Historical Fantasy: “The Devil’s Pawn” by Oliver Pötzsch

The Master’s Apprentice: A Retelling of the Faust Legend was the best historical fantasy novel I’d read this year. However, that distinction did not last long because its sequel, The Devil’s Pawn, is even better.

The Devil’s Pawn completes the fascinating story of Doctor Johann Georg Faustus. By the time the novel begins in 1518, Faust has become a world-famous magician wowing audiences throughout the German Empire. He is also a much more likable character, having found redemption at the end of book one. But now, he is suffering from a disease that is slowly paralyzing him, and he comes to believe it is a curse sent by his old master, Tonio del Moravia.

Tonio, the antagonist of book one, is back as the “devil” in this retelling of Doctor Faustus. But whether he’s the actual Devil or some servant of the beast remains a central mystery of this tale—one the author thankfully resolves by the end.

Faust suspects Tonio is actually Gilles de Rais, a real-world French knight who became one of the most notorious murders in medieval Europe. Gilles served as the Marshal of France during the Hundred Years’ War, fighting alongside Joan of Arc. But later in life, he became an occultist who murdered hundreds of children in his castle at Tiffauges in Brittany. Although Gilles da Rais was executed for his crimes in 1440, Faust believes he survived the ordeal and now takes the guise of Tonio del Moravia.

To lift the curse that is slowly killing him, Faust sets out to learn the truth about Tonio and confront him. Accompanying him on this journey is Karl Wagner, the young, handsome scholar who became Faust’s sidekick in the last third of book one, and Faust’s now grown-up daughter, Greta. Karl and Greta are the book’s two most likable characters, and they help elevate the story to new heights. Even though I assumed Faust would meet a tragic end, I found myself pulling for Greta and Karl while hoping things turn out better than expected for poor Johann.

In addition to the curse, Faust has a new and more immediate problem in the form of Pope Leo X, who wants Faust brought to Rome. Once Faust realizes he’s in the Vatican’s crosshairs, he knows it won’t end well, for, in the 16th century, sorcerers burned at the stake. Leo, the first Medici pope, is a devilish villain in his own right, as are the henchmen he sends to capture Faust: Viktor von Lahnstein, a devious Dominican monk, and Hagen, a hulking Swiss guardsman who carries a nasty two-handed sword.

Adding to the actual historical characters in the novel is Leonardo da Vinci. Faust learns that Leonardo is suffering from a similar curse, perhaps from his own dealings with Tonio. The scenes with Leonardo are some of the best in the book, and his role is absolutely central to the story.

But Faust’s quest to confront and defeat Tonio drives the plot, which eventually takes on a bit of a Bram Stoker’s Dracula vibe. I loved this part of the story, involving a mission to the castle of Gilles de Rais and a run-in with his villainous (and historical) servants who have somehow survived for nearly a hundred years.

The novel is damn-near perfect, offering a riveting and suspenseful plot with a da Vinci Code-like riddle at its center. The characters are wonderful, particularly Greta, and the villains prove to be fiendishly wicked. I ripped through this book in a matter of days and was almost sad to reach its end.

If you like historical fiction and don’t mind a little fantasy and a dollop of horror, I highly recommend Oliver Pötzsch’s reimagining of the tragedy of Doctor Faustus.

Side Note

The last part of the book takes place in Rome, and anyone who has read my novel, The Key to the Abyss, will notice some striking similarities, mainly as it concerns the Palatine Hill. The Devil’s Pawn was published a year after The Key to the Abyss, and I highly doubt my book influenced Pötzsch’s novel. But I’d place good money on the fact that we used similar source material in our research that led us both to a dark, pagan shrine buried beneath the ruins near the house of Augustus.