This is a weird one. Some traditional fantasy fans may not like how dark and horrific it gets. Recommended, but with the above notations as a warning to would be readers.

An amazingly well built world.
Totally immersive in it's realism.
Every aspect perfectly crafted.
The characters are hardly princely
but deeply endearing.

A journeyman from the Low School
of the Thieves Guild
is forced to follow a former
soldier on her unknown quest
in an effort to cancel out his debt to the guild.

Such a great novel from a new voice in the field.
But then I realised I had several of his
books on myshelves that I had bought and forgotten about.
I am very much a crow whe it comes to books
"Oh!! new shiny"

Once actually reading him Buehlman
became an instant favourite.

Pretty awesome book with a fun protagonist and I enjoyed reading this immensely as our protagonist is very fun to follow and the writing is also humorous. Would recommend if you are looking for a fun fantasy. Cool magic system and has an cat for an animal companion, which are my two favourite things in a fantasy book. I’m definitely invested in the story now. Please Please let me have book two.

"The Blacktongue Thief" by Christopher Buehlman is a masterful blend of wit, grit, and dark enchantment. Buehlman crafts a world teeming with roguish charm, where danger and whimsy coexist. The prose is razor-sharp, weaving together a tapestry of adventure and intrigue. Characters are brilliantly fleshed out, ensuring readers are both entertained and invested. This novel beckons fans of unconventional fantasy, promising a journey as unpredictable as its beguiling protagonist.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Buehlman again excels at snarky young male protagonists. The other female protagonists are also well developed, independent, and aren’t just foils for the main character. Excellent worldbuilding. It felt like you were dropped into a fully fleshed out world with the past hinted at (prequel??). Other strengths are unforeseen plot twists and laugh out loud moments and actually good poetry and songs. Having seen him perform before, his humor is well known to me and shows in this book. This book also included an interesting variety of conlangs that felt real. Hopefully there’s a sequel although the book has a satisfying conclusion. Great for epic fantasy fans.

DNF at 40%

I've been reading this book for months. Once I reached 40% I just could not continue it.
The story is slow paced and I kept falling asleep every time I reach a new chapter.
The characters didn't really catch my eye. Though the synopsis is a good take away that I thought I would like. Turns out I didn't like it as much.

I will read it in the future when I'm in the mood to pick it up again.

Tried a few times to connect with the writing style, but it felt very meandering and lacked focus. Maybe the second novel in the series will help pull things together.

This is one I’ve seen such high praise for but I’m finally admitting that I am shelving this for now. Might pick up again later

I enjoyed this, mostly; the writing is clever and funny, the world is interesting, the plot compelling and it's all very cinematic and exciting and brutal. Great showmanship, and although I struggled to get into it at first (largely because of the author's weird disdain for/obsession with sex work) it did even out at around 25%, and after that I couldn't put it down. I think it suffered a little from being written by an American with an obvious thing for the Irish; at times I felt as though I was watching a leprechaun with a student loan being directed by Guy Ritchie in a heist movie that wanted to get through as many locations as possible - but I was entertained, and engaged, and I'll pick up the sequel, when/if ever that happens.

Unfortunately this didnt quite work for me but I can definitely see others enjoying it! Its fun, fast paced, and action packed, and it makes for a really refreshing break from the darker, more gritty fantasies out there. Would recommend this if you want something that doesnt take itsef too seriously (in a good way!).

Unfortunately I couldn't finish this book. The world looks very interesting and it would surely appeal to many readers but it isn't for me—I couldn't stand the main character and the writing wasn't my cup of tea.

"The Blacktongue Thief" by Christopher Buehlman

This book was kindly given to me by the publisher via #netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I want to say very clearly that I DNF'ed this book at 50% and will therefore not give a rating for it. But I will tell you what I liked and didn't like about the first half.

