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Four of Mercies #2
The Diplomacy of the Knife
Petre Mercy’s had a rough time since he rode home on a cyborg horse. He’s lost a hand that’s been replaced with a mess of steel and piano string, broke his thyroid-powered sword, and helped ignite a civil war that’s engulfed the countryside.
His sister, The Queen, has ordered him to root out any traitors in Mercy House. But Petre can hardly ferret out the truth from his siblings, let alone a vast network of spies with counterplots. And every day more turncoats move against him.
If he has any hope of putting down this uprising, he’ll have to work with a sister he’s still learning to trust. But his enemies are one step ahead of him at all times. And they’re hiding in the last place he’d think to look.
"It’s bigger, better, darker, filthier, more complex, more gut wrenching, more deliciously deranged, and it just bleeds with a manic ‘WHAT THE FUCK?’ energy."
- Esmay Rosalyne, Grimdark Magazine
"Caplan is the most imaginative writer I have ever read and has the demented genius associated with painters like Dali or Breugel."
- Sue Bavey, author of Lucky Jack
"This book sucked me in and chewed on me and then spit me out. Its intrigue and brutality and inventiveness is a visceral high."
- E.M. Hamill, author of Dalí
"One of the most weird, original, and disgusting worlds I've ever read about in a book. That's just the way I like it."
- Travis Riddle, author of On Lavender Tides
"Unbound, unpredictable, undefinable, and unbelievably addictive."
- Craig Bookwyrm
His sister, The Queen, has ordered him to root out any traitors in Mercy House. But Petre can hardly ferret out the truth from his siblings, let alone a vast network of spies with counterplots. And every day more turncoats move against him.
If he has any hope of putting down this uprising, he’ll have to work with a sister he’s still learning to trust. But his enemies are one step ahead of him at all times. And they’re hiding in the last place he’d think to look.
"It’s bigger, better, darker, filthier, more complex, more gut wrenching, more deliciously deranged, and it just bleeds with a manic ‘WHAT THE FUCK?’ energy."
- Esmay Rosalyne, Grimdark Magazine
"Caplan is the most imaginative writer I have ever read and has the demented genius associated with painters like Dali or Breugel."
- Sue Bavey, author of Lucky Jack
"This book sucked me in and chewed on me and then spit me out. Its intrigue and brutality and inventiveness is a visceral high."
- E.M. Hamill, author of Dalí
"One of the most weird, original, and disgusting worlds I've ever read about in a book. That's just the way I like it."
- Travis Riddle, author of On Lavender Tides
"Unbound, unpredictable, undefinable, and unbelievably addictive."
- Craig Bookwyrm
- GenresFantasy
508 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2025
9 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
C.M. Caplan
5 books65 followerscontact me on linktree: https://linktr.ee/thecmcaplan
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C.M. Caplan is the author of the SPFBO7 semifinalist The Sword in the Street, and SPFBO9 Finalist/SPSFC semifinalist, The Fall Is All There Is. They're a quadruplet (yes, really), autistic, and have a degree in creative writing. If you enjoy their books, you can rate them on Goodreads and Amazon.
here's my bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/cmcaplanwrit...
my instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thecmcaplan/
youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@thecmcaplan
find me on tiktok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@thecmcaplan
sign up for my newsletter:
https://cmcaplan.us1.list-manage.com/...
my facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/thecmcaplana...
C.M. Caplan is the author of the SPFBO7 semifinalist The Sword in the Street, and SPFBO9 Finalist/SPSFC semifinalist, The Fall Is All There Is. They're a quadruplet (yes, really), autistic, and have a degree in creative writing. If you enjoy their books, you can rate them on Goodreads and Amazon.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 4, 2025
My review of The Diplomacy of the Knife is published at Before We Go Blog.
“After everything, when I was staring down the guillotine with chafed wrists and broken teeth, I decided this was the only fitting way to go.”
With The Diplomacy of the Knife, C.M. Caplan absolutely nails the sequel to their raucous debut, the SPFBO9 finalist The Fall Is All There Is. Petre, the first-person protagonist of the series, is a whirlwind of chaotic neutral entropy.
The youngest among quadruplets, Petre was born mere minutes after his older siblings, Anoïse, Edgar, and Desmon. When their monarch father dies, Petre finds himself on the losing side of a war for succession:
“If we were lucky, this war would end in the least dramatic way possible—ironing out an agreement in a cramped office, over cups of coffee.”
Yeah, I don’t think so—the unhealthy familial dynamics in The Diplomacy of the Knife are enough to make George R.R. Martin blush.
Petre is impulsive to an anarchic degree, creating chaos wherever he goes. He’s also neurodivergent, often struggling to understand the unspoken subtext of family conversations. He has adopted the unhealthy habit of shooting up Intramuscular Memory Injections to maintain basic human functioning:
“What kind of man, would you say, prepares for a family visit by injecting himself with Intramuscular Memory Injections?”
C.M. Caplan writes with a frenetic vibrancy that makes The Diplomacy of the Knife impossible to put down. Caplan also strikes just the right balance between fantasy and science fiction in this post-post-apocalyptic world, which suffered a First Annihilation from magic and a Second Annihilation from technology.
Everything that I loved about The Fall Is All There Is feels bigger and better in The Diplomacy of the Knife. You can fight entropy, or you can embrace it. I highly recommend grimdark fans to embrace the anarchy with C.M. Caplan’s Four of Mercies series.
“After everything, when I was staring down the guillotine with chafed wrists and broken teeth, I decided this was the only fitting way to go.”
With The Diplomacy of the Knife, C.M. Caplan absolutely nails the sequel to their raucous debut, the SPFBO9 finalist The Fall Is All There Is. Petre, the first-person protagonist of the series, is a whirlwind of chaotic neutral entropy.
The youngest among quadruplets, Petre was born mere minutes after his older siblings, Anoïse, Edgar, and Desmon. When their monarch father dies, Petre finds himself on the losing side of a war for succession:
“If we were lucky, this war would end in the least dramatic way possible—ironing out an agreement in a cramped office, over cups of coffee.”
Yeah, I don’t think so—the unhealthy familial dynamics in The Diplomacy of the Knife are enough to make George R.R. Martin blush.
Petre is impulsive to an anarchic degree, creating chaos wherever he goes. He’s also neurodivergent, often struggling to understand the unspoken subtext of family conversations. He has adopted the unhealthy habit of shooting up Intramuscular Memory Injections to maintain basic human functioning:
“What kind of man, would you say, prepares for a family visit by injecting himself with Intramuscular Memory Injections?”
C.M. Caplan writes with a frenetic vibrancy that makes The Diplomacy of the Knife impossible to put down. Caplan also strikes just the right balance between fantasy and science fiction in this post-post-apocalyptic world, which suffered a First Annihilation from magic and a Second Annihilation from technology.
Everything that I loved about The Fall Is All There Is feels bigger and better in The Diplomacy of the Knife. You can fight entropy, or you can embrace it. I highly recommend grimdark fans to embrace the anarchy with C.M. Caplan’s Four of Mercies series.
February 20, 2025
This review was originally published on Grimdark Magazine
Lord have Mercy, I don’t know what type of dark alchemy happened in C.M. Caplan’s mind while writing The Diplomacy of the Knife, but this second instalment in the Four of Mercies series is absolutely batshit crazy in the best way possible. It’s bigger, better, darker, filthier, more complex, more gut wrenching, more deliciously deranged, and it just bleeds with a manic ‘WHAT THE FUCK?’ energy that is honestly unparalleled; in other words, this is how you write one hell of a satisfying sequel!
“Sometimes an instant overhaul of the life you knew can feel like you’ve slipped into a world that runs on dream logic. You know what I mean? Like – how are you supposed to live with such a monumental shift? Sure, you want to hope for the best, but real solace usually lies in the comfort of despair.”
From the very first second back in Petre’s mind, I was utterly hooked and dangerously invested again. He hasn’t exactly been thriving since he reluctantly returned to his family estate at the start of The Fall Is All There Is, and with his new dangerous role in the royal household during an escalating war, life is not about to give our favourite autistic as fuck chaos queer a break any time soon. Get ready for a wild adventure full of danger, death, consequences, schemes, revelations, court intrigue, family drama, tenuous alliances, and all the most brutal back stabbings and betrayals.
