Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.
But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.
Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.
Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva’s. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a fun adventure. I think those looking for the more high fantasy side with magic and lots of battle scene adventure will enjoy this one.
I read this one for The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book-of-the-Month Club.
The Story
I loved the journeys, this quest like unfolding of a story with side quest type battle scenes. Similar to a Final Fantasy video game.
It was snarky and hilarious. I loved the satire.
Clever in it’s cunning, insightful way, defining what is threat, defining what is anticipated threat with some reveal subtle, others more in your face.
Though sadly, I’m not entirely sure if I understood it all, but I was highly entertained nonetheless.
The Writing
I enjoyed the pacing for the most part, though there was a lot devoted to framing of story. So it felt it to be a bit cumbersome to get through at points. I didn’t always feel like I was diving in, but more on the verge of it, which was a bit less satisfying to me sometimes. But when it dove into the action, it was a lot more cohesive with both unified flow and direction that made for a more complete scene once I got through the overzealous descriptions of everything.
By descriptions, every descriptive word, whether adjective or noun becomes pronoun and I had a very hard time keeping track.
Too many names, places, events for me to keep up with.
A little much for me, I got really lost in the mix.
Especially since there were so many characters being introduced all the time. I couldn’t differentiate which ones would be important over which ones were fleeting.
Loved the comedic tone.
The thief has quite the personality.
And I’m just realizing this is a series, so I supposed I’ll find out more.
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