes buried under a pile of snark and gore.

Pacing-wise, the book moves fast. The buildup is fantastic, but the climax left a few threads dangling that I would’ve liked to see more fully explored. That said, the ride is so fun (and horrifying) that it’s hard to stay mad about it.

Overall, The Devils is a hell of a time—dark, funny, violent, and surprisingly thoughtful in places. It might not hit the emotional highs of The First Law trilogy, but it’s still a strong addition to Abercrombie’s body of work. If you’re into morally bankrupt antiheroes doing terrible things for maybe the right reasons, you’ll be right at home. One of my favourite books of the year so far!

My thanks to NetGalley and Orion publishing group for a free ebook and an honest opinion.

Going into this, for some reason I had the impression it was going to be a vampire book? And although we do have a vampire, I’m so relieved it wasn’t just “a vampire book.” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a vampire book, but it was exciting having this A-Team of different creatures and abilities coming together against their will to babysit a princess.

Another thing I had been expecting, and was a little more concerned about, was grimdark. Abercrombie is, after all, Lord Grimdark. But I’ve really struggled to engage with dark fantasy for some time now, and I was so worried that this, finally, would be an Abercrombie I couldn’t read. But I should have had more faith, because say one thing about Joe, say he can evolve. The Devils has plenty of darkness, it has plenty of fights and gore and morally questionable antiheroes… but this time, Abercrombie has ramped up the humour. The violence goes hand in hand with this kind of slapstick comedy, so we get the gritty reality of grimdark we all loved, but it lifts you and doesn’t stray into bleak or overwhelming. He pulls it back every time, without sacrificing any emotional impact the characters’ arcs still contain. Jonathan will be glad to know, and TO proud, that Nils and I workshopped some new genre names for this blend – I like hers best: Grimcom.

I was expecting a good story, and what was delivered was a great one. Abercrombie has proven once again that he is adaptable, he can still deliver fresh and relevant stories; that he is a true master of the genre.
(Full review on The Fantasy Hive)

"The Devils" is a fun, action-packed mix of Guardians of the Galaxy and Game of Thrones.

Following loveable (but dangerous) characters, it tells the story of a group of misfits trying to place a thief on the throne of the kingdom of Troy.
The group works really well together, each character with their own peculiarity and distinct personalities. They have a lot of chemistry and it's fun to see them warm up to each other as the story progresses.
Even though it's a long book, it's quite fast-paced with lots of action scenes. I highly recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!

My first time reading Joe Abercrombie and I'm blown away. I picked this ARC as the synopsis sounded amazing and it did not disappoint. As expected the story was brilliant, weaving history and imagination to great effect. There were twists and turns, some of the best fight scenes I've ever read and the characters were so well realised. I absolutely loved getting to know each and every one of them, their truths, their lies and the bonds they forged along their journey. Especially the unexpected liaisons, there were so many laugh out loud moments and also some heart wrenching ones.
The world was beautifully described, both aesthetically and politically. The author brought everything to life in vivid detail.
I'm really hoping that there is a second book in this series, and looking forward to exploring the author's previous work.

"An ineffectual priest, an enervated knight, a misanthropic elf, and an antique vampire. It sounded like the start of a bad joke to which the tragic punchline was yet to be revealed."
This was supposed to be it, my first Joe Abercrombie novel! I was super excited for this one, even had a pre-order for the signed special edition as I was sure, going by the description, that this would be a highlight of the year for me. I am super glad to have had the opportunity to read this in advance and be able to tell my customers about it as soon as it is published. While I am in the mood for fast paced action books, this was too fast paced and the shoved in humorous tone got on my nerves real fast, as it was just too much. I should have loved everything about this, but the style and the lack of characterisation unfortunately didn't work for me. Knowing that this is book one and that probably more will be explored in later parts of this series could be an explanation, but this is not motivating me to continue. After 40+ days of trying to read this and having to force myself to continue, being not interested in what was happening next, I made the decision to not finish. I am happy I gave this a try and can see the appeal for most readers. I can see this working better for me as an audio version. Pretty sure this will be a hit, whether I like it or not.

