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House of Open Wounds

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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Summary

From the BSFA Award-Winning Author of City Of Last Chances

City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. As their legions scour the world of superstition with the bright flame of reason, so they deliver a mountain of ragged, holed and scorched flesh to the field hospital tents just behind the frontline.

Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit.

Led by 'the Butcher', an ogre of a man who's a dab hand with a bone-saw and an alchemical tincture, the unit's motley crew of conscripts, healers and orderlies are no strangers to the horrors of war. Theirs is an unspeakable trade: elbow-deep in gore they have a first-hand view of the suffering caused by flesh-rending monsters, arcane magical weaponry and embittered enemy soldiers.

Entrusted—for now—with saving lives deemed otherwise un-saveable, the field hospital's crew face a precarious existence. Their work with unapproved magic, necromancy, demonology and Yansic's thoroughly illicit Gods could lead to the unit being disbanded, arrested or worse.

Beset by enemies within and without, the last thing anyone needs is a miracle.

©2023 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2023 Head of Zeus
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What listeners say about House of Open Wounds

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More focused than first one

The city of last chances was a sweeping work that delved into characters from all parts of the city. So much so I was surprised that when I started this book that Yasnic was the protagonist in this one. We still get to see the Pal army through different view points and there is a great cast, but the plot focuses much more on Yasnic. The setting is also more focused as it focuses on mostly on the medical department of a pal battalion. I think these changes are generally positive and I was engaged throughout the runtime.

I do miss Ruslav though :/

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Best Fantasy Novel I've Ever Read

I'm not normally a Fantasy fan, but I love Tchaikovsky's SF novels. My friend recommended I read this series. TOTALLY AMAZING. The author can write characters and plots like no other. Amazing.

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Fantastic complex story with superlative narration

The quality of the narration made an already strong story even better. Hugely enjoyable, with a large cast that was easy to keep track of thanks to the distinct voices given to each.

The ending led to me waving my hands around gleefully. I strongly recommend this.

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Tchaikovsky’s clever and imaginative world building excellence shines again

Tchaikovsky has an amazing ability to invent and colour unique fantasy worlds, with original fundamental features and varied (if slightly shallow) casts of characters.

This series is no different, with a cast of crazy, almost-forgotten gods providing a unique perspective and novel mechanics for this story.

As with other books by this author the characters are a little shallow and uni-dimensional, often playing specific, single use roles in driving the story onward. This is more than compensated for by the rich world and imaginative environments, which are arguably the real stars of Tchaikovakys books.

Despite a couple of meandering, dead-end tangents (another Tchaikovsky indulgence) the story charges along. It is engaging and exciting to the end.

If you are already a fan of “fantasy” Tchaikovaky, this series is well worth a read. You won't be disappointed!

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Even more of what I wanted

I wasn't sure what a sequel to City of last chances would be like, but this was inspired. Taking one of the characters that needed more fleshing out and putting him in a field hospital is a genius move. I loved the main cast of characters and I look forward to more stories in this world

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even better than the last one.

For me, this book balances humour, invention and adventure, to create a very satisfying whole. Beautifully paced and plotted with just the right amount of grim. A great vocal performance makes it almost perfect. I doubt I will listen to a better audio book this year.

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Excellent

This is how all Audible works should be! A fantastic partnership between one of my favourite authors and my favourite narrator! The story line is strong and engaging and is read beautifully making this an excellent experience!! Many Thanks

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A very different sort of fantasy novel

There isn't really another fantasy series out there like this one. It is "Pratchet-esque" while not being quite there. Funny, witty, but with fantastic world building in a universe ripe for stories; the God's are real, and they're pathetically weak with loop holes for every tennant. Highly recommend.

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Fantastic writing

I just do not understand how Adrian can be such a prolific author while maintaining such a high standard of story, characters and ideas. I am genuinely in awe

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Exceptional all rounder

Extremely high quality performance for an excellent book. Reads great without needing to read the first in the series. A whole world full of wonder and darkness and brilliantly intuitive concepts including a logical exploration of the divine which made the lawyer in me laugh out loud multiple times. If you're looking to recommend a great listen to someone in order to get them into audio books or fantasy then look no further.

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