Now, I personally adored how Caplan captured Petre’s chaotic voice in book one through the intensely intimate first person narration, but I think they really stepped up their game in The Diplomacy of the Knife. Don’t get me wrong, Petre is still his quintessentially messy, dramatic, unreliable, neuro-spicy, and stupidly loud-mouthed self, but I personally felt like it was slightly less overwhelming to be in his headspace this time around. He starts to gain agency as he refuses to be a mere pawn in everyone else’s game of wits and schemes any longer, and soon we see a much more ruthlessly cunning and lethally sharp-witted side of him come out, even if he is still so, so disastrously far in over his head.
And it’s not just Petre’s stronger characterization and the sharper authorial voice that showcase how Caplan has honed their skills, but the plotting, pacing, and insane post-post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy world building (hello cyborg body horror madness and ships getting a heart attack) all got even better as well. Which is saying a lot, because the bar was set stupendously HIGH in The Fall Is All There Is, in my humble opinion. To me, the three-part structure of The Diplomacy of the Knife was executed to perfection, with each distinct part having its own intense climax (and some delicious climaxes of a different kind along the way, if you get my meaning) that brilliantly built the tension and stakes to a level that was honestly dangerous for my emotional wellbeing.
“It’s hard to believe you can win at something this huge – because if you commit to your belief there’s always a chance you’ll wind up holding the tatters of your dreams, wondering why you had ever been so sure.”
But maybe the biggest testament to Caplan’s skill as a storyteller is the fact that Petre’s strong voice somehow never even comes close to overshadowing the countless other colourful characters that make up the dynamic cast of this dramatic masterpiece. At its heart, this is a story about family and (childhood) trauma, and seeing just how far every single one of these unpredictable master manipulators was willing to go to protect or intentionally hurt the ones they (are supposed to) love constantly had me gasping in shock. Especially Anoïse, Mercedes, Lerane, and Avram really stole the show for me in The Diplomacy of the Knife, and I absolutely loved that we got so much time to dig even deeper into all the insanely complex interpersonal relationships that drive this narrative forward.
Seriously, this story rivals ASOIAF in its cutthroat political machinations and toxic family drama, and if you thought Tyrion Lannister’s trial in A Storm of Swords was iconic, then you better brace yourself for what Caplan has in store at the end of The Diplomacy of the Knife. And just between you and me, I think the Four of Mercies series is a thousand times more enjoyable to read than GRRM’s storytelling, because the level of snark, sarcasm, gallows humour, razor-sharp (sibling) banter, and the countless inappropriate thoughts/reactions had me snort-laughing the entire way through this unhinged trainwreck of a story.
“Great. Now I wanted to hit him, too. Where did he get the audacity to say things that were correct?”
What did not make me laugh, though, was that absolutely brutal gut punch of a cliffhanger that had me just about ready to throw the book across the room and hunt down Caplan for answers… the audacity! No but really, The Diplomacy of the Knife gave me everything I didn’t even know I needed from this sequel, and it’s just about as perfect as a book is going to get for my dark and twisted soul. So, if you are ready for an exceptionally inventive, diverse and genre-blendy feat of storytelling madness that will excite, delight, and freak you the fuck out with each new turn of the page, then I simply can’t recommend the Four of Mercies series highly enough.
Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Lord have Mercy, I don’t know what type of dark alchemy happened in C.M. Caplan’s mind while writing The Diplomacy of the Knife, but this second instalment in the Four of Mercies series is absolutely batshit crazy in the best way possible. It’s bigger, better, darker, filthier, more complex, more gut wrenching, more deliciously deranged, and it just bleeds with a manic ‘WHAT THE FUCK?’ energy that is honestly unparalleled; in other words, this is how you write one hell of a satisfying sequel!
“Sometimes an instant overhaul of the life you knew can feel like you’ve slipped into a world that runs on dream logic. You know what I mean? Like – how are you supposed to live with such a monumental shift? Sure, you want to hope for the best, but real solace usually lies in the comfort of despair.”
From the very first second back in Petre’s mind, I was utterly hooked and dangerously invested again. He hasn’t exactly been thriving since he reluctantly returned to his family estate at the start of The Fall Is All There Is, and with his new dangerous role in the royal household during an escalating war, life is not about to give our favourite autistic as fuck chaos queer a break any time soon. Get ready for a wild adventure full of danger, death, consequences, schemes, revelations, court intrigue, family drama, tenuous alliances, and all the most brutal back stabbings and betrayals.
Now, I personally adored how Caplan captured Petre’s chaotic voice in book one through the intensely intimate first person narration, but I think they really stepped up their game in The Diplomacy of the Knife. Don’t get me wrong, Petre is still his quintessentially messy, dramatic, unreliable, neuro-spicy, and stupidly loud-mouthed self, but I personally felt like it was slightly less overwhelming to be in his headspace this time around. He starts to gain agency as he refuses to be a mere pawn in everyone else’s game of wits and schemes any longer, and soon we see a much more ruthlessly cunning and lethally sharp-witted side of him come out, even if he is still so, so disastrously far in over his head.
And it’s not just Petre’s stronger characterization and the sharper authorial voice that showcase how Caplan has honed their skills, but the plotting, pacing, and insane post-post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy world building (hello cyborg body horror madness and ships getting a heart attack) all got even better as well. Which is saying a lot, because the bar was set stupendously HIGH in The Fall Is All There Is, in my humble opinion. To me, the three-part structure of The Diplomacy of the Knife was executed to perfection, with each distinct part having its own intense climax (and some delicious climaxes of a different kind along the way, if you get my meaning) that brilliantly built the tension and stakes to a level that was honestly dangerous for my emotional wellbeing.
“It’s hard to believe you can win at something this huge – because if you commit to your belief there’s always a chance you’ll wind up holding the tatters of your dreams, wondering why you had ever been so sure.”
But maybe the biggest testament to Caplan’s skill as a storyteller is the fact that Petre’s strong voice somehow never even comes close to overshadowing the countless other colourful characters that make up the dynamic cast of this dramatic masterpiece. At its heart, this is a story about family and (childhood) trauma, and seeing just how far every single one of these unpredictable master manipulators was willing to go to protect or intentionally hurt the ones they (are supposed to) love constantly had me gasping in shock. Especially Anoïse, Mercedes, Lerane, and Avram really stole the show for me in The Diplomacy of the Knife, and I absolutely loved that we got so much time to dig even deeper into all the insanely complex interpersonal relationships that drive this narrative forward.
Seriously, this story rivals ASOIAF in its cutthroat political machinations and toxic family drama, and if you thought Tyrion Lannister’s trial in A Storm of Swords was iconic, then you better brace yourself for what Caplan has in store at the end of The Diplomacy of the Knife. And just between you and me, I think the Four of Mercies series is a thousand times more enjoyable to read than GRRM’s storytelling, because the level of snark, sarcasm, gallows humour, razor-sharp (sibling) banter, and the countless inappropriate thoughts/reactions had me snort-laughing the entire way through this unhinged trainwreck of a story.
“Great. Now I wanted to hit him, too. Where did he get the audacity to say things that were correct?”
What did not make me laugh, though, was that absolutely brutal gut punch of a cliffhanger that had me just about ready to throw the book across the room and hunt down Caplan for answers… the audacity! No but really, The Diplomacy of the Knife gave me everything I didn’t even know I needed from this sequel, and it’s just about as perfect as a book is going to get for my dark and twisted soul. So, if you are ready for an exceptionally inventive, diverse and genre-blendy feat of storytelling madness that will excite, delight, and freak you the fuck out with each new turn of the page, then I simply can’t recommend the Four of Mercies series highly enough.
Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
February 21, 2025
Review originally on JamReads
The Diplomacy of the Knife is the second novel in the science fantasy series Four of Mercies, written by C.M. Caplan. Equally crazy and imaginative as the first instalment, we will become spectators of the civil war that has started across the country, with a Petre that will have to proof his value to his sister, the Queen, and find traitors that root in the Mercy house; an instalment that puts a bit more of the focus on the complex politics of this world without losing that unique touch that Caplan writing gives.