I’ve been a fan of Joe Abercrombie since the publication of The blade itself. It’s fair to say that he is one of my favorite fantasy authors of all time.
It’s always a bit scary when your favorite fantasists change gear. Abercrombies stories set in the first law universe have all been stellar and when I started to read The devils i quickly realized that this was a whole new setting that he has created. I needn’t worry though because WHAT a setting.
Abercrombie takes european history, shakes it about, turns it around and adds magic and malevolent elves. I’m not a historian but, as Dan Carlin says, a fan of history and it was great fun to see what changes he made to send Europe into the other leg of the trousers of time.
Important though is the fact that his alternative history doesn’t overshadow the characters or the plot. It enhances the story and doesn’t distract.

Have Abercrombie always been this funny? I remember humor in his earlier books but this one is laugh out loud-funny at times. It had almost a Pratchett-feel in the mix of hilarity and seriousness. Add to this Abercrombies usual brand of high octane action sequences and you have one of the most entertaining fantasy novels of 2025.
The worst part is that I’ll have to wait for the sequel now….

Ok.
So I absolutely loved this book. The writing is fantastic. The world building is excellent. The characters are really really great.
Abercrombie really has this way of pulling you into the story and making you care about the characters really quickly

I can see myself having a collection of special editions of this book

From start to finish, The Devils is an absolute blast! We follow the Chapel of the Holy Expediency—a group of unwilling villains forced into service—as they travel across Europe to carry out a very important mission. The main characters themselves are a chaotic, fun, and morally questionable bunch and their chemistry is the heart of the novel. Despite being a fairly chunky book, the story moves along at a quick pace with many creative action scenes along the way.

I loved the darker elements of the story. From the inclusion of vampires and werewolves, to the blood and gore during fight scenes, to the foul language throughout. It’s a brilliant combination of gruesome brutality, action-packed mayhem, sharp humour, and genuine heart.

My one minor complaint would be that while I mostly enjoyed the style of humour, I did find that it was getting a bit heavy-handed and repetitive as the story progressed. But in the face of how much I enjoyed this book overall, that’s a very small gripe.

I loved this new book 🥳 I couldn’t put it down. Compared to many fantasy adventures this book is an easy read. I loved following the characters and this is certainly a character driven book. In the First Law series I loved a couple of the characters… in this series I loved them ALL!!

Joe Abercrombie has done a great job once again.
The Devils is my favourite Abercrombie book to date and I can’t wait for more of this group of misfits.

It was my first Abercrombie novel and I can't say I'm disappointed! It was fun, dark and emotional and I really can't wait to read book two!

5 STARS

CW: death, violence, war, gore, xenophobia, mention of torture

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This has easily ascended to my favorite books of the year already and Joe Abercrombie has once again proven that he is a master at his craft. It took me shamefully long to read and finish but that was largely due to exams and my busy schedule. Upon finishing it, my only thought is that 1) I still have to wait for a few months to get my physical copy (which I, of course, had already preordered even before getting this ARC), and 2) I now have to wait even longer for the next installment in this series to come out.

The Devils kicks off a brand new series by Joe Abercrombie, not connected with his First Law books, and I have to be honest, I had not read the blurb before I dove into this, so imagine my surprise when I discovered the story is set in an alternate medieval Europe where sorcerers and magicians roam the lands and supernatural entities such as vampires and werewolves are a reality. I immediately discovered this because the first chapter is literally called "Saint Aelfric's Day", which delighted me so much as an enthusiast of medieval studies. Fittingly, I even had a course on medieval studies this semester and I definitely found some of the things we discussed in class very useful in my reading process of this.

What I probably found most interesting overall was that the Church definitely is not the same Church we know from our reality but I found the alternate version of the church so interesting. The central symbol is not a cross or a crucifix but rather a circle (or a wheel in the East) and the Saviour is not Jesus Christ, a man, but rather a woman who died on the wheel. Which is HIGHLY interesting when thinking about medieval saints, especially St Catherine and her connection to the wheel (which I would not have been aware of, had it not been for the medieval studies course), so I was highly delighted with this subversion of the world. Needless to say, the implications this brings with it regarding gender constructions in a society are also very interesting. So, the worldbuilding was a big hit for me.

The characters slowly but surely grew on me. There was a certain enticing feature to all of them from the very beginning, Brother Diaz immediately had me hooked and I LOVED to see his development. The rest of The Devils were equally fascinating and I really enjoyed their varying dynamics with each other. Over the course of the story, we truly see all of them from so many different sides, it was a joy to read. I should say that character work is probably one of Joe Abercrombie's strengths, if not his strongest suit. I cannot wait to listen to the audiobook narrated by Steven Pacey to hear how he breathes life into all of the characters. So I will probably read this book again this year. I have a special attachment to Vigga for some reason, I just found her to be very intriguing and just a little bit more so than the rest of them even though I really like all of the Devils.

