Saint's Blood

Fantasy Three Musketeers vs religion. The Greatcoats have so far provided great entertainment, with the camaraderie between the leads Falcio, Kest and Brasti forming the backbone of the story. The setting of a country riven with petty rivalries, between callous Dukes uncaring for the common man provides a suitably dark setting with echoes of the revolutionary French setting of Dumas' original. At the start of this 3rd entry the Greatcoats are actually in a relatively strong position. They had managed to get the King's heir Aline and her Realms Protector into an actual position of influence, with Dukes actually paying at least some nominal attention. This time the enemy comes from a different direction, in the form of religion.

The mythology building in de Castell's world is mightily impressive, so the religion here is built on impressive foundations. The various Saints exist as living paragons of specific virtues, with 6 gods forming the Pantheon. In Saint's Blood we see this order upended. Someone is killing the Saints (+more). The mutability of religion vs the immutability of law then becomes the central theme of this book. This of course follows useful parallels in real life - religions have evolved over the years, but the main laws, even promoted by religions, have a certain similarity across time and culture. Yes, there is a certain anti-religiousness to the story, but the main thing here is preaching against blind faith and extremism, which again I find very relevant. This is present in the inquisition - they are presented as followers of the faith and religious law, and come out quite strongly against the new religion being presented here. It is kind of funny when the inquisition is the moderate religious influence in a story!

Anyway, this was a thoroughly enjoyable entry into a great series. Looking forward to reading the conclusion!