My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

I ran a bit hot and cold on this book, more hot than cold. The writing felt a bit uneven in places, but the interesting characters and the fascinating makeup of the thieves guild easily made up for it. I eagerly look forward to the next book in this series.

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman is a witty, tongue-in-cheek account of one seemingly unimportant thief caught up in the wider machinations of this Lord of the Rings meets Kings of the Wyld world.

Kinch Na Shannack is down on his luck—or rather, his luck’s just fine, it’s the damn guild he’s indentured to that’s the problem. As a Prank in the Takers Guild, Kinch’s main worry in life is making sure he steals enough to repay his ‘tuition’ debts. But everything is set to change when his crew picks the wrong mark. When the job goes sideways, Kinch finds himself the companion of the very lethal, but thankfully merciful, warrior knight he just tried to rob.

Filled with magic, humour, and a slow boiling political plot, this entertaining tale explores the themes of war and the greed of men, while outlining Buehlman’s strength as a storyteller. Most importantly, this was a delight to read, armed with killer punchlines that will make you laugh aloud and bittersweet moments that will draw a jagged breath.

The Blacktongue Thief reads as a love letter to epic journey-based fantasy. As Kinch relays his various exploits in first person to the reader, we get a look into the wider world around him. This colourfully described world includes multiple grades of magic, an expansive war-focused history, a mix of cultures and languages, and more. And at the centre of all this is our mismatched travelling band of characters, made up of a thief, a warrior knight, a witch, an old nemesis, and a blind cat. As they begin their quest and set out into the unknown, the reader is teleported into a brilliantly imagined, slightly nonsensical world with a new location every odd chapter.

One of the main strengths of this novel is its characters. Kinch Na Shannack likes to portray himself as, paradoxically, an honest thief. He’s clever, knowing how to get out of tricky situations and when to trust his luck. But reading between the lines, he’s also a product of his upbringing; he’s shifty and doesn’t trust easily, preferring to make limited connections with people instead of long-lasting relationships. But as he is thrust into an ambiguous adventure with the warrior knight, Galva, and the witch, Norrigal, Kinch’s character growth is evident through small, heartfelt moments that pin-point crucial turning points within the story.

And, given time, these characters will definitely grow on you—thought you might not want to get too attached to some of them. . .

There are also some great discussions had throughout the novel; namely on the wastefulness of war, and the greed of men. Buehlman expertly builds upon these main themes, adding in little details piece by piece over the course of the novel and linking it up with his plot. We see the disturbing and widespread impact of war, alongside the depiction of the Guild and their overreaching hand. These main themes, paired with the author’s direct writing style, prompt the reader to draw their own conclusions about the worth of war, and who really profits from it.

It’s also these themes that provide a contrasting element to the book’s seemingly juvenile tone. On multiple occasions, the reader is pulled up short as what started in jest actually reveals a darker side to the narrative. This use of tone in conjunction with theme is what sets The Blacktongue Thief apart from its peers.

Simply put, Buelman’s latest novel is a raucous laugh followed by a punch in the gut—it’s brilliantly wild and full of heart. If you’re looking for an entertaining fantasy tale that slyly delves into deeper topics, try this one.

This review contains minor spoilers. You read at your behest.

The Blacktounge Thief should be summarised in four words: Stealing, Krakens, Giants, Birds. That's the gist of this story. That should be more than enough to get you started into an adventurous fantasy that is full of fun, gore, misery, pain, loss, and hope. It's also the tale of Kinch, a thief who's trying to make it in an unforgiving world full of cutthroats, betrayers, traitors, scoundrels, and hungry goblins that love to hunt down humans. His obligation to the Taker's Guild, a guild where thieves operate within, is the result of his childhood. Not only that but a certain quest that he is given by the Guild to do drives the crux of a very fascinating journey. Kinch may not be the best man on the block. But when the time comes to do something good, this man will do it.