There were a few twists and turns, most of which, I have to admit, were pretty predictable. But in this book, that did not take away from my enjoyment AT ALL and I just wanted to keep reading to see what would happen and although the twists were not that surprising, I just wanted to know how everyone would react to the events.

Finally, I have to mention the narrative structure of this book. Everyone who knows me, know that I have a thing for narratology and looking at the way stories are told and there were certainly some very interesting features in this book. I especially loved when, within the same chapters, the POV switched back and forth between different characters and the preceding sections ended with a sentence almost the same as the next section would start with. I ate that up. There's some more fun things that I will not go into now because the book is not even out yet. But I hope to be able to talk to friends about this once it does because it really is something special and great fun to read.

If it has not become obvious yet, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone. Do not expect the same thing as First Law but be prepared for violence, great character work and breathtaking action in this splendid first installment in Joe Abercrombie's new series. I cannot wait for the next book. I cannot wait to hold a physical copy of this in my hand and reread it on audio. This deserves nothing less than 5 stars.

This really blew me away - from the world-building to the storytelling to the character development; every single aspect of The Devils is honed to perfection. I never really considered giving this less than 5 stars the whole way through, it was so consistently entertaining and well written. As a standalone adventure, any readers new to Abercrombie’s writing need to take this opportunity to reconsider that life choice immediately.

The Devils feels exactly like a fantasy version of Suicide Squad, with a selection of condemned monsters forced into service to do the pope’s bidding, under the guise of the Chapel of the Holy Expediency. The word ‘Monster’ is explored thoroughly in this book; every member of the unwilling congregation is sinister and morally corrupt in their own way, but they all have their own unique identity and interesting character arc alongside the main plot. For a book featuring a lot of powerful and dangerous monsters, it is excellently balanced to show how scary the individuals can be, without trivialising their mission.

Did I mention how funny this book was? The world is as dark as you’d expect from Abercrombie, but with a bleak sense of humour that's as biting and funny as ever. Combined with the regular action and fight scenes, pretty much all of them ugly, you get a veritable sea of blood and guts that give the gallows humour all the context it needs. The Devils really does a wonderful job of making you fall for the most horrible characters! Whilst I feel the story resolves in a satisfying way, I really hope there’s future instalments in the world going forward.

Joe Abercrombie proves once again why he’s a master of dark fantasy with The Devils—a brilliantly sharp, wildly entertaining, and utterly brutal adventure. Packed with his signature blend of razor-edged humor, gripping action, and morally dubious characters you can’t help but root for, this book is a thrilling ride from start to finish.

Set in a plague-ridden, monster-infested alternate medieval Europe, The Devils follows a ragtag band of outcasts—an invisible elf, an undead crusader, a snobbish necromancer, a hedonistic werewolf, and more—led by the hapless Brother Diaz on an impossible mission. The chemistry between this unlikely found family is pure gold, making for some of Abercrombie’s most engaging character dynamics yet. Their banter is sharp, their backstories compelling, and their fates impossible to look away from.

While Abercrombie’s previous works have leaned into realism with only hints of magic, The Devils fully embraces the fantastical, delivering epic battles, supernatural chaos, and a world bursting with eerie, gothic atmosphere. The action sequences are nothing short of cinematic—visceral, intense, and relentlessly paced. And beneath the blood and carnage, the novel explores deeper themes of redemption, faith, and what it truly means to have a soul.

Whether you're a longtime Abercrombie fan or new to his work, The Devils is an absolute must-read. It’s smart, darkly hilarious, and wildly entertaining—proof that sometimes, the only way to fight hell is with a few devils of your own. Five stars, without a doubt.

It seems like only yesterday I opened the first page of The Blade Itself, the debut novel by the promising writer Joe Abercrombie. Meanwhile, almost twenty years have passed since then, and Joe, who recently celebrated his fiftieth birthday, has long since become one of the main stars of the grimdark fantasy genre. And accordingly, for me, each new book of his automatically takes the top spot in the ranking of the most anticipated releases of the year. And, it must be said, The Devils live up to all expectations.

