In the shadowed towns of Esadale, betrayal cuts deeper than any blade.

Rawlins — thief, murderer, outcast— has been left to die by the friends he once trusted and he is going to make them regret it.

But revenge is never that simple. Hounded through city slums and noble halls alike, Rawlins uncovers secrets of his Fenland heritage, a rising drug trade that threatens to enslave his people, and a guild of thieves whose power rivals kings. With every step, he is drawn deeper into a grim struggle of sorcery, corruption, and bloodshed.

Aided by Wilone, a herbalist with secrets of her own, and the hidden network of his despised kin, Rawlins must decide whether vengeance alone will satisfy him—or whether he will become something far darker. As civil war brews, nobles clash with the Church, and the streets burn with rebellion, Rawlins faces the ultimate question:

Will he rise as a weapon of justice… or be consumed by the very revenge he craves?

Perfect for readers of Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence, and The Witcher series, this dark fantasy revenge tale blends brutal action, and twisted magic.

Matthews launches the reader into A Good Day to Die with a compelling opening paragraph that has echoes of Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold or Tarantino’s Kill Bill films. While Rawlins is hardly a heroic or endearing character (“I’m a lot of things, most of them ain’t good, but I’ve never killed a child I didn’t have to.”), his precarious plight, ensuing fight for survival and hunger for revenge make him an intriguing protagonist. Matthews takes the sardonic first-person voice he used so effectively with his own Corin Hayes character in Silent City, and blends it with the amorality of Lawrence’s Jorg Ancrath from Prince of Thorns.

In many ways Rawlins is a character of our own times as much as of a fantastic secondary world. As Professor Andrew Pepper once pointed out – the cartels of Mexico are fully engaged in the capitalist dream of market share and personal profit, they are just more overt in how they flout – rather than buy – the law. In the same way Rawlins, having struggled out of his own particular gutter, sees success as proof of strength – of entitlement, and failure as evidence of incapacity or unworthiness. There is definitely something of the neo-conservative in Rawlins.

“I had no sympathy for people who did nothing to lift themselves from the gutter… it was there for the taking if you were brave enough, smart enough.”

Like Jorg Ancrath, Rawlins has some sharply observed lines that a prompt a wry smile, or a moment’s reflection.

‘Being young is nothing to enjoy, just endured.’

‘True greed is to have the best of everything and still want more.’

‘Leax was Aethelhere’s oldest friend. A man so far up Aethelhere’s arse that he actually did the shitting for him.’

‘There were three people left standing and a quick glance confirmed it was the right three.’

Alongside Rawlins is the enigmatic and laconic character of Wilone, an atypical healer in that she seems to have a streak of sadism that would make Nurse Ratchett blench, but there are endearing elements to her kick-ass ferocity as well as an ongoing uncertainty as to what exactly is her agenda and where do her loyalties lie.

The worldbuilding is very strong, with lots of little details, motifs and turns of phrase that give us a feel for the setting. I particularly liked the Fenlanders and their distinctive tattoos which – in setting them apart – facilitated others in discriminating against them and creating a credible underclass. It was interesting also to see how the tattoos had more than simply social significance. The dialogue and Rawlins’ inner monologue are speckled with nice inworld phrases that add a touch of authenticity to the setting. For example, ‘bakers whose bread would be more road grit than flour’ or ‘father died and we gave him to the water’.

Descriptions of places and people also pull in lots of sensory images of smells, and textures, to conjure a full image of grim, wet, dark (grimwetdark is that a thing) cityscapes

Stall owners hawked their wares in loud voices, repeating phrases which had long since lost their original meanings becoming little more than unintelligible chants.

and countrysides.

Those hours when, on the third day, it finally stopped raining, and the sun poked its embarrassed face out from the clouds were the highlight… As dusk approached, the clouds, clearly jealous of all the fun the sun was having, reappeared and pissed down on us for the rest of the night. The outdoors is just one big sodden disappointment after another.

The political dimension of Rawlins’ world feels very topical/relatable – with toxic levels of inequality, racial discrimination and an everyman for himself culture. Ultimately the plot pivots not so much around the disrupted trade in narcotics as the manipulation of information and people. As the antagonist notes at one point “Controlling the beliefs of others is the greatest of magics” and that is definitely a theme for our contemporary times with a media that serves as a mouthpiece for the agendas of wealth.

The action sequences are lively, grippingly choregraphed and bloodily described, adding to the Grimdark (Grimwetdark?!) feel. Rawlins, while dangerously capable, is no Marty-sue and endures his fair share of significant injuries and narrow escapes in some extended ‘search and destroy’ missions.

While Rawlins’ voice has the timbre of a cynic serving his own interest, there are notes of humour mixed in with the scarcasm.

For example reflecting on stuck-up people on a rainy day

 ‘with noses so upturned it was a shock they weren’t drowning.’

Or the gullible workers who

‘with the careful application of a few coins in the right palms… would cheerfully ignore the end of the word.’

Or arguing over the dubious virtues of the church

“They do a lot of good for many people”

“A lot of awful too, to a lot of people,” I corrected.

Much as he might wish to avoid helping others alongside his single-minded quest for revenge, Rawlins finds himself drawn back into the Fenland heritage he had worked so hard to hide during his greasy ascent of the poles of leadership in organized crime. In consequence this gritty revenge quest leaves the reader, as much as Rawlins, with some significant thoughts to ponder.

A Good Day to Die is out today! You can find out more on G R Matthew’s website or order your copy on Amazon!