From the start of the novel, we are again into the chaotic mess that is Petre's head; the same unique voice that, however, starts to gain agency in comparison with the previous book: now in a complex position under the orders of his sister, we see how Petre refuses to continue being the pawn in a bigger game and starts taking some decisions by itself. He's still an outsider in this world of scheming and subterfuge, but with much effort to become what they expect from him, we have an excellent character development; mistakes will happen, but even in a world he doesn't really fully grasp, he's trying to get his own way.
The first book was truly imaginative and inventive, but maybe with a plot that sometimes could be felt a little off; in comparison, The Diplomacy of the Knife is much better tied, mixing political intrigue, backstabbing and intense action scenes. The pacing is a bit slower, but it only plays in favour of the novel, which takes the opportunity to improve in aspects such as characterization (and I can't stop thinking about how brilliantly written is Petre's mother).
The worldbuilding is equally brilliant and crazy; if already we have truly crazy inventions such as the cyborg horses and how Petre's hand was repaired, Caplan decides to take it to a new level, but somehow, all makes sense. The writing is sharp and agile, partly suiting well to Petre's mind, and honestly, just embrace the chaos, because it's fricking amazing.
The Diplomacy of the Knife is an excellent second instalment, as it takes all from The Fall Is All There and takes it to an all new level; Four of Mercies is the series you want to read if you like inventive worldbuilding, incredible characters and a great amount of chaos. Well done, Connor!
The Diplomacy of the Knife is the second novel in the science fantasy series Four of Mercies, written by C.M. Caplan. Equally crazy and imaginative as the first instalment, we will become spectators of the civil war that has started across the country, with a Petre that will have to proof his value to his sister, the Queen, and find traitors that root in the Mercy house; an instalment that puts a bit more of the focus on the complex politics of this world without losing that unique touch that Caplan writing gives.
From the start of the novel, we are again into the chaotic mess that is Petre's head; the same unique voice that, however, starts to gain agency in comparison with the previous book: now in a complex position under the orders of his sister, we see how Petre refuses to continue being the pawn in a bigger game and starts taking some decisions by itself. He's still an outsider in this world of scheming and subterfuge, but with much effort to become what they expect from him, we have an excellent character development; mistakes will happen, but even in a world he doesn't really fully grasp, he's trying to get his own way.
The first book was truly imaginative and inventive, but maybe with a plot that sometimes could be felt a little off; in comparison, The Diplomacy of the Knife is much better tied, mixing political intrigue, backstabbing and intense action scenes. The pacing is a bit slower, but it only plays in favour of the novel, which takes the opportunity to improve in aspects such as characterization (and I can't stop thinking about how brilliantly written is Petre's mother).
The worldbuilding is equally brilliant and crazy; if already we have truly crazy inventions such as the cyborg horses and how Petre's hand was repaired, Caplan decides to take it to a new level, but somehow, all makes sense. The writing is sharp and agile, partly suiting well to Petre's mind, and honestly, just embrace the chaos, because it's fricking amazing.
The Diplomacy of the Knife is an excellent second instalment, as it takes all from The Fall Is All There and takes it to an all new level; Four of Mercies is the series you want to read if you like inventive worldbuilding, incredible characters and a great amount of chaos. Well done, Connor!
February 6, 2025
What just happened? You can't leave it like that, on a knife edge. Seriously!?
Unbound, unpredictable, undefinable, and unbelievably addictive.
With a narrative voice that is so natural and free flowing, this story runs on adrenaline and emotion.
I went into this having raved about how unique and refreshing The Fall Is All There Is was. I didn't think book one could be topped to be honest. How wrong was I?
The author knows his character inside out, and the visceral and vehement narrative and dialogue benefits.
I appreciated further insight into the world and its unimaginable technology(?)
The imagination and creativity of the world is beyond anything that makes sense. But the author makes it so that it does. A ship powered by a heart? Sure. A literal meat train? All aboard!
What impressed me most is the author's ability to hold everything together. The chaos, the crazy, the wtf nature of everything. Plot and pacing is perfect. And the ending. Like, wtf, Connor!
The character development and relationships are what drive the story, and the trauma. Oh, god the trauma. So brilliantly done.
The snarky humour and the vitriolic fervour of the arguments, are all felt. I cringed, I laughed, I felt it all.
Petre is such a brilliantly written character. The neurodivergent element of his character adds so much to his interactions and actions. Again, it's so well done and believable.
Honestly, this series and characters is phenomenal. It's weird, it's unique, and it's perfect for me.
Unbound, unpredictable, undefinable, and unbelievably addictive.
With a narrative voice that is so natural and free flowing, this story runs on adrenaline and emotion.
I went into this having raved about how unique and refreshing The Fall Is All There Is was. I didn't think book one could be topped to be honest. How wrong was I?
The author knows his character inside out, and the visceral and vehement narrative and dialogue benefits.
I appreciated further insight into the world and its unimaginable technology(?)
The imagination and creativity of the world is beyond anything that makes sense. But the author makes it so that it does. A ship powered by a heart? Sure. A literal meat train? All aboard!
What impressed me most is the author's ability to hold everything together. The chaos, the crazy, the wtf nature of everything. Plot and pacing is perfect. And the ending. Like, wtf, Connor!
The character development and relationships are what drive the story, and the trauma. Oh, god the trauma. So brilliantly done.
The snarky humour and the vitriolic fervour of the arguments, are all felt. I cringed, I laughed, I felt it all.
Petre is such a brilliantly written character. The neurodivergent element of his character adds so much to his interactions and actions. Again, it's so well done and believable.
Honestly, this series and characters is phenomenal. It's weird, it's unique, and it's perfect for me.
January 9, 2025
Full five stars somehow a step up from book one, which goes to show that 'middle book syndrome' is a myth
Full review to come once i charge my laptop and can type it up!
Read this series, for real.
Full review to come once i charge my laptop and can type it up!
Read this series, for real.
February 23, 2025
Have just finished this and I'm finding it hard to put my thoughts into words at the moment but OMFG this series is getting more darker, more ruthless and twisted and I am loving every moment of it.
I'll write something a bit more coherent in a couple of days when my brain has caught up. I'd like to thank the author for sending me a e-arc copy in exchange for a review.
I'll write something a bit more coherent in a couple of days when my brain has caught up. I'd like to thank the author for sending me a e-arc copy in exchange for a review.
January 27, 2025
Big thanks to C.M. Caplan for sending me an ARC!
One of the most weird, original, and disgusting worlds I've ever read about in a book. That's just the way I like it.
Even more so than the bizarre, unique worldbuilding, I love how messy every character in this series is, and it feels completely organic--it's not just a matter of the author forcing characters into actions to move the plot along. The interpersonal relationships all feel real and lived-in and contribute to the uncertain and sometimes volatile headspaces everyone finds themselves in. It's really a thrill watching some characters get thrown into a situation not really knowing how any of them are going to behave, and yet when you see how it plays out, it all feels natural and in-character. I think that's a pretty incredible feat for any author to pull off.
An audacious book that doesn't hold any punches and makes me wish I'd written it.
One of the most weird, original, and disgusting worlds I've ever read about in a book. That's just the way I like it.
Even more so than the bizarre, unique worldbuilding, I love how messy every character in this series is, and it feels completely organic--it's not just a matter of the author forcing characters into actions to move the plot along. The interpersonal relationships all feel real and lived-in and contribute to the uncertain and sometimes volatile headspaces everyone finds themselves in. It's really a thrill watching some characters get thrown into a situation not really knowing how any of them are going to behave, and yet when you see how it plays out, it all feels natural and in-character. I think that's a pretty incredible feat for any author to pull off.
An audacious book that doesn't hold any punches and makes me wish I'd written it.
February 13, 2025
ARC received for free in return for an honest review.
I loved The Fall is all their Is, so I had high hopes for this one, and I am pleased to report that it managed to surpass my expectations.
We are back with our unreliable POV character Petre, now saddled with responsibility given to him by his sister, while one of his brothers is waging a civil war for the throne. Starting with a security mystery, a cavalcade of disasters unfolds as we are then propelled at breakneck speed through on of the most bonkers worlds I have read.
By bonkers, the only way i can describe this world is 'what if the Victorians did biotech?' with a grimey coalpunk-esq vibe, with almost living tech (a massive ship with a beating heart for an engine that requires Beta-blockers to run) to name one, throw in a couple of potentially paranormal elements and you have a world that is begging to have fan art of.