The plot takes place during the Middle Ages in a world very similar to ours, but with a number of differences: the Trojan War was won by the Trojans, who figured out Odysseus' plan and burned that damn wooden horse, and Carthage emerged victorious from the Punic Wars. The Savior turned out to be a woman, she was crucified not on a cross, but on a wheel, and in the Holy City, a woman sits on the Papal throne. Or rather, a ten-year-old girl, who is already called the Second Incarnation of the Savior. And in this world there are also magicians, wizards, witches, angels, demons, vampires and werewolves, and in the Middle East pointy-eared sharp-toothy elves live, who are about to wash over Europe like a tidal wave and eat everyone.

At the very beginning of the novel, a pious and fearful monk, Brother Diaz, is entrusted with heading the Chapel of Holy Expediency. In fact, this tricky name hides a local "suicide squad" consisting of real monsters and criminals and heretics condemned by the Church, who are constantly sent on the most dangerous missions with minimal hope of success. And now Brother Diaz and his congregation of devils have to put a seventeen-year-old girl — a ferrety thief, a street rat and an orphan — on the throne of the most powerful empire in the world.

The Devils are a very unusual book for Joe. He always actively used elements of earthly history in the construction of his worlds, but in the new book the plot takes place in Europe, from a geographical point of view almost indistinguishable from the real one — except that history in some moments went differently, the political map looks completely different, and in the east live not Saracens, but bloodthirsty elves. Previously, there was almost no magic in his books (Bayaz does not count), but here it plays a very active role in the plot. Joe almost never turned to non-human races — here there are elves, werewolves, and a very ancient vampire.

But in all other respects, The Devils are exactly what we are accustomed to expect from Joe Abercrombie.

— Charismatic characters? Perhaps, in this regard, The Devils can beat any other book by Joe. The dramatis personae consists of extremely diverse, but in their own way unique personalities. Judge for yourself, here we have: a knight cursed by a witch, who cannot die and is already damn tired of this life, in which he has seen everything, and more than once. A narcissistic necromancer with an ego the size of the world. A bored vampire with an unhealthy love for dumplings. A sex- and kill-obsessed werewolf. A hapless monk, who became a monk because he could not keep his penis in his pants and made pregnant the wrongest girl possible. An invincible elf, who dreams most of all of being noticed. A dashing adventurer with the longest resume in Europe — for at least a week she was everything from a model and a courtesan to a robber and a pirate. All these people are brilliant at getting into trouble, but they are even better at getting out of it. Mostly alive. And when your heels start to burn, you would like the devils on your side.

— Witty and sparkling dialogues? In The Devils you want to quote almost every conversation, all of them equally consist of biting jokes, witty wordplay and first-class black humor.

— Dynamics and action? The Devils are perhaps Abercrombie's most dynamic novel. The narrative starts off at full speed from the very first chapters and does not slow down until the very end. Joe rarely gives the devils a chance to catch their breath for more than a few chapters, and after each respite they get into more and more trouble. And, of course, the largest is saved for a powerful, tense and sometimes shocking finale.

— A fascinating plot? The Devils are full of surprises and unexpected plot twists, although, to be fair, individual plot moves are predictable in advance. This is especially true for troubles — if another respite suddenly drags on longer than a couple of chapters, you already expect that enemies are waiting for the devils on the next page. And here, as a rule, Joe does not disappoint your expectations.

Perhaps I have only a couple of complaints about The Devils — during the book, Joe makes PoVes of all the main characters — except for two, who remain a mystery that is not fully revealed. And Joe has a tendency to mercilessly kill of a character or two, but in The Devils one of the deaths was completely cruel and senseless. On the other hand, it is doubtful that any of the Devils, given their lifestyle, would die peacefully of old age in their bed.

All in all, The Devils gives readers everything they expect from Joe Abercrombie novels — vivid characters, sparkling dialogue, first-class black humor, a fascinating and fast-paced plot and lots of action. The year has only just begun, but one of the main candidates for the title of "Book of the Year" is already known.

This was great fun. There’s more to say but that’s my lasting impression; I really enjoyed the moments I spent with the characters and I’m looking forward to reading more from this series. Despite their obvious flaws, these characters are possibly the easiest to root for of any band of Abercrombie characters I’ve read, which doesn’t make them any less interesting. The setting of matriarchal schism-Catholics in alternate-medieval Europe was amazingly original and delightfully corrupt in the best ways possible. Moreover, how can you go wrong with an invisible elf, an undying crusader, a snobby necromancer and a hedonistic werewolf, and many others on an impossible trip to Byzantine Troy. Bloody action-scenes galore included!

