For readers who want dark fiction with the weight of real history and genuine philosophical depth, Between Two Fires is considered a landmark title by LuvemBooks and was strongly praised by critics on original publication — Shelf Awareness's Ron Hogan credited it as the work that secured Buehlman's standing among leading dark fantasy authors. The prose balances lyrical writing with earthy, gallows humor, a quality Tor.com's Alyx Dellamonica singled out as an advance on Buehlman's debut. The caveat is real: the novel's sustained brutality \u2014 plague, sexual assault, and violence \u2014 makes it a demanding rather than escapist read, and the dense theological machinery requires genuine engagement.

Christopher Buehlman

About This Author

Reviewed

April 8, 2026

Updated

October 29, 2026

Read Time

7 min read

Our age bandAdult

Reader rating

4.6 · 15,930 Amazon ratings

reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

$20.00 on Amazon Audiobook

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Between Two Fires

Name: Between Two Fires
Author: Christopher Buehlman
ISBN: 1250439205

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman Review: Dark Medieval Horror of Devastating Ambition

by Christopher Buehlman

Originally published in 2012 and now reissued by Tor Nightfire, Between Two Fires is a historical horror novel set during the Black Death, following a disgraced French knight, a visionary girl, and a fallen priest on a harrowing journey across plague-ravaged France — a book that blends cosmic theological warfare with earthy, lyrical prose to powerful effect.

$20.00 on Amazon

Our age band: Adultgraphic violence · sexual assault

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers of literary dark fiction who want medieval history treated as lived reality — Heaven, Hell, and the Black Death as cosmological fact — and who are drawn to flawed, disgraced protagonists navigating both human vengeance and cosmic warfare.

Worth it if

The sustained brutality and theological density pay off richly for readers willing to engage with medieval Catholic cosmology on its own terms and who prize prose that balances lyrical writing with dark, gallows humor even amid unspeakable horror.

Skip if

Those who find unrelenting grimness — plague, violence, and sexual assault rendered without softening — punishing rather than cathartic, or who prefer horror that keeps its supernatural stakes at an ironic distance, should approach with caution.

What readers & critics say

Kirkus Reviews called Buehlman "an author to watch," praising him as "two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill" and comparing the novel to "Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales." HorrorDNA called it "simply an incredible novel," praising Buehlman's rich, prosaic prose and the novel's hard-won emotional core: "hope exists and it's worth fighting for."

“An author to watch — two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.”

— Kirkus Reviews

Sources: Kirkus Reviews, HorrorDNA, Grimdark Magazine, SFFWorld, FanFiAddict, My Page by Paige

4.6from 15,930 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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Between Two Fires is a historical horror novel set during the Black Death in plague-ravaged France, following a disgraced knight, a visionary girl, and a fallen priest on a pilgrimage through literal demonic warfare — rendering Lucifer's assault on Heaven not as allegory but as cosmological fact. Buehlman fuses rigorous medieval historical grounding with lyrical prose and genuine theological seriousness, producing what critics and LuvemBooks consider a landmark of literary dark fiction. The key caveat: sustained brutality and a dense final act make this demanding rather than escapist reading, best suited to readers who want horror with real historical and philosophical weight.

Is it worth reading?: For readers who want dark fiction with the weight of real history and genuine philosophical depth, Between Two Fires is considered a landmark title by LuvemBooks and was strongly praised by critics on original publication — Shelf Awareness's Ron Hogan credited it as the work that secured Buehlman's standing among leading dark fantasy authors. The prose balances lyrical writing with earthy, gallows humor, a quality Tor.com's Alyx Dellamonica singled out as an advance on Buehlman's debut. The caveat is real: the novel's sustained brutality \u2014 plague, sexual assault, and violence \u2014 makes it a demanding rather than escapist read, and the dense theological machinery requires genuine engagement.
Similar books: Readers drawn to Between Two Fires will find kindred works in several directions. For sustained, deeply uncomfortable horror grounded in physical threat and group survival, Nick Cutter's The Troop delivers a similarly unsparing brutality. Those interested in Buehlman's other fiction can explore Those Across the River (his debut) and The Blacktongue Thief, which showcases his range into dark fantasy. For other novels that treat the medieval world as a space of actual belief and intellectual seriousness, Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and Nicola Griffith's Hild are natural companions.
Who should read this?: Between Two Fires belongs to a specific tradition of literary horror with genuine theological seriousness and medieval historical grounding — its ideal reader is one who wants dark fiction with the weight of real history behind it, engages with questions of theodicy and divine withdrawal, and can tolerate sustained brutality in service of serious thematic ambition. Fans of dark historical fiction who are willing to meet medieval Catholic cosmology on its own terms — treating Heaven and Hell as cosmological fact rather than allegory — will find Buehlman's execution rare and rewarding. It is not suited to readers who prefer horror that withholds its supernatural stakes, or who find the unrelenting grimness of Black Death settings punishing.
About Christopher Buehlman: Christopher Buehlman was born in St. Petersburg, Florida and has carved out a distinctive niche as a master of literary horror who brings an uncommon depth to the genre.
What are the main themes?: The central thematic preoccupation of Between Two Fires is theodicy — the question of why God permits catastrophes of the scale of the Black Death — rendered not as abstract philosophy but as lived cosmological crisis: God appears to withdraw, leaving angels and humanity to face Lucifer's assault alone. Redemption and renewal run as animating undercurrents beneath the devastation, embodied in the three protagonists, each of whom carries a specific disgrace — Thomas's excommunication and brigandry, Matthieu's alcoholism and sexual disgrace, Delphine's visionary burden — and seeks a specific kind of restoration. Critic Jason Golomb identified this tension between mass catastrophe and the persistent possibility of redemption as the novel's moral and emotional engine.
Any content warnings?: Between Two Fires is an adult horror novel that does not soften its material. The review explicitly notes plague, violence, and sexual assault as rendered without mitigation. Father Matthieu's storyline involves persecution for his homosexuality, and the demonic horror includes possessed religious statuary. Readers sensitive to any of these elements should consider this a demanding rather than a cautionary note — the brutality is purposeful and thematically integrated, not decorative.

