Hands up anyone who thinks this final volume in the Watchman trilogy has a happy ending. You may only answer if you have red the first two. Hmmm... I thought so.

1794 ended with a Pyrrhic victory for Cardell and Winge over the horrific villain Tycho Ceton. It also ended with the horrible death of Anna Steen's child. This third book traces the twisting fates of all four characters through the next year: Cardell's search for Anna; Anna's passionate reaction to the loss of her child; Emil Winge's attempts to tame himself and trap Ceton; Ceton's continuing inhumane crimes and his attempts to evade justice and also his erstwhile paymasters, the sinister Order of the Furies.

Does anyone seriously expect a happy ending? You may have to accept a slight moderation in the awful violence, a wild kind of justice, and the possibility of positive renewal for one of the central characters, be it Cardell, Winge or perhaps Anna.

“Autumn becomes winter and the year turns, winter becomes spring and a fairy tale is told in the City-between-the-Bridges – one of the cautionary variety, although it is not children that it frightens, but grown men. Among the alleys by night wanders a phantom figure, and if sinners of a certain kind cross its path then things do not end well.”

My thanks to John Murray Press Baskerville for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘1795: The Order of the Furies’ by Niklas Natt och Dag.

This is the final book in his trilogy of historical mysteries featuring Jean Mickel Cardell, the one-armed watchman. It was translated from the Swedish by Ian Giles. The book opens with a handy cast of characters.

While I feel that Book 1, ‘The Wolf and the Watchman’ worked fine as a standalone, here the characters and events in ‘1794: The City Between the Bridges’ are important to the plot. While the novel opens with a Prologue, set in the Autumn of 1794, that does provide some background on what happened previously, reading them in order allows for better comprehension.

It is now 1795 and Tycho Ceton prowls Stockholm seeking not only to survive but to reclaim his honour. Emil Winge is determined to stop him, while dealing with the ghosts of his past. Meanwhile, Jean Mickel Cardell is preoccupied with his search for Anna Stina Knapp. Who are the Order of the Furies? Are they allies or foes?

I found the descriptions less grisly than the previous two books, though there were still shocking scenes. The format has Part One focusing on Cardell and Winge, Part Two upon Ceton’s parallel journey post Book 2, Part Three recounts the experiences of street urchin Elias and fills in aspects of Anna’s story, finally Part Four brings these narrative streams together. An Epilogue set in the Spring of 1796 provides a glimpse into Cardell’s future.

Overall, I found ‘1795: The Order of the Furies’ a satisfying conclusion to the Trilogy. Niklas Natt och Dag’s depiction of late 18th Century Sweden was vivid throughout and while a grim tale there were still hopeful aspects.

This is a wonderfully complex set of novels and, whilst I had read the first, I hadn't managed to catch up with the second in the series which made it quite hard to fill in the blanks. Luckily the prose is detailed and dense which makes back stories explicit. There is no 'sugar coating' the grim descriptions of life in 18th century Sweden, it is realistic and dark. The characters are all complex and not always sympathetic. As a whole it is a heavy but satisfying read

I don’t know how Niklas Natt och Daag does it, but right again from the very first page I’m sold to this story, I smell the desperation (and other more literal smells), I feel the squelchy dirt under my feet and try to make out the dimly-lit scenes before me.
I’m THERE!
“Time congeals to molasses in his hourglass”
A vivid, atmospheric, satifying read.

For those familiar with the Watchman and the Wolf Trilogy, we go back tothe familiar ,grim ,sinister, city that is Stockholm in the late 18th Century. Jean Mickel, Emil and Tycho Ceton reeling are from the fallout of the ending of 1794. Emil and Jean Mickel begrudgingly work together to stop Tycho regain his stature while Jean Mickel, seeks out Anna Stina. In the background,tensions in the city are highe as Gustav IV gets closer to stepping out from Charles' regency amid rumours of revolt and conspiracy against the crown.
Like the previous installments, 1795 is not for the faint hearted, as it reveals man at its worst and most depraved. Stockholm in 1795 is not the beautiful city it now is and Niklas paints a vivid image of the dank, oppressive and grim city it was. You can almost smell it.
I struggled with the first third of the novel particularly with the focus on Tycho's character. However, once the story came back to Focus more on the POV of Jean Mickel and the "boy" the story found it's feet. I do feel that that 1794 and 1795 suffer from Cecil's replacement with Emil but maybe the difference in character is intentional..
Those who have read 1793 and 1795 would not be expecting a happy ending but I do think they will be satisfied with the ending of the Trilogy.

DArker and more complex than usual, intriguing but also a bit confusing. The third instalment in this series is not the best but does not leave any question unanswered.
3.5 upped to 4
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I found it very difficult to get into this novel. I still gave it a 3* because it did make sense! However, the characters felt too numerous in number, particularly at the beginning. The plot itself was rather too complex (even though that usually appeals to me!). I had read the first book in the series, and had not been that keen on it, but I thought I would try another book, but again it did not work for me.
I received a complimentary digital ARC of this novel from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.