Kinch is a very odd fellow. On the one hand, he's the version of Jack Sparrow, only on land. On the other hand, he's the version of a clever Will Turner. One that thinks for himself, and one that is capable of getting out of tricky situations. It is refreshing to see a character that thinks for himself but also knows how to waggle his tongue. Every character in this book falls to his charm. Kinch has a natural charm that makes even the most hated enemy of his become friendly towards him. Also, Kinch has a habit of getting his hair pulled often. He embarks on a quest with Galva, the sassy and quiet Ispanthian who he loves to call nicknames with, to travel to this city of Oustrim, and discover secrets that will ultimately make him question himself. Have no doubt, that throughout every part of this novel, Kinch is finding a way to get rid of his obligation to the Taker's Guild. It's also a journey of trying to figure out who he is. And if it's one thing I didn't like, whether Norrigal was flinging an insult at him, Malk calling him a scoundrel, including Galva, all for calling him a thief with envy in their tongues, what does that make the politicians of Molrova? The King of Ispanthia? The Ministers and Kings, Emperors of certain lands are also thieves of their kind. Taxing peasants for more than they are worth. So why should Kinch be subject to that abuse when it's the higher-ups in this world that should be held accountable? Stealing is wrong, certainly. But I ask Malk, Norrigal, Galva, where were you when Kinch's life took the direction of the path of the thief? Were you there to stop him? Were you there to guide him? No, you weren't. I ended up disliking most of the characters that Kinch was with at the end. They are all using Kinch for their purposes, and then degrade him, I've ended up liking Kinch far more than any of the other characters involved. And I wasn't too convinced with his chemistry with Norrigal, because Kinch can find a partner that will understand for who he is rather than what he is. I can relate to Kinch, in some form.

But the main hero is not a grim-dark character. Far from it. Kinch is an actual hero except he finds himself doing things that really would not be ideal for an ordinary human being to do. Kinch in this novel, as far I can recall, hasn't done anything bad to anyone. Like, not really anything bad. I can't recall anything that Kinch has done that would make him deserving of this kind. So, there's that for you. With regards to the other aspects of the novel, the worldbuilding was on point. I felt distinctions between each race and felt that certain scenes were slower-paced than they should have been. Some scenes could have been reduced, while I wanted a glossary as well just to make sure I could go and refer to the nations. The map was very nice, and I kept going back to it many times.

This is medieval fantasy reborn, complete with its unique mythology. A starring debut that deserves your attention, and a novel that is fun and will make you feel like you're embarking on a special journey. This is the fun adventurous fantasy novel that we need more off rather than epic plots for the time being. Get this book.

I have submitted my amazon and alibris review

As one of the highly anticipated reads of 2021, The Blacktongue Thief did not come short of its praises. It is a fascinating read with an incredibly woven world of war and goblin wrecked kingdoms, menagerie of monstrous creatures, rich history and language, and a treasury of songs and verses. These elements were one of the book's few strong points in my opinion. Also, I am totally enamored with the author's selection of tone language which definitely suited the characters and add layers to their personality. Kinch na Shannack, the Thief, i adored most for his witty speech, knack for decrypting languages and strong sense of his luck to which he constantly taps into to surpass his difficulties. I am also in awe of Galva, the battle-hardened warrior with an enigmatic persona. These two are an odd pair who have teamed up to whirl readers into an enthralling adventure.

Released May 25, 2021

The Blacktongue Thief
By. Christopher Buehlman
@Torbooks
P. 416
Format: eArc
Rating: ****
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I received an e-arc from @Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
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The Blacktongue Thief is the start of a new fantasy series by the seasoned author, Buehlman. However, this is the first book that I have read of his. I was not disappointed.

The book is told in first person from the perspective of Kinch Na Shannack a trained thief who owes his guild money. Up front Kinch tells you two truths about himself, and then you spend the whole rest of the novel wondering if he lied to you straight out. Kinch is a very unreliable narrator. He is very honest about this though. It adds a certain humor to the narration, but can leave the reader feeling a bit baffled. It was brilliantly done.

Overall, the tale is pretty dark. It is Kinch’s own perspective that lightens things up a bit. But be warned that the novel is full of death, violence, and sex. On that end, it is a male authored fantasy with a male narrator that enjoys thinking about women. Although, while I could have done without the frequent ogling of women, I found the role women take in the novel refreshing. See all the men died so women basically took over and became the warriors, and everything else. It makes for a fairly liberated fantasy novel. I also appreciated that Kinch tended to focus his sexual obsession on one women so I no longer had to hear about him propositioning every female in sight.

