Priest of Lies: War for the Rose Throne - Book 2 picks up not long after Father Tomas Piety's wedding to Ailsa, the Queen's Man. Ailsa's hideous wedding gift to Tomas was the bombing of The Wheels, an area of town previously run by other gangs, but now firmly under the control of Piety's gang, the Pious Men. In fact, Tomas is now essentially viewed as a prince in his city of Ellinburg and he has the grand manor to prove it, although truth told, he feels rather uncomfortable staying there with all of the pomp, and his sham of a marriage to Ailsa doesn't help matters. One good thing is that Billy the Boy is now living with them and Ailsa and Tomas actually adopt the young man to better protect him, especially since he is one of the "cunning folk" AKA a magic user.
He finds himself battling the Skanians once more, as they are seeking out local cunning folk to bring to their side, and they have several powerful magic users already. It seems the city of Ellinburg is basically split in two, with the Pious Men running half and the Northern Sons running the other half, with the financial backing of the Skanians. The Crown feels the Skanians are after all-out war and it seems Piety won't have any help from Governor Hauer in keeping them at bay, but what's worse is that Ailsa has been summoned to the royal city of Dannsburg and she wants Tomas to go with her.
If Tomas thought the Skanians and the other gangs were dangerous, he is in for a real shock with the Dannsburg nobility. While they seem polite to your face, they are scheming your death behind your very back and Tomas will make a few enemies and friends as he negotiates these very dangerous waters. Most importantly, he will gain some respect from one of Ailsa's superiors, but that's one man whose radar Tomas would rather avoid. Oh, and he'll get to meet Ailsa's parents, neither of whom are too pleased that their noble-bred daughter has married not only a foreigner, but a common gangster.
When Tomas is finally able to return to Ellinburg after his months-long jaunt with nobility, he realizes that things have been incredibly tough on Bloody Anne and the Pious Men in his absence. He has a traitor in his midst and rioting in his streets, and before he knows it, he just might have a date with the hangman's noose. Suffice it to say that Tomas Piety will end up in just as strange a place at the end of Priest of Lies as he did at Priest of Bones. And what a ride it is to get to that point.
I really enjoy the world that Peter McLean has created in the War for the Rose Throne series. It's bawdy and raw, violent but funny at times. Some truly awful things happen in this installment, but some sweet things happen as well. We get to see a bit more story development in the lives of Bloody Anne, Piety's brother Jochan and his friend from the war, Cutter, and Fat Luka as well. Billy the Boy grows up and into his powers quite a bit more, and Tomas adds a few new names to his list of Pious Men. If you read and enjoyed the previous book, you'll want to continue the story. I had forgotten how much foul language is in the book series though, and while it doesn't bother me, if you have sensitive ears, it could offend. Although truth be told, if you are sensitive, this probably isn't the series for you anyway. Times are hard in Ellinburg and so are the people. That said, I highly recommend the series.
