The Blacktongue Thief

A Novel by Christopher Buehlman

I had a blast reading this novel.

It had a wonderful blend of a dark and gritty fantasy world, drama, action, fascinating characters, and humor. Kinch Na Shannack is a very skilled thief, but that doesn’t mean his capers always work. In fact, throughout the book, nearly everything he tries fails in some way. At least it always seemed that way. Somehow, through lots of crazy, dangerous situations, he manages to make progress toward his goal.

The characters are wonderful. I became emotionally attached to all of them—at least to the main characters I was meant to connect with. But all the characters were three-dimensional and fleshed out. The world-building was top notch. It was fun to spend time in that world, even though it is no place anyone would want to live in.

But it was the narration that really kept me riveted to the book. It’s told in the first-person through Kinch, and he’s the perfect character to tell this story. Not only because he’s the character that drives the story—though he is—but because of his snarky and humorous personality. The narration is so much fun to follow and the Kinch that’s telling the story is every bit as enjoyable to read as his dialogue is.

I give this story five stars because it’s very deserved. It ticks all the buttons:
1 star for the immersive world-building
1 star for the skilled and excellent writing
1 star for the engaging characters I got to follow
1 star for the plot and storytelling

Now I need to read The Daughters War, the next book in that world.