It was an interesting read and series that I plan on continuing with.

The book follows the adventurous journey of Kinch Na Shannack and his merry companions through multiple adventures on their mysterious journey. The journey is actually mysterious as neither the reader not the protagonist knows the end destination, till near the climax of the book. Kinch is a thief from a place where people literally have black tongues. So the title! The structure has its plus and minus as we have a burgeoning mystery to unravel, but at same time without the destination knows, it felt like a series of standalone adventures rather than a novel flowing to the climax.

The book is told in a Kinch’s first person PoV (Kinch’s) with support from various other characters. The prose is light fun laden with jokes, give-and-takes making a good still forming camaraderie between characters who just got together as they get to know each other.

The world is rich and diverse. We are treated to both racial and geographical diversity and get to meet a lot of interesting characters. What detracted me from enjoying the world was because the world was revealed by way of info-dumping through Kinch’s internal monologues, which detracted from the pace and flow of the book a lot. There are numerous nuggets of information on characters, races and gods that makes us appreciate the richness of the world.

The climax is pretty awesome. It just sneaked up to me and I was suddenly frantically reading the breakneck finale. It certainly added to the intrigue and promised a lot more in next book. Though I was able to guess part of it, but the way the events played out is attention grabbing and made a big impact.

Kinch is a charming go lucky rapscallion type of character who’s more likely say a bad pun in face of overwhelming danger! Being thrust into this journey to an unknown destination not knows and characters he doesn’t know before, he’s in a situation where he’s always behind the curve trying to catch up and trying to make a good situation of it. He’s witty, funny and has a certain flamboyant nonchalance to his bravado. I would have preferred if the author dealt a bit deeper into Kinch as in what makes him tick. What lies underneath the veneer of heroic bravado? Her certinly is one of the more interesting and intriguing characters, I’ve read recently.

Love Galva. She’s the rock to Kinch’s waywardness. A staunch believer in her goal and willing to risk everything for her beliefs and stands up for her friends. Though Kinch is the MC, Galva is the glue that keeps the gang together. Perhaps the dissonance in plot is because the quest is Galva’s, she’s the central character who moves the plot. She rightly should have been the MC imo, though Kinch is more fun to follow..

Actual Rating: 3.5
The Blacktongue Thief is a high fantasy following Kinch Na Shannack. Indebted to the Takers Guild where he got his thief education, Kinch soon finds himself planning to rob the next person he meets on a forest road. This doesn't go as Kinch plans. Instead he finds himself on a journey with a knight and a witch. They experience all kinds of trouble including run-ins with goblins, giants, and even a kraken.

The tattoo magic, world-building, and amazing characters make this fantasy really stand out. This story starts after various wars. You learn the history of the lands, its political troubles, its different peoples, and the gods each group worships. The story is told through Kinch’s point of view, but the other characters Kinch travels with and meets as the journey goes on are all complex and fully fleshed out. They all had their own motives and places in this world. As this is the first in a series, I will be reading on because these aspects of the story were so imaginative and unique to me and I’d like to know more.

While I thoroughly loved elements of this story, I’m also conflicted when it comes to the reading experience overall. I found the plot lacking at times. Don’t get me wrong, this story is about the journey, and this novel delivers in that aspect. My issue is that for a good chunk of the story, Kinch doesn't know exactly why he is on this journey. Kinch slowly figures out what they're heading towards and why, but once it's all fully revealed, it seemed a little lackluster to me. At the slower parts of the novel, when I would start to lose interest, not knowing what was going to happen at the end of the journey kept me going. Once it was all revealed and the ending came together, I was kind of disappointed. I didn't understand why the overall reason for the story was held back. I think the plot would have been more engaging if I knew why Kinch and the others were on their journey more early on. I think another factor that brought down my enjoyment a bit was the fact that the story is told only from one point of view. This is more of a personal preference. I liked Kinch a lot, but for such a long novel, filled with so many great characters, I can't help but think that having other points of view would have been interesting.

In summary, The Blacktongue Thief is a unique fantasy that takes the reader on a journey filled with great characters, magical creatures, and plenty of action. The plot fell a little flat for me at times, but I loved so many elements of this world that I do plan to continue with the series.

