Where armies won’t go, the Blood Scouts must…
Wild Wish has reluctantly left the front line behind. No more fighting. No more friends. But she’s about to get an invitation to a fight no one else dares touch.
There’s trouble in the Saints Mire, a strictly neutral land with deep religious history. Here, the secrets of the Prophets are preserved by the foreboding Ten Priories – isolated for centuries, steeped in myth, and now under attack.
A rogue Drail army of veterans, criminals and goblins has invaded, and a reckless company of Comity partisans are itching to stop them. The top brass want nothing to do with it, so it’s up to Wild Wish and her new band of ragged misfits to keep things from escalating.
She must brave the heart of a nightmare land harbouring great, hidden power – and even greater hidden threats. Secrets millennia in the making may be exposed – with the potential to change the very shape of the war.
But if Wish can find an opportunity to rebuild The Blood Scouts, maybe it’ll be worth it?
Drown Deep by Phil Williams is the second book in the Blood Scouts series, and in my eyes even better than the first!
I adored having Wild Wish as the central character, and seeing her trying to adjust to where life takes her. From being supposed to be an instructor, to a leader, to whatever will be next – it definitely never gets boring around her. Her tone and voice was just super easy for me to fall in love with.
It must’ve taken a series of huge explosions, and indeed a particularly heartless attacker, to destroy such a grand bridge.
“Bloody animals,” Dalliance repeated, shaking his head.
Wish agreed, but silently wondered if the Drail had even done it. It was the sort of thing she could imagine herself doing, even if mostly by accident.
There’s a tiny bit of romance, but it fits perfectly well with Wild Wishes character, and didn’t detract from the story at all. None of the typical romance tropes, and instead more of a “do I even have time for this?” vibe combined with her confusion about her current place in the world overall gave her a whole other angle. It definitely added to her growth and the character arc over all. If I may remind you, I usually detest romance, so if I think it enhances something, it must be a bit special.
It has been a while since I read the first book, but from memory, this sequel is even bloodier than the first, if only a bit. However, it also had me chuckling aloud quite often, which led to strange looks coming my way on a plane. So maybe read this in the comfort of your home, if you have social anxiety like me…
The mix of (dark) humour and gore galore was just immensely entertaining, while the more thought provoking bits gave the book a lot of depth as well.
Having been given the quick rundown of the Saints Mire’s generally disagreeable territory,with a particular focus on how brutal the bogs were (and it was mostly bogs), she was informed their best hope was to enter the region via boat, through the delightfully named Paradise Fails. Using the waterways of Paradise Fails, they could easily (as if) reach the equally delightfully named priory of Drowndeep (not one with nuns), before striking out across the land where it was possible to drown.
Combine this with utterly wonderful worldbuilding, and a setting that is nature in its rawest and harshest form, as well as some ancient monasteries, and it’s an amazing allrounder.
if you’re now just as eager to join Wild Wish on her journey as I was, you can find your own copy here!
