The gore is in context, the swearing is as well-timed as it is frequent (sorry Mum Smith – I've been won over!), the religious warring has real-world parallels. It seems like the limits of my enthusiasm are only dictated by your boredom threshold so perhaps I should just sum it all up in a sentence...
If you only read one[[:Category:HP H P Lovecraft|Lovecraft]]/[[:Category:JRR J R R Tolkien|Tolkien]]/Middle Ages/Spanish Inquisition/Borgia-esque/Viking inspired fantasy series this year, AJ Smith is definitely your go-to guy.
(Thank you so much to the good people at Head of Zeus for providing us with a copy for review.)