I recommend this to anyone who likes high fantasy that takes you on a journey. If you are intrigued by tattoo magic, knights, witches, goblins, giants, krakens, etc., then give this story a try!

I did a hybrid reading of the ebook and listening to the audiobook. While both were great, I think I would lean towards the audiobook. There is just something about books being read by the author that makes it such a great experience. I felt that I needed to be sitting in a tavern by a roaring fire with a mug of beer and listening to the story. I enjoyed the world (although I would like more world building in subsequent books), characters, and the magic. The book probably won't be for everyone, but I found it very enjoyable.

Crude, but effective, the Blacktongue Thief charmed me in the end. Buehlman's characters are aggressively profane, which I suppose is to be expected from an author who moonlights as Christophe The Insulter at ren faires. But as someone with an aversion to scatalogical humor and unfairly oppressive villains, I wasn't sure this was a book I could ever recommend.

Our hero's luck starts to turn around the halfway point however, and the rest of the novel highlights Buehlman's flair for unique magical battles and action that feels propulsive and consequential. Combined with the occasionally unreliable narrator, this is Buehlman's first published novel where you can draw direct parallels to things he's done before. ("It's like this and this meets this!") But with an author whose body of work is this disparate and original, that's hardly a drawback.

I've never liked the term "grimdark." It's amorphous and meme-y, a product of the online tendency to create a reductive shorthand for everything. But in this case it feels like Buehlman took offense at the snarkiness of the term, too. "Grimdark, huh? I wonder what that would really look like?"

And then he wrote the book on it.

The Blacktongue Thief is Christopher Buehlman's latest novel, combining fantasy, science fiction, and horror into one neat bottle. That sounds like a perfect recipe in my book. Let us dive in.
Kinch Na Shannack has gotten pretty used to the idea of owing a life's worth of debt to the Takers Guide – a thieves guild who was so generous as to give him all of his training. Still, all debts must be paid, and this one will require drastic measures to get free of it.

In desperation, Kinch Na Shannack may have just picked the worst mark possible. Or, perhaps not the absolute worse, since he survived the encounter. Barely. Now his fate is tied to Galva, a knight, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. Yeah, that might have been a mistake.

"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."

I went into The Blacktongue Thief expecting a high-stakes fantasy. What I got was even better. Everything about this novel was fast-paced, intense, and thoroughly entertaining. It's the rare sort of book that made me wish I could sit down and watch a video version. Or play a game like it...that would be a blast.

I think what really sold me on the read, other than a combination of my favorite genres, is the sense of humor that Buehlman infused his novel with. Kinch is a hilarious leading character, one that isn't afraid to speak his mind. Or fill his sentences with loads of swears.

It actually was perfection for releasing the constant build of tension. It worked nicely with the tale being told, especially from the perspective of a guy seriously in debt with the local thieves guild. Needless to say, Kinch was a treasure, and the highlight of the novel, at least for me.

"I need your arms, yes, but you need my nose. 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. I won't be your dog, but if you are half the wolf I think you are, you've found a fox to run with."

Another highlight for me, and this one won't come as a surprise to anybody that knows me: there are magical tattoos! Yes! Plus giants, witches, goblins, and lots of other supernatural goodness (or badness, depending on your perspective).

If you're looking for a riveting fantasy read that is laced with humor, please consider giving The Blacktongue Thief a chance.

The perfect comedic fantasy - The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman is one of the more hilarious books I've read so far this year!

This is a quest-based fantasy but what makes it stand out is just how ridiculously sarcastic the main character - Kinch Na Shannack is. He reminded me of Jack Sparrow most of the time. We also have
x a blind cat as a companion
x SO MANY laugh-out-loud moments
x magic and magical creatures.
x speaking of Jack Sparrow, there is also a Kraken in the story. 0_o

What I didn’t like
x the main character’s sexist monologues and jokes.
x the characters are on a quest for the majority of this book, which I enjoyed, but the way that quest culminated was a bit disappointing.

Though I wasn’t impressed, I did have a good time reading this book and will probably recommend this to fans of The Black Hawks and Kings of the Wyld.

