Priest of Bones is the first book in the grimdark series War for the Rose Throne, written by Peter McLean, published by Jo Fletcher Books. A series that has been for a long time on my radar, and that has overcome my expectations; not only because of how well the whole gangster fantasy is executed but also with a cast of well-fleshed characters, all vertebrated by the figure of Tomas Piety, a deeply complex main character.

The war in Abingon is over, and Tomas Piety and his misfit crew return to home in the city of Ellinburgh. What should have been a triumphal return for those war heroes who survived the horrors of the battle soon turns into a hard hit with reality: Ellinburgh is now devastated by poverty and plague, and Tomas' business empire has been overrun by a foreign enemy.
Together with his old war mates, he brings back the Pious Men, the criminal gang led by his family and him, in order to recover all that was his before the war; what follows is a story of political intrigue and fight for power, with bigger ramifications than a simple gang war.

Tomas Piety is an excellent lead character, and choosing his voice to be the narrator also gives the reader a privileged spot to dissect somebody that goes further than the classical gangster figure. He's a thinker, a calculating character, something that contrasts with how hot headed is his brother Johan; but we can also see how he tries to care for those that are part of his group, for his people. They might be violent, but from the start it is established that there's a justice in all (even if can be twisted); Piety is merciless when he deems it as necessary, but at the end, he's also somebody with a troubled past that is still holding some of his decisions. One could argue that Tomas is basically the image the rest want to see, and that the real Tomas is just a mystery under the multiple facades Ellinburgh demands of him.
The rest of the cast is equally memorable, from Bloody Anne and her traumatic story, to Billy and his magical powers, and even Fat Luka, with his information network. All of them end up playing an important role in the novel, making this a choral act.

Something that I found refreshing is how abuse is immediately established as no-go, despite this being a grimdark story; the particular scene also establishes the gritty and merciless tone of this novel. Said that, we could also talk about how this is a story about the return of soldiers and post-traumatic stress: they call it battle shock, but we can appreciate how many of the Pious Men, the soldiers, are experiencing in their own way, and coping in different ways. You can't return home in the same way you went to war (freely quoting "you brought back soldiers, not businessmen").
Using a relatively reduced setting as Ellinburgh allows McLean to vividly portray this town and the struggles after war, and the return of the former gangs trying to recover the power that was usurped by those that came after they left.

Priest of Bones is an excellent grimdark novel, the perfect way to kickstart the War for the Throne Rose series; one that I seriously regret to not have started before, but which I heartily recommend if you are looking for something that feels like Peaky Blinders with a well-fleshed cast. Won't pass much time until I'm reading the second book in the series!