In The Shadow of their Dying by Michael R Fletcher & Anna Smith Spark

Ft. Wicked Games (The Tom Ellis version from Lucifer)

"The world was on fire....

Sharaam is under siege by Tsarii forces and it is the fag-end, desperate days as everything turns to shit. It is this grimy setting that two of the best grimdark writers of this generation stage for readers. While I have not had the singular experience of reading either Michael Fletcher or Anna Smith Spark before, their names are well-known and respected enough to make this novella appealing. And make no mistake, this novella packs in enough trademark grimdark characteristics to make it a terrifically enjoyable read.

"It's strange what desire will make foolish people do...."

Even under such dire circumstances, there are opportunities for those foolish or desperate to do things for their selfish causes. Tash, the third-best assassin in Sharaam is hired by a mercenary crew leader to assassinate the king of Sharaam. Tash, a handsome, vain, greedy assassin doesn't spend much time pondering about the offer or why he, the third-best assassin, has gotten this opportunity. takes up the chance hoping to move up the assassin league board. Pitt, the mercenary crew leader, just wants to get his crew out safely and make some gold out of this, maybe not necessarily in the same order. Essentially, everyone is in it for themselves. However, there are a lot of secrets at play everywhere for the plan to go smoothly.

"I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you..."

What Tash doesn't know (and what Pitt guesses) is that the king is protected by a demon, Iananr the Bound One. A demon summoned to Sharaam with the sole purpose of protecting the king, & pursuing and killing anyone who tries to kill the king. The fun and games start as Tash encounters Iananr and is forced to beat a hasty retreat. Given this encounter happens right at the beginning, the rest of the book is one big chase sequence.

"What a wicked game to play... "

Author collaborations aren’t exactly my regular diet but when they click, they work very well. Some of these are quite seamless with authors themselves writing as one. Stellar examples include Ilona Andrews (of the Kate Daniels fame) and James SA Corey (of the Expanse fame). The other type of collaboration is where each author's voice stands out as they write specific characters and PoVs and birth together a coherent story. Good Omens is possibly the finest example of this bringing together Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. A recent example of this would be "This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

In the Shadow of Their Dying hews to the latter formula and stands out as one of the finest examples of how a fabulous author collaboration should work. There are 3 PoVs and each comes across as quite distinctive. Fletcher's voice is quite lyrical in spite (or maybe because) of the ugliness of the war, siege and violence. Spark's voice on the other hand is brutal and minimalistic - conveying a host of emotions and motivations in as few words as possible.

Together, the authors convey a nihilistic, cynical. hopeless siege bringing together a sense of urgency, finality, and doom. There is an undercurrent of dark humor permeating through circumstances. Visceral, bloody, and graphic, the horrors of a city under siege are terrifically and terrifyingly rendered even as the chase unfolds among different characters. The unrelenting chaos of warfare as well as the lead character's motivations, actions, and reactions help build the unpredictability of the story. Just when you think the story is headed in a particular direction. dumb and greedy character decisions propel the story into a grimmer uglier and entertaining direction.

The ending of the story is in line with the nature of grimdark. Not everyone makes it out alive - even those who do find ways to make things worse. Each of these character endings also serves to expose the ultimately bleak and futile nature of war and abhorrent self-serving human nature. Despite the bleak nature, the book is peppered with enough devilish lines that keeps you going

“For the most part, people who find themselves and all their most treasured enemies on the losing side of a siege, don’t bother hiring assassins to off their opponents”

“Would the entire city being in ruins lower rent or increase it”

“No one this good-looking dies in the stories!”

“In the shadow of so much dying… there’s always something worse”

ITSOTD is a wonderful novella that is fabulously written in a supreme grimdark fashion. In short, this isn't a slice-of-life word but something akin to "A Life of Slice"

Rating - 4 Bloody Sieges on 5

PS: Lucifer was such fun and Tom Ellis absolutely nails the character. It also has to be said the guy can really sing fabulously.