For readers who love a good dark fantasy book, there's no better author to watch than Joe Abercrombie. Perhaps the most prominent voice currently writing in the grimdark fantasy space, Abercrombie's First Law series is a modern classic. But after finishing the acclaimed Age of Madness trilogy set in that secondary fantasy world, Abercrombie's next work was a bit of a surprise: a madcap historical fantasy called The Devils, which saw a mismatched group of monsters employed by the Church go on a journey across an alt-history Europe to install the wayward Princess of Troy on her rightful throne.
Published in 2025, The Devils was a very fun book that leaned hard into Abercrombie's strenghs; namely that he's excellent at writing voice-driven characters who leap off the page, and have a sense of humor so black it would make an executioner blush. The book was incredibly well-received, charting on both the New York Times and Sunday Times Bestseller Lists and securing Abercrombie a film adaptation deal with none other than James Cameron.
It's been known for a while now that Abercrombie is tentatively planning to write three books in this series, though they'll be more loosely connected than his First Law or Age of Madness trilogies, on account of the high body count. Now we've just gotten an exciting update about the second novel, The Heretics, which is due out in May 2027. Abercrombie has confirmed that his writing on the book is all but done; and in fact, he's already a significant way into the third book.
"In the arena of book writing the sequel to the Devils, the Heretics, is now copy edited, so the text is basically done, only a proof read and final tweaks to go," Abercrombie wrote in his August 2026 blog update. "Joel Daniel Phillips (who was responsible for the byzantine icon style images in the first book) is even now struggling manfully with the internal art, with magnificent results as always. Let’s say the themes are stained glass and family trees, this time around. Ooh, there’s even what we in the business call copy."
That copy is the back cover description, which means we can officially start to get hyped for the book as we get a clearer idea of what it's about. Check it out:
"When saints turn away, devils must do god’s work . . .
Germany trembles on the brink of war. The feuding kings of Prussia and Bavaria are fixed on a collision course, and the crumbling city of Zeitz is trapped between the gathering armies.
Hugo von Klotz will do anything to inherit the place while it still stands. His only obstacles are the six loathsome cousins ahead of him in the line of succession . . . and an outbreak of suspected witchcraft.
Mother Beckert is dispatched to begin an Inquisition, and burn out the sickness of heresy even if she must use heretics to do it. But with a scatterbrained werewolf, a depressed necromancer, and a beggar haunted by visions among her reluctant tools, the cure may prove worse than the disease.
Even she cannot suspect how deeply the rot has burrowed into Zeitz, or guess at the ancient secret buried beneath the city . . .”
As of right now, The Heretics is slated for release in May of 2027 in both the U.S. and UK. Cover artwork as well as the exact release date will no doubt follow as the release month gets closer.
For those of us at home, that's all we need to worry about right now for The Heretics. But for Joe Abercrombie, there's no rest for the wicked. He's already hard at work on the third book in the series, and plans to be primarily doing that for most of autumn. This as-of-yet untitled third book in The Devils series sounds like it's coming along nicely.
"Maybe 30-40,000 words in, just very loosely experimenting with the character voices and letting the plot shift around a bit as I go," Abercrombie mused. "My plan with this one is to write a first part, then go over it a few times, rewrite a bit, develop the voices of the new characters, get comfortable with what’s working and what’s not before forging ahead and planning the rest. We’ll see whether this freewheeling approach brings me joy as I continue, or whether, as is more usual, I subside into doubt and gloom as the drafting continues, only to emerge into the sunlit uplands towards the end of the process. Maybe."
Given the author's track record, I'd guess that this "freewheeling approach" is going to work out just fine.
We'll be on the lookout for more information about The Heretics in the days ahead. In the meantime, the first book, The Devils, is available now wherever books are sold. Check out our interview with Abercrombie about it here.
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