I think if I had any complaint, it is that it was so textbook well-done that at times, I felt a little detached. This may be a me problem but despite enjoying the book, I kept guessing the plots based on authorial intent and I was pretty spot on. Generally, you can figure an Abercrombie plot by picking the evilest option for the characters and it works because of the grittiness of the setting and the oppressive atmosphere for the characters, but this felt more like a balance sheet of how good or bad things needed to be to keep stakes while plotting. Again, this didn’t take away from how high I’ll recommend this book, but I think it may explain why I didn’t feel the most compulsive need to pick it up continuously, even though I enjoyed it while reading. The very cool and awesome alternate Catholic Europe setting ended up feeling a little more like a backdrop to the hijinks of the characters than I’d have preferred; probably as a result of the number of characters he was juggling and the necessity of the politics being susceptible to a heist, but I think it will develop with further installations. The characters sometimes ended up feeling like characters in a D&D setting with the author on their side, and expectations need to be set for that, even though its not a problem in itself.

Go in expecting an awesome setting, great battles, and fun but heartfelt character dynamics which will leave you really rooting for them by the end of it. Sunny and her relationships were a real standout, and I don’t think I’ve ever thought an Abercrombie character was that sweet. Fans of this should read City of Last Chances, Kings of the Wild and the Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi and vice-versa.

A brilliant read, well worth the wait.
Set in an alternate Europe, with poor old Carthage given a new lease of life-denied, Abercrombie pulls together a ridiculous troupe of unlikely heroes, in a desperate quest to enthrone a thief as Empress of the East, in the hopes of ending Church schism, and forming a last bastion against a terrible foe.
The Devils has everything you could possibly want: fantastic world-building, a great plot, tons of adventure, outstanding characters, last-minute twists, and - of course - blood, gore and terrifically orchestrated fight sequences. Top all of this off with really quite excellent prose and a healthy dose of humour, and you get over 500 pages of addictive story that not many writers today can produce.
If it is not quite high-brow literature, it still has plenty to say about the hypocrisy of people, both eminent and obscure. I could go on for ages, and every one of these topics absolutely deserves further mention, but fans of Abercrombie will know how good he is, and those who are not already have too much back catalogue to catch up on to waste time.
Hugely grateful to Netgalley and Orion for the DRC, needless to say, I'll be buying it upon publication, as two reads of it are nowhere near enough.

This is my first novel by this author. I will definitely be checking out his back catalogue! Admittedly the plot got lost at times but the acerbic wit, sharp commentary on religion, the character dialogues, they were all superb - I thoroughly enjoyed engaging with an intelligent quest fantasy that wasn't just orc bashing or a romance in disguise. It was a long read yes, and if you just want wall to wall action (but shorter battle descriptions!) this may not grab you, but I for one am a convert

Devils by Joe Abercrombie fully lives up to its status as one of the most anticipated fantasy releases of the next year. From the very first pages, the book grabs your attention, and it’s almost impossible to put it down. In every free moment you will want to dive back into the story.
Set in an alternate version of the Middle Ages, Devils presents a world that differs significantly from our own. Magic and supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves exist, dominant religion though shares similarities with Christianity is different and Troy is powerful country. That's where the main characters go. These characters are various monsters, used by the papacy to carry out dangerous and extreme tasks. And their journey across half of Europe will indeed turn out to be just such a mission.
Abercrombie's signature style is evident in Devils—there's plenty of dark humor, sharp-witted dialogue that begs to be quoted, and vividly drawn characters who evoke genuine emotions, even though they aren't exactly good persons. At the same time, the novel have some significant differences from the author's previous works. Unlike his other books, which had little magic or non-human characters, Devils is full of both. The plot also places a heavy emphasis on adventure, making this by far the most action-packed and dynamic of Abercrombie's novels.
While Devils begins a trilogy with clear plot threads for a sequel, it can also be read as a standalone novel, with a satisfying interim ending.

Probably nearer 3.5. Loved the characters and the twists. and the concept. but It could have (should have) been one third of the length. The fight scenes went oooooon. And as with all “quest” stories, it can get a little too episodic, unless the writer weaves in easter eggs, which didn’t happen here.