Summarize this book

Is it worth reading?

Who should read this?

About Christopher Buehlman

What are the main themes?

Any content warnings?

Summarize this book

Between Two Fires, originally published in 2012 and reissued by Tor Nightfire, is set in Black Death–ravaged France where Lucifer and the fallen angels have launched a literal war against Heaven, using the plague as their weapon and God's apparent withdrawal as their opening. The story follows three companions — Thomas, a disgraced French knight excommunicated after the Battle of Crécy; Delphine, a young girl who claims to see angels; and Father Matthieu, a gay alcoholic priest who lost his congregation — on a harrowing pilgrimage from the plague roads to Paris and ultimately to Avignon. Their journey culminates in a finale that keeps human stakes at its center throughout.

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Our Review

We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.

A novel of relentless darkness and theological audacity, Between Two Fires confirms Christopher Buehlman as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary dark fiction.

What the Novel Is and What It Does

Between Two Fires is a historical horror novel, originally published in 2012 and now available in a Tor Nightfire edition. Its premise is sweeping and unsparing: Lucifer and the fallen angels have launched another war against Heaven, and their chosen weapon is the Black Death.

God, for reasons the novel leaves deliberately open, appears to withdraw — leaving his angels and humanity to fend for themselves across a France littered with mass graves and roaming demons. Into this apocalyptic landscape steps Thomas, a French knight-turned-brigand excommunicated after the Battle of Crécy when the Comte d'Évreux stole his lands.

Thomas rescues a young girl named Delphine from assault, and Delphine, who claims to see angels, tasks him with escorting her first to Paris and then to Avignon. The journey recruits a third companion: Father Matthieu, a gay alcoholic priest who lost his congregation after being discovered with another man.

The trio's road through a devastated France is the spine of the novel — a pilgrimage through hell-on-earth with a genuinely cosmic destination.

The Scope of Its Horror

What sets the novel apart from conventional plague fiction is the literalness of its supernatural threat. Buehlman does not use the Black Death as mere metaphor: fallen angels physically stalk the roads, and possessed statues of the Virgin Mary and assorted saints attack the group as they leave Paris.

Thomas pursues his private vendetta against D'Évreux even as a far larger war presses in from every direction. The scale escalates without losing the human stakes at its center.

Craft, Reception, and Significance

Critical reception on publication was strongly positive. Critics praised Buehlman directly from its own pages, calling him "an author to watch" and noting that the novel "doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors."

That balance — gallows humor coexisting with genuine dread — is a signature Buehlman quality. Writing for Tor.com, Alyx Dellamonica praised the novel's prose as an advance on Buehlman's debut and commended both its humorous dialogue and its deep immersion in the worldview and mindset of medieval Christian characters.

Ron Hogan, writing for Shelf Awareness, credited Buehlman's fusion of modern horror sensibility with a rigorously rendered medieval setting as the work that secured his standing among leading dark fantasy authors. As a thematic project, the novel engages seriously with theodicy — why God permits catastrophes of the scale of the Black Death — while keeping redemption and renewal, as critic Jason Golomb noted, as its animating undercurrents.

Interior illustration depicting skeletal figures dancing among graves, evoking medieval mortality themes central to the narrative.