But it is not just the world that excels, the chemistry between Petre and the rest of the cast is off the charts, which is really driven home when the story slows down and Petre (and thus us) is not dealing with sensory overload, and it zooms in onto the characters, with Mercedes and Fabian both standing out once again in their interactions.
Finally the writing is stellar, really driving home the underlying corruption and dark nature of the world, and Connor has a knack of writing in such a visceral way that it caused some actual physical reactions from me on more than one occasions (fingertips + eyelids, I say no more)
Due to the nature of the book, it is worth mentioning Content warnings here, this is a dark book which includes adult scenes and situations including dependency, abuse, torture and scenes of a sexual nature to mention a few so be aware going in.
So far this is my favorite read of the year so far, the only downside, I have to wait now for the next one.......
I loved The Fall is all their Is, so I had high hopes for this one, and I am pleased to report that it managed to surpass my expectations.
We are back with our unreliable POV character Petre, now saddled with responsibility given to him by his sister, while one of his brothers is waging a civil war for the throne. Starting with a security mystery, a cavalcade of disasters unfolds as we are then propelled at breakneck speed through on of the most bonkers worlds I have read.
By bonkers, the only way i can describe this world is 'what if the Victorians did biotech?' with a grimey coalpunk-esq vibe, with almost living tech (a massive ship with a beating heart for an engine that requires Beta-blockers to run) to name one, throw in a couple of potentially paranormal elements and you have a world that is begging to have fan art of.
But it is not just the world that excels, the chemistry between Petre and the rest of the cast is off the charts, which is really driven home when the story slows down and Petre (and thus us) is not dealing with sensory overload, and it zooms in onto the characters, with Mercedes and Fabian both standing out once again in their interactions.
Finally the writing is stellar, really driving home the underlying corruption and dark nature of the world, and Connor has a knack of writing in such a visceral way that it caused some actual physical reactions from me on more than one occasions (fingertips + eyelids, I say no more)
Due to the nature of the book, it is worth mentioning Content warnings here, this is a dark book which includes adult scenes and situations including dependency, abuse, torture and scenes of a sexual nature to mention a few so be aware going in.
So far this is my favorite read of the year so far, the only downside, I have to wait now for the next one.......
February 13, 2025
Thank you to the author for sending me an eARC. My review is honest and my opinions are my own.
I thought the unhinged world-building in The Fall Is All There Is was probably unbeatable for all of the twisted, imaginative ideas it embraced. Then I read its sequel and The Diplomacy of the Knife takes things even further down the maniacal path of splicing biological elements with technology. The cyborg horses are back but so are boats powered by heartbeat engines, a meat train and nerve cars.
“I steered a skeletal turtle boat through the carbon-black ocean. Our passage sliced silver ripples through the disturbed water. The motor was set to a low burble. My palms were slick on the leather grip fixed to the turtle’s spine. Behind me, Avram kept one hand on the fossilized tail-tiller.”
Human experimentation is also in diabolical full swing, being led by Peter’s mom. Golden scarabs that can knit together wounds and regenerate bodies? Wherever do these ideas come from? Caplan is the most imaginative writer I have ever read and has the demented genius associated with painters like Dali or Breugel.
Autistic royal quadruplet Petre is still our narrator, and his chaotic energy and heartbreaking lot in life punches the reader full in the face from page one and keeps on attacking relentlessly until the horrendous cliffhanger at the end of the book. He is so likeable and easy to root for. Even more so than in the first book. In this sequel everything is just EXTRA.
“Sometimes when you’re coming out the other end of an entire pileup of tragedies, even fitting your grief into language feels like an injustice. It’s hard to squeeze despair into a metaphor without tilting quickly into melodrama—the harder you try to package your sorrow in words, the more it feels like a performance.”
This book is even darker than its predecessor and the sibling rivalry is dialled up a murderous notch to the utmost extreme as a civil war for the throne is being waged among the quadruplets. A sibling loses a leg, another loses an eye, Petre already lost a hand and now loses a beloved partner. These quadruplets are absolutely set on familial annihilation.
Petre is a completely unreliable narrator. He has trouble remembering events and other characters remember them differently. He is also affected by so much childhood trauma, from his addictive IMI injections and from smoking recreational drugs.
“You have to develop some kind of routine, when faced with total annihilation. It’s too easy to—well—you don’t fall into madness, do you? Madness is the kind of thing that lingers nearby, a light jaunt away. Something creeping up on the precipice of your awareness. It’s the thing that lurks in the corner of your eye.”
This book delivers unbelievably crazy, jaw-dropping events one after another, all at breakneck speed punctuated by political discussions and acts of war. It is completely addictive and I can’t wait to see how the cliffhanger will be resolved!
I thought the unhinged world-building in The Fall Is All There Is was probably unbeatable for all of the twisted, imaginative ideas it embraced. Then I read its sequel and The Diplomacy of the Knife takes things even further down the maniacal path of splicing biological elements with technology. The cyborg horses are back but so are boats powered by heartbeat engines, a meat train and nerve cars.
“I steered a skeletal turtle boat through the carbon-black ocean. Our passage sliced silver ripples through the disturbed water. The motor was set to a low burble. My palms were slick on the leather grip fixed to the turtle’s spine. Behind me, Avram kept one hand on the fossilized tail-tiller.”
Human experimentation is also in diabolical full swing, being led by Peter’s mom. Golden scarabs that can knit together wounds and regenerate bodies? Wherever do these ideas come from? Caplan is the most imaginative writer I have ever read and has the demented genius associated with painters like Dali or Breugel.
Autistic royal quadruplet Petre is still our narrator, and his chaotic energy and heartbreaking lot in life punches the reader full in the face from page one and keeps on attacking relentlessly until the horrendous cliffhanger at the end of the book. He is so likeable and easy to root for. Even more so than in the first book. In this sequel everything is just EXTRA.
“Sometimes when you’re coming out the other end of an entire pileup of tragedies, even fitting your grief into language feels like an injustice. It’s hard to squeeze despair into a metaphor without tilting quickly into melodrama—the harder you try to package your sorrow in words, the more it feels like a performance.”
This book is even darker than its predecessor and the sibling rivalry is dialled up a murderous notch to the utmost extreme as a civil war for the throne is being waged among the quadruplets. A sibling loses a leg, another loses an eye, Petre already lost a hand and now loses a beloved partner. These quadruplets are absolutely set on familial annihilation.
Petre is a completely unreliable narrator. He has trouble remembering events and other characters remember them differently. He is also affected by so much childhood trauma, from his addictive IMI injections and from smoking recreational drugs.
“You have to develop some kind of routine, when faced with total annihilation. It’s too easy to—well—you don’t fall into madness, do you? Madness is the kind of thing that lingers nearby, a light jaunt away. Something creeping up on the precipice of your awareness. It’s the thing that lurks in the corner of your eye.”
This book delivers unbelievably crazy, jaw-dropping events one after another, all at breakneck speed punctuated by political discussions and acts of war. It is completely addictive and I can’t wait to see how the cliffhanger will be resolved!
March 6, 2025
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is an explosive sequel to The Fall is All There is. Peter seemed more subdued in the beginning before the story took off at a breakneck pace that didn't really slow down. I cringed a lot during this story because of all the injuries (so that's a sign Caplan did a good job with his vivid imagery). The heartbeat engine was such a cool and creepy design, which is nothing else than I'd expect from the author. And dang. Mercedes' death took me out. Thanks for the pain and the pugs.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2025
Damn wattay book!!!!! A 4.5 starrer
The fustercluck of a family continues to fustercluck even more....... But the book distinguishes from its predecessor in its structuring. Rather than focusing just on the relationship and neurotic nature of the lead, this one focuses more on the actual plot elements teased in book 1 and it is an absolutely brilliant book that is pretty much smash and grab for the most of it. The book while not derivative evokes ASOIAF and Fitz - and there is combat sequence which is fabulously innovative, inventive and messy
******************************************************************
I am thankful to the author for an ARC for the series. I also owe a word of thanks to Esmay Rosalyne of Grimdark Magazine whose review absolutely convinced me to drop everything and read this - Reviews make a difference, let no one tell you it doesn’t.