As far as I have read, it's a journey-type story with at least two companion characters and a sort-of animal companion. It is told from 1st person POV, so we spend a lot of time in the MC's head and if you fail to connect to them and their humor, it is rather challenging to stay engaged.

What I liked about the first half:
- very unique worldbuilding & history
- MC felt well developed
- sea monsters and other rare creatures

What I didn't like:
- very snarky, dry humor (felt forced to me)
- the journey itself was very meandering and felt a bit aimless
- it just couldn't hold my interest long enough for me to care about the characters

If you think this could be the story for you, please feel free to try this book and tell me what you thought about it in the comments!

I ended up reading the audiobook version instead, so this is a repeat of my review from that edition:

I really enjoyed this book - Buehlman is an excellent narrator of his own work. I loved the general tone of dark, wry, humor, and was caught up enough in the events that I listened to it very quickly. I would definitely pick up another of his books, and look forward to future installments in this series.

My only real criticism is that the female character felt like a bit of a cipher because we never see the world from her perspective. It completely makes sense from a story perspective because she is meant to be a bit mysterious, and the book is very much from the main character's perspective.

However, it still seemed like an omission because I'm used to authors like Joe Abercrombie who jump around between viewpoints and help us understand every character.

Reviewed by my co-blogger on Novel Notions

4.5/5 stars

The Blacktongue Thief is an immense entertainment manifesting in a fantasy novel.

Christopher Buehlman is most often known for Between Two Fires and more horror novels; this is about to change very quickly. The Blacktongue Thief is the first book in Blacktongue trilogy by Buehlman, it is his first high fantasy novel, and from my observation, it is quite likely that this is the most hyped adult fantasy debut of the year. I’m not kidding; I’ve seen so many authors highly praised this novel since late 2019 and early 2020 up to this day. I doubt this will die down soon; many fantasy readers will be talking about this book more once it’s officially published.

“If you’ve never fallen hard in love and lost your heart’s sovereign, go on and laugh at me. If you have, have a drink and dab an eye.”


The plot in The Blacktongue Thief revolves around Kinch Na Shannack; Kinch owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, and 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 Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark. Kinch picked Galva—a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. Galva 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. Many early reviews from both authors and readers have mentioned that this is a novel suitable for those who loved Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames, and I can certainly agree with this. I mean, even in my interview with Nicholas Eames himself, during his praises towards this book as the one book to definitely read this year, he agreed on these comparisons. The quest premise that Kinch and Galva took reminded me of Clay and Gabe’s journey in Kings of the Wyld; the jokes and senses of humor Buehlman included into the narrative were so delightful.

‘“The sirs won’t help you any more than your Guild will, blacktongue. You know what they say about caught thieves, aye?”
“I’m not a thief.”
“Yes, and I’ll just put the tip in, we know how these things go.”’


Kinch was undoubtedly the biggest highlight of the novel for me. He’s just such a lovable main character; snarky, sarcastic, continuously smile in the face of adversity. But he also knows when to be serious. The Blacktongue Thief is told through Kinch’s first-person perspective, and Buehlman did an excellent job in giving him a high level of distinctive voice that reminded me of what Peter McLean did with his War for the Rose Throne quartet. That being said, don’t misconstrue my words to call these two series similar to each other; they’re not. The Blacktongue Thief is like Kings of the Wyld without all the Easter Eggs, with the addition of Scott Lynch’s brilliant use of profanity language in The Gentleman Bastards. The balance between humor and tension-packed conflicts was achieved splendidly, and hey, have I mentioned there’s a blind cat as Kinch’s companion? Now you know, and why are you still reading my review?

“Monarchy is a bad system because, no matter how smart you are, you can still squirt a moron out of your plumbing. Maybe you get lucky and your son or daughter is at least half as smart as you—what about your grandchild? Probably a knob, and when they inherit the throne, everything you build fall to shyte.”