Genuine Limitations to Consider

The novel's ambitions are also the source of its most demanding qualities. The theological architecture — fallen angels, cosmic warfare — requires readers willing to engage with medieval Catholic cosmology on its own terms rather than at ironic distance.

The brutality is not decorative: violence, plague, and sexual assault are all rendered without softening. Readers who prefer horror that withholds its supernatural stakes, or who find the grimness of Black Death settings unrelenting, may find the novel punishing rather than cathartic.

The sheer density of the final act makes real demands on attention.

Who This Novel Is For

Between Two Fires belongs to a specific and underserved tradition: literary horror with genuine theological seriousness and medieval historical grounding. Readers who have gravitated toward works that treat the Middle Ages as a space of actual belief — where Heaven and Hell are not allegory but cosmological fact — will find Buehlman's execution rare.

The three-person ensemble at the novel's heart, each carrying a specific kind of disgrace and seeking a specific kind of redemption, gives the cosmic warfare a human register it might otherwise lack. For readers who want dark fantasy with the weight of real history behind it and prose that, in Kirkus's words, does not flinch from lyrical writing even amid unspeakable horrors, this is a landmark title in the genre.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

Cited in this review
1
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble®
barnesandnoble.com
2
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman | Audible.com
audible.com
Further reading
3
Christopher Buehlman — author profile
Christopher Buehlman, LuvemBooks
4
Between Two Fires (novel) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
5
BETWEEN TWO FIRES | Kirkus Reviews
kirkusreviews.com
6
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman — Page by Paige
mypagebypaige.com
7
BETWEEN TWO FIRES by Christopher Buehlman – SFFWorld
sffworld.com
8
Between Two Fires - Horror DNA
horrordna.com
9
REVIEW: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman - Grimdark Magazine
grimdarkmagazine.com
10
Book Review: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman — Joe's Notes
joesnotesblog.com
11
Review: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman | FanFiAddict
fanfiaddict.com

Age & Reading Level

Our age band

Adult

Our age band groups books for browsing; it isn't an age a review gave.

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5 content notes · who it suits

Content to know about

graphic violence

sexual assault

on-page deaths of major characters

plague horror and mass death

persecution based on sexuality

Best for: Adults — graphic violence, sexual assault, and the on-page deaths of all three central characters make this unsuitable for younger readers.

Skip if you want horror that withholds its supernatural stakes or prefer escapist, comfort-oriented dark fiction.

Christopher Buehlman on Between Two Fires

Author Christopher Buehlman sits down at Forbidden Planet to discuss the resurgence, themes, and characters of Between Two Fires.

Uploaded by Forbidden Planet TV, 2026 · Watch on YouTube ·

Cutting an unnecessary scene from newer editions

Buehlman explains that he removed an attempted sexual assault scene from later editions of the novel because it had always troubled him, made readers uncomfortable, and ultimately wasn't necessary for the story.

Origins and core themes of the novel

Buehlman originally conceived the novel as an episodic road trip based on an initial writing exercise set in a barn, realizing as the story unfolded that it was fundamentally about a broken man regaining his humanity.

The trio at the story's center

Buehlman explains that the novel brings together three archetypes—a fallen knight turned criminal, an orphaned girl claiming angelic guidance, and an alcoholic closeted priest—who gradually form an unexpected bond.

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Those Across the River

Christopher Buehlman

Same author, different genre mode: Southern Gothic folk horror replacing medieval theology, but Buehlman's gift for dread and lyrical menace is identical.

A Depression-era couple moves to a decaying Georgia town sitting on a dark ritual secret, and the horror that surfaces is communal, earned, and rooted in real historical shame. Buehlman writes violence here with the same unflinching care he brings to plague-ravaged France — nothing is gratuitous, everything costs something. Readers who loved his prose rhythm but want a shorter, more contained story will find this a satisfying companion.

On Amazon

The Lesser Dead

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Buehlman again treats monsters with theological seriousness — this time vampires in 1970s New York, narrated with wit and genuine menace that turns devastating.

If you liked Between Two Fires

On Amazon

The Name of the Rose

Umberto Eco

Medieval Europe rendered with scholarly precision and genuine menace; both books treat the Church's cosmology as a living, dangerous force rather than backdrop.

On Amazon

Hild

Nicola Griffith

Rigorously researched medieval world where faith, violence, and political survival collide — equally serious about what it meant to live inside a pre-modern Christian cosmology.

On Amazon

Carrion Comfort

Dan Simmons

Sprawling, serious dark fiction that treats evil as a genuine cosmic force operating through history — ambitious in scope, brutal in execution, and utterly committed to its premise.

Not your thing?

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Lincoln in the Bardo

George Saunders

For readers put off by sustained graphic violence: grief, the afterlife, and historical tragedy handled with equal seriousness but through dark tenderness rather than brutality.

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