Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mike Carey is the acclaimed writer of Lucifer and Hellblazer (now filmed as Constantine). He has recently completed a comics adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, and is the current writer on Marvel's X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four. He has also written the screenplay for a movie, Frost Flowers, which is soon to be produced by Hadaly Films and Bluestar Pictures.

Also writes as Mike Carey

Publisher: Orbit (June 23, 2026) Page count: 400 Formats: all

M.R. Carey has done sci-fi western, horror, zombies, epic fantasy, and more. Whatever the setting, though, Carey writes people first and plots second. That's exactly why The Tinder Box works so well.

Loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, it follows Mag Tresti, a war-weary former soldier who stumbles across a magical tinder box capable of summoning three powerful demons. At the same time, his path repeatedly crosses that of Jannae Mirchella, a witch hiding her abilities.

Mag won me over. He's a man shaped by years of pointless war, trying to do the decent thing in situations where there rarely is a decent choice. His compassion, especially toward the demons bound by the tinder box, says far more about him than any grand speech ever could.

Jannae is every bit as interesting. She initially appears to be little more than the archetypal witch living on the edge of society, but Carey gradually peels back the layers until she becomes one of the novel's strongest POVs. Her past, regrets, and determination are written remarkably well, and I found myself just as invested in her story as in Mag's.

Both have wonderfully distinctive voices, and perhaps more importantly, they always feel believable. Even when they make questionable decisions, I understood why they made them.

Then there are the demons. They're easily one of the book's highlights. Not terrifying, although they certainly can be. They're not a comic relief, either, even if they're often funny. They're fully realised characters with their own personalities, grievances, loyalties and, not happy with being magically summoned by humans.

The writing, unsurprisingly, is superb. Carey writes dark fantasy without drowning it in misery, philosophical fantasy without becoming preachy, and character-driven fantasy without sacrificing momentum. The whole novel carries the feel of an old folk tale that's been rewritten by a writer with a deep understanding of trauma, power and human weakness.

If I have one criticism, it's that the novel could probably have been shorter. The novel could probably have lost fifty pages without losing much of its impact.

That said, I listened The Tinder Box as an audiobook, and the narration was superb.

I wouldn't call The Tinder Box Carey's best novel, but it's another reminder that he's one of the most consistently interesting writers working in fantasy today. Smart, funny, and with a knack for writing characters I'd happily follow into another story.

It's comfortably one of my favourite reads of 2026.