Alright, fine, if these aren’t enough to convince you to give this book a try yet, there are also stag-sized battle ravens, magic tattoos, Kraken, giants, witches, and goblins. Admittedly, there were a few moments in the middle of the novel where the pacing dragged a bit for me. However, this is more of a personal thing; long seafaring sections in high fantasy rarely worked for me. Fortunately, my overall enjoyment of the novel was not hindered. There are just so many things to love in this book, and the entire section involving the Towers card game was equally hilarious, breathtaking, and superbly executed.

“I won’t bore you with the whole set of rules; just know Towers is like a war right there on the table, and it sucks money out of purses faster than a two-squinny harlot. Starts more fights than religion and politics together. And it’s addictive.”


The ending sequence was pulse-pounding, and the conclusion + the acknowledgment was satisfying to read. 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. As for me, I will eagerly wait for the next volume in the daring and exciting adventure of Kinch Na Shannack, a thief with a blind cat’s luck.

I will preface my entire review by saying that I was turned off by the language used in the book. I am not talking of the writing, which was action-packed - but of the conversations/swearing between everyone in the narrative.I understand the world is a very rough one, harking back to a more openly war friendly world than the one we live in, with pirates and looters and the like, but it felt a little excessive at times. It distracted me from the plotline and all the complications of the lives of our characters.

Kinch is a marked man, literally. His tongue and tattoo describe him to people even before he has a chance to do anything about it. He is not precisely the 'chosen one', but he finds himself holding the key pieces to a very large puzzle. What begins as an average day where he is trying to find ways to repay his debt to his mysteriously powerful guild turns into something a lot more complicated.
The world-building has depth and a lot of variety. There are different types of beings involved in the overall narrative; there are political affiliations and implications, and last but not least, the guilds play crucial roles.
There have been events occurring in the background before we encounter the people we are to follow on their adventure, but their actions hasten the culmination of the events. It is a long and winding book that took me a while to read all the way through. Even with that and the language issue I mentioned earlier, I would read the next just to see where all of this is headed. The ending only provides more hints, but it is not satisfying enough without the sequel.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I went into The Blacktongue Thief not knowing anything about the author or their previous books. I have since discovered that he is a great horror writer and I love the way that horror bled into this new fantasy series.

The first third of this book felt a little scattered and disjointed, but the humor and the SASS was so incredible that I could have continued even if the plot hadn’t started to come together in the creative and original ways it did. I really liked the way the author picked up plot strands I didn’t even expect to be relevant and wove them all together in unexpected ways.

The absolute best part of this book is the main character. His humor, constant swearing, risk taking, and ability to constantly find himself in a sticky situation that he just manages to squeeze out of are amazing. The scene with the assassin, the prostitute, the horse, and the language barrier had me laughing so hard that my husband walked over to ask what I was reading.

This book is more than a fantasy novel, more than horror, more than humor, it just crosses so many genres and takes the best parts of each of them to weave together seamlessly. I loved every minute of reading this novel and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys crass but imaginative fantasy. Fans of Brandon Sanderson and the Dresden Files are sure to enjoy this one!

Five stars and a big thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Abso-fuckin-lutely. Can there be more books like this. Refreshing as all hell. Can't wait to see where this goes!

This book wasn’t terrible, but unfortunately it just didn’t do it for me.

I didn’t like Kinch at all. He really really got on my nerves. And even though I liked Galva and thought she had a lot of potential? I found the side characters weren’t fleshed-out well (including Galva). I didn’t feel like they were real—they didn’t have enough page-time to really show themselves off. Kinch had a tendency to make everything about what he’s thinking. And Kinch’s interpretation of people always made me question how he could possibly know exactly what another person is feeling or what they want to do. WHY ARE YOU SO COCKY??

Also, I’m really REALLY over male character’s thinking they’re hot shit and assessing the attractiveness of every single female person they come across.

