The Blacktongue Thief

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We trust him not to abuse his power because he weaves such a good story that we don't think he'd spoil it like that. At my back, I had a nasty spike of a rondel dagger, good to punch through mail, but against that sword in that woman’s hand, not to mention the fucking bird, it might as well have been a twig. To walk alone down the White Road through the Forest of Orphans, even on a pleasantly warm late-summer day in the month of Ashers, you would have to be a magicker. When you mix a fantastical surreal world, with multiple layers of humour and quirky characters, you’re onto a winning book for me.

Pues que decir que me lo he pasado genial, me reído un montón, con nuestro protagonista y desde el comienzo me encantó el tono que tenía el libro.Have you ever read a book that you enjoyed from start to finish, delighted in everything that happened, but as soon as you put it down thought "Huh… that actually has a lot of flaws and I don't know who to recommend this to. As the Spanth switched directions, I caught a glimpse of her naked sword, which was definitely a spadín. As I read on I adored his quirky traits – the way he obsessed over (even licked) money, his overly chatty nature, his awkwardness, they all made Kinch a delightfully fun character to follow. I had no shot at the Spanth, who kept her shield raised toward me even as she lopped Spear’s hand off below the wrist.

I’m thoroughly grateful to Gollancz for sending me an early copy because now I truly understand the hype. Beside me, Nervous cried out, “ Awain Baith,” Galtish for “death-bird,” and dropped his bow and ran, his older sister turning tail with him, leaving me the only archer in the trees. I wasn’t sure what kind, but I felt it like a chill or that charge in the air before a storm that raises gooseflesh. This is a book of journeys, entertaining in and of itself, but also leading to an inventive conclusion. Kinch picked Galva—a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death.

The Blacktongue Thief is told in first person, with Kinch giving us an intimate account of all that happened to him from the day he met Galva. Too often I find 'humorous' fantasy seems to care more for the prat-fall than having the reader care about the character!

Now Nervous and Snowcheeks, the sibling archers who’d scampered when the bird joined the fray, had all but cleaned me out. The Blacktongue Thief is fated to steal a lot of reader’s hearts with its charm, humor, intensity, and unrelenting fun; I look forward to seeing future readers enjoying this novel. Pero no solo es humor, explora los temas de la guerra y la codicia de los hombres, mucha acción y magia a veces incluso con cierto humor pero mucha otras con crueldad. Buehlman’s writing style also shines throughout the book with tongue-in-cheek humor, descriptive narration that does not take away from nor slow the pace of the story, and prose fuh days. This allows for a more chaotic mix of magics with lots of imagination and excitement, and a real sense of awe/potential.

The fact that Kinch is beholden to the Takers Guild for his education as a thief, a debt he is unable to pay off and hence ends up in servitude to them, of course strikes a contemporary note. Then there was the humour, the cleverly written turn of phrase, the outright absurd scenes, and even one harrowing scene. Think of it as a student loan, except once you owe The Taker’s Guild, they firmly hold you in their clutches, and paying them back is one hell of a deadly task. It seemed to me the main character was in the exact same state of mind at the end of the book as he was at the beginning.

If not for the brilliant use of humor to show depth (somewhat reminiscent of Abercrombie’s Glokta, but a bit more jovial) I think I would’ve lost patience with him early on. Through his eyes, we see sprawling landscapes, treacherous seas, hideous goblins, massive giants, huge war-birds, and so so much more. If you do the worst of the fighting, I’ll make sure you know where your foes are coming from and cull the weak ones. Audiobook production: I was about halfway through the book, thinking the narrator was doing a great job digging into the nuances of the dialogue and delivering everything in a very conversational manner, before realizing that it was being read by the author himself O_o! There is a standard list of things that make me enjoy a book: Good characterization, a compelling plot, a well developed setting, a system of magic that works, a minimum of plot holes and a satisfactory ending.His companions are mostly interesting, but it never really feels like we get a good grasp of who they are and they all feel more aloof than they are even presented, as we don't really get to know them all.