4 Siblings and a chaotic battle for succession - haven’t we seen this already? Succession is the more recent pop-culture-relevant instance of this but the one that sticks to my memory is the brutal Mughal War of Succession amongst 4 sons of Shah Jahan (he of the Taj Mahal fame). This brutal war is notable for the 2 main warring brothers, Dara (the favored heir) and Aurangzeb - the rebel (according to Shah Jahan) while the other 2 brothers played minor roles. Four Of Mercies leans on these tropes but complicates the situation by having the 4 siblings be quadruplets while basing the story in a world that has gone through twin annihilations/ apocalyptic events. The resultant world looks medieval and feudal but with remnants of mish-mash technologies existing in the form of cyborg horses, thyroid-powered swords, slow reloading guns, and corpse magic/ science among others.
“Maybe surprise isn’t the right word - the letter inspired something closer to fear and alarm and sheer fucking panic”
All these elements in the book are engaging by themselves, but it is the narrator voice that hits you immediately as the book starts. Neurotic, nervous, and fidgety, Petre Mercy is unlike any character that I have ever read. Think of a typical Mark Lawrence character like Jorg or Jalan and dial that up to 11 in a frenetic, anxious manner and you have Petre. The Fall is All There is finds Petre having run away from his family 5 years ago suddenly finds himself at the attention of his siblings even as news arrives that his father, the king is dead. A letter from a sibling and the presence of another sibling right at this doorstep puts Petre in an increasingly worked-up state - a state that never abates through the book.
“If there was one thing that my family was good at, it was blowing everything out of proportion”
There is more than a hint of Godfather in this book (another book with 4 siblings, including a female sibling) in the way Petre has moved himself out of the family business and yet, events conspire to drag him in. The Fall is All There (TFIALI) is all about Petre finding himself between competing siblings - each having their own agenda even as he tries to figure out his place in this world and what each sibling wants. And that is no easy thing given this is one heck of a dysfunctional family - a fustercluck of a family if there was one and then there is their mother. And the mother is one piece of work indeed, a scientist who has the bedside manners of Leonard Hofstadter’s mother. TFIALI moves Petre away from his hiding place for 5 years and back into court - the book is more concerned about the journey, the strange beings, and more importantly, the conversations, the insights, and the family dynamics at play. Book 1 is genuinely a lot about characters and their shared history - it also keeps you on the edge for most of it by focusing on smaller events and the wick for the succession war to explode
“Had I always been such a disastrous little gremlin at the age? Fuck. It was beginning to make sense why Mom had tried to sew my mouth shut”
The Diplomacy of the Knife (TDOTK) takes advantage of the world laid out and focuses on the larger war of succession and is very substantially focused on the action and plot. However, none of this comes at the cost of further sibling dysfunction and mommy-daddy issues. Both books find a treasure trove to mine among the quadruplets on their shared trauma - with each other and their parents. Things come to a significant head in this book even as Petre gets a position of responsibility that he feels he is unsuited to and tries to do his best. There is a sequence in TDOTK which is a fantastic chaotic combat sequence almost reminiscent of a Mexican Standoff but with swords and a lot of conflicting parties with loyalties and motivations changing after every strike of the sword. This combat sets the stage for a breathless sequence of action and chase that runs for most of the book. The last 25-30% of the book is quieter in the sense that there isn’t much action but the tension is even higher with Petre in particular being a bundle of bad choices. At its best, TDOTK evokes some of the best plotting of ASOIAF with some of the best character work and suffering of Fitz - and that makes this book extremely special.
“I feel like you’ve spent so long being a fucking piece of shit mess that everyone just kind of expects that of you. Nobody ever expects you to have your shit together. Dad let you run away because he was sick of dealing with you”
This is a book driven by relationships and CM Caplan distinguishes each of the sibling relationships that Petre has. It sounds cliched but Vin Diesel’s Family quote pretty much rings true in this case. Most of the the sibling relationships in this book are rooted in knowing which buttons to push and which knife to drive in but at the same time unwilling to let go and drag that sibling around for their own benefit. Matters are further complicated by the presence of their mother - a lady who evokes terror and disdain in equal measure and one who sees the kids more as a science experiment and an afterthought than anything.
“You ever feel so petty that you can see the shape of a brewing argument and decide to commit to it anyway? You know exactly how ugly it’s going to get, but plow forward, because dammit, what else are you gonna do with all this pent-up fury?”
It cannot be stressed enough on the narrator voice of Petre. Unique in its nervous nature, Petre thinks of himself as the victim and he is right to an extent. But he is also enough of a shit to everyone around that some of it is justified. He is autistic, relies on injections to bring him up to a level of capability to match up to his siblings, is inappropriate and horny, talks before his brain catches up and always has the wrong thing to say at the right moment. But when you see things from his perspective, you realize the level of dysfunction in the family and why he doesn’t trust anyone fully - the nature of sibling competition, even more so when they are barely born a few minutes apart and are members of the royal family. This is a book that will live and die basis how much the reader enjoys the flawed narrator voice
“Sometimes when you’re coming out the other end of an entire pileup of tragedies, even fitting your grief into language feelings like an injustice. It’s hard to squeeze despair into a metaphor without tilting quickly into melodrama - the harder you try to package your sorrow in words, the more it feels like a performance”
Four of Mercies is a glorious mess of the book and in the right manner. It is in parts unhinged, inventive, chaotic, and imaginative. It sounds kind of derivative given the works and the authors that I have invoked through this write-up but CM Caplan takes all of these and adds his voice and perspective to this series to craft a unique, compelling, and an incredibly well-written story that absolutely takes no prisoners and is brutal on Petre’s emotions (& by extension, the reader’s emotions) all the way through
The Fall is All There Is - 4 Messed up Siblings on 5
The Diplomacy of the Knife - 4.5 Cyborg Horses on 5
PS: BTW what gorgeous covers for the book - I was totally sold
The fustercluck of a family continues to fustercluck even more....... But the book distinguishes from its predecessor in its structuring. Rather than focusing just on the relationship and neurotic nature of the lead, this one focuses more on the actual plot elements teased in book 1 and it is an absolutely brilliant book that is pretty much smash and grab for the most of it. The book while not derivative evokes ASOIAF and Fitz - and there is combat sequence which is fabulously innovative, inventive and messy
******************************************************************
I am thankful to the author for an ARC for the series. I also owe a word of thanks to Esmay Rosalyne of Grimdark Magazine whose review absolutely convinced me to drop everything and read this - Reviews make a difference, let no one tell you it doesn’t.
4 Siblings and a chaotic battle for succession - haven’t we seen this already? Succession is the more recent pop-culture-relevant instance of this but the one that sticks to my memory is the brutal Mughal War of Succession amongst 4 sons of Shah Jahan (he of the Taj Mahal fame). This brutal war is notable for the 2 main warring brothers, Dara (the favored heir) and Aurangzeb - the rebel (according to Shah Jahan) while the other 2 brothers played minor roles. Four Of Mercies leans on these tropes but complicates the situation by having the 4 siblings be quadruplets while basing the story in a world that has gone through twin annihilations/ apocalyptic events. The resultant world looks medieval and feudal but with remnants of mish-mash technologies existing in the form of cyborg horses, thyroid-powered swords, slow reloading guns, and corpse magic/ science among others.
“Maybe surprise isn’t the right word - the letter inspired something closer to fear and alarm and sheer fucking panic”
All these elements in the book are engaging by themselves, but it is the narrator voice that hits you immediately as the book starts. Neurotic, nervous, and fidgety, Petre Mercy is unlike any character that I have ever read. Think of a typical Mark Lawrence character like Jorg or Jalan and dial that up to 11 in a frenetic, anxious manner and you have Petre. The Fall is All There is finds Petre having run away from his family 5 years ago suddenly finds himself at the attention of his siblings even as news arrives that his father, the king is dead. A letter from a sibling and the presence of another sibling right at this doorstep puts Petre in an increasingly worked-up state - a state that never abates through the book.
