Miserere by T. Frohock

Timy reviews Miserere, a standalone dark fantasy novel by T. Frohock.

An eARC was received by the author in exchange for an honest review. Miserere is being re-released one January 21, 2025.

Possible fit for The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge 2025 prompts:

Joker prompt that goes with anything: Freed from Desire

Everything has a price, and those who deal with the devil pay dearly in this enthralling dark fantasy about redemption, sacrifice, and a Hell-bound battle between good and evil.

Exiled exorcist Lucian Negru made a choice that has haunted him for years. He abandoned his lover, Rachael, to Hell to save the damned soul of his sister, Catarina. But Catarina doesn’t want to be saved. Now a prisoner in his reviled sister’s home, Lucian is being used as a tool to help fulfill Catarina’s wicked unleash the demons of the underworld to wage a war above.

Lucian’s first step in thwarting Catarina’s plan is to make amends with the past. Escaping captivity, he is determined to find Rachael even if it means entering the gates of Hell itself. Only then does he cross paths with a young girl fleeing from her own terrors. With the frightened foundling in tow, Lucian embarks on a journey to right a terrible wrong, to protect the innocent, and to rescue the woman he loves.

But no one escapes Catarina’s wrath. She’s just as driven in her to track down her brother wherever it leads. And when she finds him, and she will, she vows to turn his heart to glass, grind it to powder, and crush the souls of everyone he loves.

I really didn’t have any questions about picking Breaking Benjamin for Miserere. I very rarely do as they are my favorite band and I make sure they get perfect representation. Anyway. I felt that Breaking Benjamin‘s dark sound and lyrics would be a great fit, the only question was which song. I had couple of ideas but eventually decided on Ashes of Eden.

I’m a big fan of T. Frohock‘s Los Nefilim series and I was also lucky to do a bit of beta reading for her here and there, but I somehow never got around to her backlist. So when she offered ARCs for the upcoming rerelease of Miserere, I had to jump in. Not least because I share an interest with Frohock when it comes to angels and demons.

So, Miserere is set in Woerld, a parallel dimension between Earth and Hell, where the followers of different religions work together to keep Hell at bay and prevent them from coming through the Hell gates. People with magical abilities are called Katharos and it’s their job to keep the peace and serve the Seraphs who are the leaders of each religion, basically. I loved this idea, and I kind of wished we’d seen other religions represented in the characters other than Christianity, although the Citadel’s Seraph is married to a priestess of the Triple Goddess, so at least that was a nice touch to show that people with different backgrounds can live together in peace.

Miserere works with a fairly small cast that suits it, especially combined with its fast pace. We mainly follow Lucien, Lindsay, and Rachael, but Catarina also plays a big part in the events. One of the things I liked about Miserere is that most of the characters have an already established relationship with each other that comes with a lot of complicated feelings of love, regret, hurt, betrayal, etc. but it never feels like you are missing vital information. Frohock works these details into the story effortlessly and always just enough to keep you going without threatening with any info dumps along the way.

The story starts at a pivotal point in these relationships as Lucien finally finds his way out of Catarina’s claws and sets out to find his redemption and right some wrongs. It’s fascinating to witness his journey throughout the book both him as part of the plot but also him as a character. He has flaws and he is far from being perfect, but he learns from his mistakes and is aware of his failings. As a counter point, it’s equally fascinating – and slightly alarming – to watch Catarina’s descend. I half wished we got to see more of her POV. I don’t know what it says of me, but I seem to have a thing for psychopatic characters… The fact that they are siblings (twins, I think?) makes their quite unhinged relationship even more fascinating. And then there is Rachael, who is pretty much the catalisator between these two.

While I found these characters fascinating, one of the reasons I’m not giving Miserere all 5 crowns is that I somehow never really bonded with any of them. Maybe it was the timing, or something else, but there was just a little bit of something missing for me.

On the toher hand, I don’t think I read anything like Miserere before. I loved the ideas behind the story, the way Frohock approached religion and especially exorcism, as well as the magic system based on faith. Miserere is definitely not your usual religion-based fantasy, and as such, will give you plenty to think about, and maybe even a nightmare or two. I will not look at roses the same ever again. If you are new to T. Frohock‘s work, I highly recommend you start here.