Honestly, I feel like this book would have benefited a LOT by being 3rd person POV instead with the occasional character focus change that would have given a reader some insight on other characters and not JUST Kinch. Even if it was just a paragraph here and there! Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 authors who write well in first person POV.

But even with the POV change, the plot itself could have used a lot more oomph. I was really hoping that something super duper interesting would happen at some point in the book, but it didn’t. Why so much secrecy and hoop-jumping for this really basic quest? And it didn’t help that there were times where the battle scenes were skipped over. I don’t remember how many times it happened, but it was enough to make an impression. It would go from “we’re about to fight” to “oh so the fight is now over and I’m alive but here are the key points of the fight so you can catch up to where I am in the timeline.”

Thanks Tor/Forge for sending me an earc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman lured me in with its excellent cover. I was further convinced by the good reviews it got on Goodreads. I had to put a hold on the physical book at the library — as I wanted that tactile reading experience. Well, turns out, I didn’t exactly love The Blacktongue Thief. It is what it is though.

Buehlman’s series opener follows Kinch Na Shannock who is a thief with a black tongue. Kinch owes money to the Takers Guild. And so, he has fallen in with a gang of highwaymen and robs people in an attempt to get the money to pay the guild back. One day though they try to rob the wrong woman. What results from that attempt is a big adventure for Kinch. The woman is Galva and she is a Spanth. She is on a mission to rescue a queen named Mireya. Somehow Kinch gets roped into this mission and per the Takers Guild, if he sticks to Galva like white on rice, he will be richly rewarded.

Kinch will come across old enemies, goblins, and more. He will find love on his journey. Kinch will also come across war corvids and witches. Adventure awaits.

Unfortunately, The Blacktongue Thief was just not the book for me. I was so excited by the short chapters. That is, until I realized that the print was really small. I also did not care for the way Kinch talked about women and sex. I mean, okay, I get that he isn’t perfect and is weird and awkward. It just was not for me. Also, the pacing felt so glacial. As it turns out, I never truly felt invested in this book. There also were some fourth wall breaking moments that took me right out of the story.

However, the goblin war aspect is really interesting. So is the aspect of the women as fighters in the war and this bit with horses. I liked how the magic worked too. Still, I just never could overcome my dislike for the main character. I will not be continuing on with the series, and that is okay. There is an audience out there for it and it is just not me — not everything needs to be.

The story of The Blacktonghue Thief, the first volume of the trilogy by Buehlman, follows Kinch Na Shannack grappling with a huge debt to pay off to The Taker's Guild for his training. Desperate he decides to lurk along the road in the hope of robbing an unsuspecting passer-by. Unfortunately, fate puts Galva, an Ispanthian knight who survived the Goblin War and is now in search of her queen, on his way. And this is how the fates of the two end up intertwining.

Told in first person from Kinch's perspective, The Blacktongue Thief is a fun-to-follow narrative filled with humor and conflict.
Buehlman did a great job of characterization, giving a distinctive voice to each of them. And Kinch with his sarcasm, clumsiness, cynicism, and the ease with which to deal with everything turns out to be an adorable main character and one that the reader willingly accompanies on his adventure.
The friendship between Galva and Kinch is beautifully rendered, certainly a somewhat strange friendship, born by chance, but which grows until it reaches solid foundations of loyalty. Adorable jokes between the two that make reading even more fun.

Worldbuilding is fascinating, with a magical system and the history of the world, full of details that are always told by Kinch. Unfortunately, some passages often lead to a little info dump, the rhythm is slowed down and the story loses its bite, but the world built by the author is so vivid and varied as to be fascinating anyway.
Buehlman in fact makes a lot of fantastic elements that make this book really original and appossiante to read, I do not deny that it reminded me a little of Kings of the Wyld by Eames, that I loved for its liveliness.

A chaotic and adventurous journey into an almost surreal world, characters full of humor, compelling prose ... The Blacktongue Thief was for me a truly engaging read that I cannot help but recommend despite some flaws!