“If there was one thing that my family was good at, it was blowing everything out of proportion”
There is more than a hint of Godfather in this book (another book with 4 siblings, including a female sibling) in the way Petre has moved himself out of the family business and yet, events conspire to drag him in. The Fall is All There (TFIALI) is all about Petre finding himself between competing siblings - each having their own agenda even as he tries to figure out his place in this world and what each sibling wants. And that is no easy thing given this is one heck of a dysfunctional family - a fustercluck of a family if there was one and then there is their mother. And the mother is one piece of work indeed, a scientist who has the bedside manners of Leonard Hofstadter’s mother. TFIALI moves Petre away from his hiding place for 5 years and back into court - the book is more concerned about the journey, the strange beings, and more importantly, the conversations, the insights, and the family dynamics at play. Book 1 is genuinely a lot about characters and their shared history - it also keeps you on the edge for most of it by focusing on smaller events and the wick for the succession war to explode
“Had I always been such a disastrous little gremlin at the age? Fuck. It was beginning to make sense why Mom had tried to sew my mouth shut”
The Diplomacy of the Knife (TDOTK) takes advantage of the world laid out and focuses on the larger war of succession and is very substantially focused on the action and plot. However, none of this comes at the cost of further sibling dysfunction and mommy-daddy issues. Both books find a treasure trove to mine among the quadruplets on their shared trauma - with each other and their parents. Things come to a significant head in this book even as Petre gets a position of responsibility that he feels he is unsuited to and tries to do his best. There is a sequence in TDOTK which is a fantastic chaotic combat sequence almost reminiscent of a Mexican Standoff but with swords and a lot of conflicting parties with loyalties and motivations changing after every strike of the sword. This combat sets the stage for a breathless sequence of action and chase that runs for most of the book. The last 25-30% of the book is quieter in the sense that there isn’t much action but the tension is even higher with Petre in particular being a bundle of bad choices. At its best, TDOTK evokes some of the best plotting of ASOIAF with some of the best character work and suffering of Fitz - and that makes this book extremely special.
“I feel like you’ve spent so long being a fucking piece of shit mess that everyone just kind of expects that of you. Nobody ever expects you to have your shit together. Dad let you run away because he was sick of dealing with you”
This is a book driven by relationships and CM Caplan distinguishes each of the sibling relationships that Petre has. It sounds cliched but Vin Diesel’s Family quote pretty much rings true in this case. Most of the the sibling relationships in this book are rooted in knowing which buttons to push and which knife to drive in but at the same time unwilling to let go and drag that sibling around for their own benefit. Matters are further complicated by the presence of their mother - a lady who evokes terror and disdain in equal measure and one who sees the kids more as a science experiment and an afterthought than anything.
“You ever feel so petty that you can see the shape of a brewing argument and decide to commit to it anyway? You know exactly how ugly it’s going to get, but plow forward, because dammit, what else are you gonna do with all this pent-up fury?”
It cannot be stressed enough on the narrator voice of Petre. Unique in its nervous nature, Petre thinks of himself as the victim and he is right to an extent. But he is also enough of a shit to everyone around that some of it is justified. He is autistic, relies on injections to bring him up to a level of capability to match up to his siblings, is inappropriate and horny, talks before his brain catches up and always has the wrong thing to say at the right moment. But when you see things from his perspective, you realize the level of dysfunction in the family and why he doesn’t trust anyone fully - the nature of sibling competition, even more so when they are barely born a few minutes apart and are members of the royal family. This is a book that will live and die basis how much the reader enjoys the flawed narrator voice
“Sometimes when you’re coming out the other end of an entire pileup of tragedies, even fitting your grief into language feelings like an injustice. It’s hard to squeeze despair into a metaphor without tilting quickly into melodrama - the harder you try to package your sorrow in words, the more it feels like a performance”
Four of Mercies is a glorious mess of the book and in the right manner. It is in parts unhinged, inventive, chaotic, and imaginative. It sounds kind of derivative given the works and the authors that I have invoked through this write-up but CM Caplan takes all of these and adds his voice and perspective to this series to craft a unique, compelling, and an incredibly well-written story that absolutely takes no prisoners and is brutal on Petre’s emotions (& by extension, the reader’s emotions) all the way through
The Fall is All There Is - 4 Messed up Siblings on 5
The Diplomacy of the Knife - 4.5 Cyborg Horses on 5
PS: BTW what gorgeous covers for the book - I was totally sold
January 24, 2025
4.5 rounded up. Updating with review.
I received an ARC from the author in exchange for consideration of an honest review.
Wow! This was such a fantastic sequel to The Fall Is All There Is. For me personally, this book read so much better than the first book. I thought overall it was a huge improvement from book 1: easier read, more engaging, slightly less frustrating (with the characters). Caplan really found his stride and his story in this book; they really honed their craft and writing - the amount of time, effort, and blood, sweat and tears that they poured into this book really showed on the page.
CAWPILE:
Characters: 4/5 - These characters have come a long way since book 1. For me personally, they still have some things that just make me... but overall they are so much better characters than they were in book 1. Really flushed out and felt more like real people here.
Atmosphere/Setting: 5/5 - The atmosphere and setting was just so well done. I saw it all, felt it all, .... I was there.
Writing Style: 4/5 - While this book has come a long way from book 1, there are some things - just like with the characters, that needed a little bit more work - in my opinion. There were still moments that felt rushed, out of place - and even one or two chapters that felt a bit too long for me. But overall, this book was just so wild and so good.
Plot: 5/5 - The plot was strong and effective and steady.
Intrigue: 5/5 - Even though I started to get an idea of some of the things that it was leading up to a few chapters before it started - I was still intrigued and had to know (still am intrigued!)
Logic/Relationships: 4.5/5 - Most of the time it all made sense. But there were a few moments that felt out of place or out of character - for me, at least. And a few times that left me thinking Huh???
Enjoyment: 5/5 - I loved this book and I can't wait to see what happens next - what are the consequences and/or repurcushions of the actions that happened at the end of this book???
Total: 32.5/7 - 4.5
SPICE LEVEL: (My bookmark with the spice rating system is not opening at the moment, so going at this blind) - I'd say it's FULL Spice - as high as you can get. While the sex scenes aren't saturating the pages throughout the book, when they are there - they are very present, you can't miss them.
I received an ARC from the author in exchange for consideration of an honest review.
Wow! This was such a fantastic sequel to The Fall Is All There Is. For me personally, this book read so much better than the first book. I thought overall it was a huge improvement from book 1: easier read, more engaging, slightly less frustrating (with the characters). Caplan really found his stride and his story in this book; they really honed their craft and writing - the amount of time, effort, and blood, sweat and tears that they poured into this book really showed on the page.
CAWPILE:
Characters: 4/5 - These characters have come a long way since book 1. For me personally, they still have some things that just make me... but overall they are so much better characters than they were in book 1. Really flushed out and felt more like real people here.
Atmosphere/Setting: 5/5 - The atmosphere and setting was just so well done. I saw it all, felt it all, .... I was there.
Writing Style: 4/5 - While this book has come a long way from book 1, there are some things - just like with the characters, that needed a little bit more work - in my opinion. There were still moments that felt rushed, out of place - and even one or two chapters that felt a bit too long for me. But overall, this book was just so wild and so good.
Plot: 5/5 - The plot was strong and effective and steady.
Intrigue: 5/5 - Even though I started to get an idea of some of the things that it was leading up to a few chapters before it started - I was still intrigued and had to know (still am intrigued!)
Logic/Relationships: 4.5/5 - Most of the time it all made sense. But there were a few moments that felt out of place or out of character - for me, at least. And a few times that left me thinking Huh???
Enjoyment: 5/5 - I loved this book and I can't wait to see what happens next - what are the consequences and/or repurcushions of the actions that happened at the end of this book???
Total: 32.5/7 - 4.5
SPICE LEVEL: (My bookmark with the spice rating system is not opening at the moment, so going at this blind) - I'd say it's FULL Spice - as high as you can get. While the sex scenes aren't saturating the pages throughout the book, when they are there - they are very present, you can't miss them.
April 10, 2025
Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A worthy continuation to the first installment. If you loved The Fall, dial up everything (bonkers worldbuilding tidbits, head-spinning, immersive narration, complex relationships, layered characters) to 11 and you get Diplomacy!
