Book · 2012
Between Two Fires
by Christopher Buehlman
A disgraced knight and an orphan girl cross a France where the Black Death was just the opening act of Hell's invasion.
What does Reddit think of Between Two Fires?
Between Two Fires barely existed on Reddit's radar for its first two years: 9 mentions in 2019, 10 in 2020, then more than tripled to 91 by 2025, the fastest growth curve in this data set. r/Fantasy carries it, 152 of 313 total mentions, against 107 on r/suggestmeabook and 54 on r/printSF. The pitch is consistent across threads — Black Plague France, hell literally on Earth — and commenters keep reaching for the same comparison, a Dark Souls-esque setting (↑35) with monsters one reader (↑53) calls the most horrifying they've read in any book. Someone names it their favorite read of 2024 outright (↑55). There's no real dissent in the sample; the closest thing to a caveat is a recommender (↑37) noting it's a different kind of book than whatever comp title prompted the thread, without walking back the recommendation. This is a book that built its audience recently and is still building it.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · historical horror
- · the Black Death as backdrop
- · demonic invasion
- · grimdark tone
Common praise
- + One reader (↑53) calls the monsters the most horrifying they've encountered in any book.
- + A commenter (↑55) names it their favorite read of 2024, no qualifiers attached.
- + Recommenders keep reaching for the same Dark Souls-esque comparison (↑35) to describe the collapsing setting.
Common criticism
- − The closest thing to a caveat in the sample (↑37) just flags that it's tonally different from whatever comp title someone asked about, not a real complaint.
- − Growth from single digits in 2019 and 2020 means most of Reddit's opinion on it is barely a few years old, thin compared to older genre staples.
Who it's for
If Dark Souls' world-eating dread is your genre, this is the book version of that feeling, set during the Black Plague in France. Christopher Buehlman fans landed here through r/Fantasy, which drives roughly half the book's 313 total mentions. Bring a high tolerance for hell literally walking around on Earth; one reader's most-horrifying-monsters-ever claim (↑53) is not hyperbole based on the surrounding threads. Anyone burned out on tidy grimdark should notice this one arrived late and is still climbing.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Between Two Fires?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“Any bad trend is only waiting for a good execution. Chris Buehlman's Between Two Fires, or maybe Joe Hill's King Sorrow.
“Between Two Fires was amazing. Worth a comment just to praise that book. Abercrombie's *Heroes* has some great war in it (with a phenomenal POV hopping scene) AND a sneaky dark horse pick is the Battle of Brenna in the last Witcher novel. I think it's a great example of a well-written fantasy bat…
“Things to mention: Well Glen Cook for starters. Not just for Black Company with Croaker and the Lady, One-Eye and Goblin, and the Ten-Who-Were-Taken. But also for the Dread Empire and the Tower of Fear, The Dragon Who Never Sleeps, and Passage of Arms, and also those few Dying Earth short stories th…
“*Between Two Fires* by Christopher Buehlman
“Between Two Fires was my favourite read of 2024. Brilliant book.
“Between Two Fires has some of the most horrifying monsters i\`ve ever read in a book. They really make you believe Hell is on Earth
“Between Two Fires if you want medieval horror with demons.
“Don't go into horror expecting to be scared. You're setting yourself up for disappointment. My favorite horror author lately is Christopher Buehlman. I'd recommend Between Two Fires and The Lesser Dead.
Convinced? Pick up Between Two Fires
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Between Two Fires — counted from the comments, not curated.
Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb
A bastard prince trained as an assassin narrates sixteen books of loss, loyalty, and one very long grudge against fate.
Uprooted
Naomi Novik
A village girl handed over to a reclusive wizard as tribute turns out to be the only one who can fight the corrupted Wood eating her valley.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke
Two rival English magicians revive magic itself, and neither can predict what the fairy they bargained with actually wants.
Gardens of the Moon
Steven Erikson
An empire quietly marks its own soldiers for death, and the gods are already choosing sides before the Bridgeburners find out.
Watership Down
Richard Adams
A handful of rabbits abandon a doomed warren and cross open country to build a new one, dodging a tyrant colony along the way.
The Blade Itself
Joe Abercrombie
Nine-Fingers the barbarian just wants to survive one more winter, but a torturer's investigation and a prince's war have other plans.
Between Two Fires — frequently asked
Is Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman actually scary?+
By Reddit's account, yes. One r/Fantasy commenter (↑53) calls its monsters the most horrifying they've read in any book, and the recurring Dark Souls-esque comparison (↑35) points at sustained dread rather than jump scares.
Why has Between Two Fires gotten more popular on Reddit recently?+
The numbers show real momentum: 9 mentions in 2019 and 10 in 2020, then a climb to 91 by 2025, the fastest growth curve of any book in this data set. The threads don't explain the cause, just the trend.
Which subreddit talks about Between Two Fires the most?+
r/Fantasy, with 152 of the book's 313 total mentions, ahead of r/suggestmeabook's 107 and r/printSF's 54.
Is Between Two Fires similar to Dark Souls?+
Multiple commenters think so. One thread (↑35) describes it explicitly as capturing 'the Dark Souls-esque setting of a collapsing, rotting world, with weird hellish entities running amok,' a comparison that recurs across separate threads.