Tam Hashford is tired of working at her local pub, slinging drinks for world-famous mercenaries and listening to the bards sing of adventure and glory in the world beyond her sleepy hometown.

When the biggest mercenary band of all rolls into town, led by the infamous Bloody Rose, Tam jumps at the chance to sign on as their bard. It’s adventure she wants – and adventure she gets as the crew embark on a quest that will end in one of two ways: glory or death.

It’s time to take a walk on the wyld side. 

Kings of the Wyld was a book that fucking shattered my expectations…I went into that book cautiously and wound up loving it with total reckless abandon. Nicholas Eames writes with such heart & humor, and also with an obvious reverence to the fantasy genre. His debut sincerely won the hearts of so many readers!! 

My anticipation levels for Bloody Rose were OFF THE FUCKING CHARTS, and I’m happy to say that this book didn’t just reach the high bar set by Kings of the Wyld, it surpassed it in many ways. Also, I think the way Eames has approached these first two novels is incredibly clever. Bloody Rose isn’t exactly a sequel to Kings of the Wyld, although chronologically, it does take place after. It would be hard for me to imagine reading Bloody Rose first, just because that wasn’t my experience…but you certainly could!

The story centers on Tam Hashford, who works in a local pub and, as all teenagers do, dreams of another life. She’s the daughter of Tuck Hashford, who was a famous mercenary, and Lily Hashford, her now-deceased mother, who was the famous bard for Tuck’s band. The death of his wife has ruined Tuck, causing him to become over protective to a fault; he just can’t bear the thought of losing his daughter, too. 

But as fate would have it, an opportunity arises for Tam to become the bard for Fable, the most famous band of mercenaries, led by the titular Bloody Rose (the daughter of Golden Gabe, one of the members of Saga from Kings of the Wyld) They are on their last tour, fighting monsters along the way, and heading to fulfill one final (and extremely dangerous) contract. 

Bloody Rose has all the trappings of a VH1 Behind the Music episode, only with badass fantasy mercenaries instead of drug-addled glam rockers. The members of Fable get in drunken brawls, start drinking early in the morning to cure the hangover from last night, have one-night-stands, and basically engage in all manner of revelry. They have a fucking blast, but they are also very good at what they do: fight & slay monsters of every conceivable shape & size.

If there’s one thing Nicholas Eames does incredibly well (and there’s many things!), it’s giving each of his characters such unique voices. By the end of this book, you’ll feel like you’re a part of the band. You’ve lived with these people, drank with them, cried with them…you’ve seen them at their lowest lows & their highest highs. It really is extraordinary for an author to make us care THIS MUCH about each & every character, something I think Eames shares with Joe Abercrombie.

This book is so thematically rich…Fable are the best of friends. They are truly a found family, and the bonds between the members of this band are strong, complex, and worth fighting for. Some of them struggle with addiction, some fight with other demons. One of the overriding themes in Bloody Rose is struggling, in one way or another, with a parental relationship. From coping with the loss of a parent, to outright abuse, or just trying to carve out your own identity in the shadow of a larger-than-life parent (or two), this is a major aspect of this novel. 

I cannot recommend this highly enough. Nicholas Eames is an extraordinarily talented writer…a guy who can throw around Three Stooges references just as easily as he can make you cry. Like Kings of the Wyld, Bloody Rose is JAM PACKED with literally ALL THE MONSTERS, and it’s just a ton of fun. Heartbreaking, gorgeous, thrilling, but fun. Except the necromancy, which is almost never fun.

Almost.

Massive thanks to Orbit Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!! Bloody Rose releases 8.28.18