We pick up the thread not much after the end of The Fall where our MC Petre is now working for his sister, Anoise, the queen, in the palace, to try and stop their brother's attempt at the throne. He's trying to do everything to find his angles, unearth his spies and plans, but of course, everything goes terribly wrong in short order, and we spend the majority of the book running. There's a living-dead-train accident, a ship that gets a heart attack (!!), some motorcycles you gotta inject with stimulants to work, and of course the Helmet from the first book appears as well, with a bigger role than before. But there are more human experiments, too, sword- and fistfights, torture, betrayal, sex. No one can communicate with anyone properly, everyone is self-serving and shady, and Petre cannot trust anyone, not even himself. And it ends with the biggest cliffhanger ever. But, okay, hear me out. But it's *good*, alright?
I felt that a lot of the pacing and narration problems were much better in this one, too, I really enjoyed the direction the writing was improving towards. And again, I really loved "unreliable narrator Petre", as he tries to keep up with the machinations around him, but most of the time cannot. This might get a bit annoying sometimes, but then there are so many moments when I understand him *so much* and I cannot for the life of me blame him for wanting to trust, wanting to be honest instead of playing games, or when he breaks down about being wrong even though that's directly helping his enemies. Because, come on. I really hope for him to find his place in the world soon, but...I have a feeling we're going to suffer a lot until then, still.
Anyway if you liked the first book, you'll like this one, too. I had a great time again.
A worthy continuation to the first installment. If you loved The Fall, dial up everything (bonkers worldbuilding tidbits, head-spinning, immersive narration, complex relationships, layered characters) to 11 and you get Diplomacy!
We pick up the thread not much after the end of The Fall where our MC Petre is now working for his sister, Anoise, the queen, in the palace, to try and stop their brother's attempt at the throne. He's trying to do everything to find his angles, unearth his spies and plans, but of course, everything goes terribly wrong in short order, and we spend the majority of the book running. There's a living-dead-train accident, a ship that gets a heart attack (!!), some motorcycles you gotta inject with stimulants to work, and of course the Helmet from the first book appears as well, with a bigger role than before. But there are more human experiments, too, sword- and fistfights, torture, betrayal, sex. No one can communicate with anyone properly, everyone is self-serving and shady, and Petre cannot trust anyone, not even himself. And it ends with the biggest cliffhanger ever. But, okay, hear me out. But it's *good*, alright?
I felt that a lot of the pacing and narration problems were much better in this one, too, I really enjoyed the direction the writing was improving towards. And again, I really loved "unreliable narrator Petre", as he tries to keep up with the machinations around him, but most of the time cannot. This might get a bit annoying sometimes, but then there are so many moments when I understand him *so much* and I cannot for the life of me blame him for wanting to trust, wanting to be honest instead of playing games, or when he breaks down about being wrong even though that's directly helping his enemies. Because, come on. I really hope for him to find his place in the world soon, but...I have a feeling we're going to suffer a lot until then, still.
Anyway if you liked the first book, you'll like this one, too. I had a great time again.
February 6, 2025
[Disclosure: I received an ARC from the author, though I had already pre-ordered the ebook. I assume he sent it in return for an honest review, though I'm not sure I actually promised that!]
If you like Petre's voice from the first book, you're in for a treat! And if you really didn't, probably skip this one, because it's still Petre's story, and he's very much the same guy he was in book 1. If you forgot who that guy is (which I doubt), you'll remember fast - you'll spend good portions of the book not sure if you want to prop him up or strangle him, and you know he's not sure which he'd pick, given the choice.
Caplan's imagination is on full blast in this. The tech has the trappings of science fiction - it's not so much about people directly casting spells and more about created artifacts with special powers that can be mass produced - but if you think too hard about how it works you'll only hurt yourself. I'd lump it in with new weird as a genre, but one could argue the point. There are more than a few new weird items in this book, with even weirder consequences, so don't think Caplan tapped out with the first book.
The pace is frenetic, with the first break (I think) coming at the 2/3 mark, and just when you think things can't get worse for our hero, they do. And then again.
If you liked book 1 I think you'll like this one more. It felt more focused, more like a book where the author knew what he wanted to do, though I can't put my finger on exactly what makes it that way. Part of it is that Petre knows more about what's going on and isn't wandering through the plot the way he was in the first book (which made total sense, given the setup).
You can bet I'll spend a little time pondering!
If you like Petre's voice from the first book, you're in for a treat! And if you really didn't, probably skip this one, because it's still Petre's story, and he's very much the same guy he was in book 1. If you forgot who that guy is (which I doubt), you'll remember fast - you'll spend good portions of the book not sure if you want to prop him up or strangle him, and you know he's not sure which he'd pick, given the choice.
Caplan's imagination is on full blast in this. The tech has the trappings of science fiction - it's not so much about people directly casting spells and more about created artifacts with special powers that can be mass produced - but if you think too hard about how it works you'll only hurt yourself. I'd lump it in with new weird as a genre, but one could argue the point. There are more than a few new weird items in this book, with even weirder consequences, so don't think Caplan tapped out with the first book.
The pace is frenetic, with the first break (I think) coming at the 2/3 mark, and just when you think things can't get worse for our hero, they do. And then again.
If you liked book 1 I think you'll like this one more. It felt more focused, more like a book where the author knew what he wanted to do, though I can't put my finger on exactly what makes it that way. Part of it is that Petre knows more about what's going on and isn't wandering through the plot the way he was in the first book (which made total sense, given the setup).
You can bet I'll spend a little time pondering!
March 5, 2025
Wow! .....Just ...... Wow!
After reading the first, I had high hopes for this book, and they were not disappointed.
Petre's tale takes place in a dystopian world, where ghostgas floats and creates gaunts, huge civilisations have been destroyed and people scramble among the ruins to pilfer and steal ancient technology. Body technology is fused with robotics to create some horrific artifacts. Whoever thought a boat could have a heart attack? This is one of Caplans strengths, the imagination to create a twisted world and fill it with fascinating and sometimes repulsive artifacts/technologies.
The story is well paced, never dull, and focused around Petre Mercy and his siblings. The four quadruplets of the recent king and their power struggles. In case you haven't read the first one (The Fall Is All There Is), and if you haven't, why the hell not? GO READ IT NOW, THEN COME BACK, I WILL WAIT!!! The story continues right after the first, there are rebellions, battles, intrigue and power struggles. A juicy and pulsating story just waiting for you to get to grips with it.
Apart from the sword fighting and the blood, the epic world building and great prose, the sex and the smut, one thing shines through, and that is relationships. Between family, between friends and between lovers. What powers this book are the relationships between the many great characters.
Oh, and there are cyborg security pugs!!!! How can you not read this book now that you know that???? How????
After reading the first, I had high hopes for this book, and they were not disappointed.
Petre's tale takes place in a dystopian world, where ghostgas floats and creates gaunts, huge civilisations have been destroyed and people scramble among the ruins to pilfer and steal ancient technology. Body technology is fused with robotics to create some horrific artifacts. Whoever thought a boat could have a heart attack? This is one of Caplans strengths, the imagination to create a twisted world and fill it with fascinating and sometimes repulsive artifacts/technologies.
The story is well paced, never dull, and focused around Petre Mercy and his siblings. The four quadruplets of the recent king and their power struggles. In case you haven't read the first one (The Fall Is All There Is), and if you haven't, why the hell not? GO READ IT NOW, THEN COME BACK, I WILL WAIT!!! The story continues right after the first, there are rebellions, battles, intrigue and power struggles. A juicy and pulsating story just waiting for you to get to grips with it.
Apart from the sword fighting and the blood, the epic world building and great prose, the sex and the smut, one thing shines through, and that is relationships. Between family, between friends and between lovers. What powers this book are the relationships between the many great characters.
Oh, and there are cyborg security pugs!!!! How can you not read this book now that you know that???? How????
February 16, 2025
Wow. Where do I even start? It’s not uncommon for the second book of a trilogy to have the antagonists make a come back so that our heroes are on the back foot going into the third book, but Diplomacy of the Knife just keeps kicking. Poor Petre has one of the most miserable runs of both terrible luck and poor decision making that it feels like there’s some cosmic deity out to get him.
It’s rough. One of those miserable stretches where you start to become afraid of even flipping a coin because with the way your luck has gone it feels like flipping the coin is going to somehow tear a hole in the fabric of reality and unleash a eldritch god.
