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.

This is my first true 5* book of 2024, and I can hoenstly say that this is going to be high on the best reads of 2025 for a lot of people.
This is a true tour de force for Abercrombie, a misfit bunch of devils bound together in a common cause by the infant Pope of an alternate Europe, where elves eat their enemies and a street urchin can become one of the most powerful figures in the land. Cannot recommend this enough.

Fabulous! This has to be my favourite read of the year.
It's dark, but there's a lot of humour to balance it out.
The main characters are brilliantly flawed.There wasn't anyone that I disliked, and I think Baron Rikard (Vampire), was my favourite with his dry wit...
"Oh, I would never feed on someone to whom I had been formally introduced without express permission. It would be like eating a pet. Once they have a name, it feels...." The baron gave a fastidious shudder. "So crass." 😄
This isn't published until May, so if there's a follow-up, I'll have to wait, and it'll be a long wait to catch up with the Devils who I miss already.
I highly recommend this book.

A really interesting premise, and a very character driven story. Unfortunately, none of the characters are that likeable or intriguing. Sadly DNF

I have reviewed The Devils for book recommendation and sales site LoveReading.co.uk.

I have chosen this title as a LoveReading Star Book and a Liz Pick for its month of publication.

Please see the link for the full review.

Damn, I found my favourite book of 2025 a couple of months early.

Pros:
Great characters
Vigga
Intense action
Balthazar Sham Ivam Draxi
Fun world building
Baron Rickard
Had no idea how the last 200 pages were going to play out
Sunny
It’s not smutty it’s just vulgar
Vigga (again)

Cons:
I now need to read all the Abercrombie books that I missed.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!!!

Joe Abercrombie sidesteps his usual Viking lore to deliver a compelling dark fantasy adventure that throws a band of mythical misfits - a vampire, werewolf, necromancer, elf and immortal soldier - in with a long-lost princess for an epic quest to have her instilled as the new ruler of Troy.
Abercrombie is a master at writing compelling characters - and you'll quickly fall in love with this new rag-tag of morally grey characters as they make their way across lands of yesteryear.
The battles are as epic as ever and the inclusion of raged-fuelled werewolves tearing their way through bodies, necromancers raising corpses and spell-based magic adds a fun new dimension to the usual sword and axe fare.
Being an Abercrombie story, the whole thing is delivered with loads of blood-soaked violence, sex, naughty words and humour.
Pegged as the first book in a new trilogy, The Devils is a fantastic first act and great appetiser for what's to come (hopefully).

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie offers an intriguing departure from his usual style. As someone who loved The First Law Trilogy and much of his earlier work, I found this book interesting, though it didn’t hit the same highs. It contains some memorable moments, but the narrative style felt different.

The blend of fantasy in a world that touches ours was also jarring at times. As you get caught up in the fantastical elements, references to real-world locations like Troy, the Holy City, or Germany pull you out of the immersion. Though it’s a solid read, it doesn’t quite match the magic of Abercrombie’s earlier novels