I will put it out there that I am one of Joe Abercrombie's biggest fans, I have read every book published by Joe and have been pre-ordering his books since Half a King, the YAD Viking inspired Shattering Seas series. I have met Joe at a signing and he was a nice as could be, so nice I thought He was going to pitch me a timeshare.
The Devils has a simple plot, one of the oldest literary tropes there is, The Quest. Now, the quest plot combined with the collection of a rag tag group of heroes are right in my reading wheelhouse. Joe turns the trope upside down by inserting a highly unlikely group of questers. This is kind of a hallmark of Joe's books, he take previous character types and turns them on their heads.
The Devils worldbuilding is fairly simple. Troy did not fall, and Rome did not ascend. Hector beat Achilles and Troy did not fall for the wooden horse trick. And the Messiah was a woman killed on a wheel. The story takes place after a split in the church and the heroes are enlisted to install a Princess on the breakaway empire in a bid to unite.
As the series continues you will get more backstory on the the devils. Joe has brought us character most readers are familiar with, a Vampire, Cursed Knight, a mercenary Pirate and friend to the knight, an Elf, Werewolf. Necromancer aka magician and a bookish monk. Each charged with the duty of getting a street urchin to Troy and install her as princess. Joe writes in his fabulous humorous style, bringing life to the characters.
If you liked The Devils and wish to find similar authors who write with a humorous style, I recommend Davis Wragg and J. .Zachary Pike.
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