Throughout the chaos, Petre continues to be a fascinating and entertaining character to follow through the journey of this story. This world continues to be insane with an injection of a whole new pile of bizarre vehicles and creations, such as my new personal favorite, a ship with heart problems!
I can’t wait for the next book.
It’s rough. One of those miserable stretches where you start to become afraid of even flipping a coin because with the way your luck has gone it feels like flipping the coin is going to somehow tear a hole in the fabric of reality and unleash a eldritch god.
Throughout the chaos, Petre continues to be a fascinating and entertaining character to follow through the journey of this story. This world continues to be insane with an injection of a whole new pile of bizarre vehicles and creations, such as my new personal favorite, a ship with heart problems!
I can’t wait for the next book.
March 9, 2025
I really dropped the ball on this review. I meant to have it done earlier, but then life, depression, migraine, and more life happened.
I have been waiting for this one since I read Book 1 of this series. The Fall is All There is was awesome, so I had a lot of expectations.
Needless to say, this book met and exceeded all of them!
Petre Mercy is working for his sister, Queen Anoise, having sworn himself to her service. The rebellion headed by their brother, Edgar is hitting hard, and as head of the Mercy Guard, Petre is scrambling to keep up.
They manage to choke Edgar’s finances and even recover the Recollection Helm, which their mother manages to repair, and with the help of Mercedes Blackheath and her people, they’re at an advantage. When an opportunity arises to capture Edgar’s wife, they take the chance, hoping to end Edgar’s rebellion.
But nothing has ever gone Petre’s way for a long time, and when things appear too good to be true, that’s when everything goes to shit.
Once again, this book has been a rollercoaster of emotions, the strange technology, and completely unhinged family dynamics. I was ripe for murder by the end, because HOW DARE THE AUTHOR!
There’s plenty of action, violence, gore, and I adore all the strange technology in this. There are a lot of characters I hate in this book. In fact, nearly everyone except Petre. I love Avram a LOT, and Fabian remains a favourite despite everything, but Petre’s siblings are UGH. CAN I UNALIVE THEM?
Also, can I UNALIVE HIS MOM AND A CERTAIN SICK B***H WHOSE NAME STARTS WITH G?
I also want to unalive the author because the Book ENDS IN A CLIFFHANGER!
But if I unalive them, I won’t get the next book, so they gets a pass. But I want to unalive everyone else.
Just go read it! READ IT EVERYONE!
This is so so worth it!
I have been waiting for this one since I read Book 1 of this series. The Fall is All There is was awesome, so I had a lot of expectations.
Needless to say, this book met and exceeded all of them!
Petre Mercy is working for his sister, Queen Anoise, having sworn himself to her service. The rebellion headed by their brother, Edgar is hitting hard, and as head of the Mercy Guard, Petre is scrambling to keep up.
They manage to choke Edgar’s finances and even recover the Recollection Helm, which their mother manages to repair, and with the help of Mercedes Blackheath and her people, they’re at an advantage. When an opportunity arises to capture Edgar’s wife, they take the chance, hoping to end Edgar’s rebellion.
But nothing has ever gone Petre’s way for a long time, and when things appear too good to be true, that’s when everything goes to shit.
Once again, this book has been a rollercoaster of emotions, the strange technology, and completely unhinged family dynamics. I was ripe for murder by the end, because HOW DARE THE AUTHOR!
There’s plenty of action, violence, gore, and I adore all the strange technology in this. There are a lot of characters I hate in this book. In fact, nearly everyone except Petre. I love Avram a LOT, and Fabian remains a favourite despite everything, but Petre’s siblings are UGH. CAN I UNALIVE THEM?
Also, can I UNALIVE HIS MOM AND A CERTAIN SICK B***H WHOSE NAME STARTS WITH G?
I also want to unalive the author because the Book ENDS IN A CLIFFHANGER!
But if I unalive them, I won’t get the next book, so they gets a pass. But I want to unalive everyone else.
Just go read it! READ IT EVERYONE!
This is so so worth it!
July 16, 2025
I have so many emotions after this one. Ever since I read the first book at the start of 2024 I couldn't stop thinking about it, I kept checking to see how the second book was coming along. Now that I finally read it I can say it was worth the wait. The author really did a great job with improving upon the previous book. The strongest pull for me is still the characters and their insanely complicated relationships, at times I had to put this down, because Petre's childhood is nothing short of horrific and I related to a lot of things he has experienced while growing up autistic. Just like Petre I didn't see the end coming, and it left me staring at the wall wondering how it got to this point. I really hope more people continue to pick this one up!
February 2, 2025
Huge thank you to the author for the eARC of this book.
First off, wow. Even more unhinged (in a really really really good way) than the first, The Diplomacy of the Knife is just a *chef's kiss* of a follow up to The Fall is All There Is.
Fast-paced? Yes. Deeply disturbing? Yes. Unputdownable? Also yes.
Seriously, for the first couple of days after I finished this I had no words for it other than WTF.
C.M. Caplan has done it again, written another fantastic must-read story. If you liked the first book in this series, you'll love this one.
First off, wow. Even more unhinged (in a really really really good way) than the first, The Diplomacy of the Knife is just a *chef's kiss* of a follow up to The Fall is All There Is.
Fast-paced? Yes. Deeply disturbing? Yes. Unputdownable? Also yes.
Seriously, for the first couple of days after I finished this I had no words for it other than WTF.
C.M. Caplan has done it again, written another fantastic must-read story. If you liked the first book in this series, you'll love this one.
May 7, 2025
An incredible sequel to the 1st in the series. A strong voice and snappy narrative pulls you along without any opportunity to stop to take a breath, constantly revealing new charmingly horrifying details in Petre's dark little steampunk-ish world along the way. Beautifully written characters in all shades of gray. Stakes and tensions are somehow impossibly higher than the 1st. Ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, as to be expected- the 3rd book cannot come soon enough for me.
February 20, 2025
The Diplomacy of the Knife is action-packed, clever, heartbreaking, and incredibly interesting. Check out CW because things can get rough, but I always appreciate Caplan’s work and how they handle difficult situations in their writing. Easily one of the most creative books/authors I’ve read.
February 6, 2025
Absolutely amazing, great follow-up.
April 22, 2025
Two words. Queer. Baited. dnf'd at 40%
April 2, 2025
When the author offered me a chance to read an ARC of “Diplomacy of the Knife”, I didn’t have to think twice. “The Fall Is All There Is” is one of the coolest, most original books I’ve ever read, and I have been eagerly awaiting the second book.
It had been a while since I read “Fall” and the first chapter had me a little confused until I fell back into this incredible, weird world Caplan has invented. And then…
And THEN.
This book sucked me in and chewed on me and then spit me out. Its intrigue and brutality and inventiveness is a visceral high. I mean, the cyborg horses were my favorite things in the first book, but ships propelled by giant beating hearts, cars that run on nerves and spinal fluid?? It’s a twisted and perverse world, and Petre, the main character, is definitely a product of its obscenity. His siblings (he is the youngest of royal quadruplets) dragged him back into the world of court intrigue, each wanting to use him for their own ends, and when it all goes to hell in a handbasket, Petre’s the one in the grinder. It's painful and exhilarating. The world building is bonkers and just freaking incredible, and every one of the characters is indelibly flawed and exquisitely formed.
Book three better be coming soon.
It had been a while since I read “Fall” and the first chapter had me a little confused until I fell back into this incredible, weird world Caplan has invented. And then…
And THEN.
This book sucked me in and chewed on me and then spit me out. Its intrigue and brutality and inventiveness is a visceral high. I mean, the cyborg horses were my favorite things in the first book, but ships propelled by giant beating hearts, cars that run on nerves and spinal fluid?? It’s a twisted and perverse world, and Petre, the main character, is definitely a product of its obscenity. His siblings (he is the youngest of royal quadruplets) dragged him back into the world of court intrigue, each wanting to use him for their own ends, and when it all goes to hell in a handbasket, Petre’s the one in the grinder. It's painful and exhilarating. The world building is bonkers and just freaking incredible, and every one of the characters is indelibly flawed and exquisitely formed.
Book three better be coming soon.
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