There are books that have voice and then there is Kinch Na Shannack, the narrator in Christopher Buehlman’s The Blacktongue Thief. Kinch has a lot of voice—you can easily picture him in a tavern somewhere relaying his tale to a group of pleasantly soused patrons.

What does his tale entail? Kinch, a blacktongued thief indebted to the Taker’s Guild, starts his story when he and a group of fellow thieves try to rob the wrong Ispanthian warrior. The story moves on from there, with the Guild strongly encouraging Kinch to travel with the same warrior as she goes off to Oustrim, a good eight-week journey away by land.


The Blacktongue Thief is Kinch telling us about that journey. And just like how some late-night tavern talk might go, Kinch’s descriptions aren’t for the pearl-clutching or faint of heart. Take, for example, how Kinch describes the qualities of iron: “Iron is to free magic what cold water and laughter are to male arousal.” Another example later in the book involves him explaining how to know if someone is weak or strong: “I was so scared, I half wanted to piss myself, but the difference between the strong and the weak isn’t that the strong don’t piss themselves. It’s that they hitch their pissy pants up after and go through with it.”

These are pretty mild examples but they’re enough, I think, for you to get the gist.

Kinch’s NSFW recounting of his story, however, doesn’t take too much away from the gravity of the horrors he goes through. And even though he does his best to be vulgar, you can see that he’s got a soft spot in his heart, and not just for the blind cat he saves early on in the novel. He finds love on the way (at least for a moon cycle or so), and also ends up not murdering and befriending (sort of) someone who wanted to kill him.
It’s these moments where he reveals this kinder side that make him relatable and more than a crass criminal who desperately wants to get out of his debt to the Taker’s Guild. Kinch, though he’d likely hem and haw about it if you asked him, cares about other people (and cats). That’s not to say that Kinch isn’t above killing someone who has done him wrong, but it’s his moments of mercy that may make readers care about him as well, making the novel more than just a fun, swear-laden read (not that there’s anything wrong with fun, swear-laden reads).

Buehlman also weaves in an impressive amount of worldbuilding throughout the book. Through Kinch, we find out about the goblin wars that wrecked a generation of kynd (non-goblin folk), the intricacies of the Trader’s Guild, the world’s religions and magic system, and more. It’s clear that Buehlman spent time creating Kinch’s world, and each location and several characters feel like they have an untold, detailed backstory bubbling in between the pages. Those looking for an expansive fantasy world conveyed through a foul-mouthed narrator need look no further.

The Blacktongue Thief also treats fantasy fans to a plethora of magical beasts and creatures. Looking for ravens the size of a horse? This book has it (though most horses, alas, have died from a mysterious disease a couple of decades before). In addition to huge killer ravens, Kinch also has run-ins with krakens, giants, goblins, assassins, and witches—it’s enough to make any Dungeons & Dragons player squeal with glee.

Along with those creatures, there is also a lot of violence—more than a couple of folks meet horrific ends as Kinch shares his story, and even his tongue-in-cheek retelling can’t wash away the savageness that pervades this world.

Given the everyday brutality Kinch and everyone else he knows lives with, The Blacktongue Thief has an appropriately satisfying ending. It’s also an ending that has enough closure to make it feel like a standalone book, something that can be hard to find in the first of a trilogy. There’s still enough unresolved, however, to warrant another tale or two from Kinch, and I’m sure there will be readers aplenty waiting and ready for it.

A wonderful fantasy novel full of sarcasm and humor with a little vulgar mixed in. This epic journey carries you along smoothly and keeps you rooting for the cast. Some very fun and interesting ideas for the world building and magic system.

This was a book I was eagerly anticipating especially because the blurb made it sound like a adventure filled quest with a badass lady knight and a thief. It sounded fun but in actuality was anything but. I was expecting the main character Kinch na Shannack to be a street smart thief, who was clever and witty but his humor was juvenile and crass and he was so misogynistic that I couldn’t bear to read further than a few chapters. I think I read about 25-30% but I couldn’t stomach the main character for one more second and had to dnf. I appreciated the amazing world building and Galva was pretty amazing. If she was given more oage space I am pretty sure I would have tried to atleast complete the book but alas there was too little of her and too much of him. I don’t think I will recommend this to anyone but if toilet humor is your thing and if you don’t mind a very misogynistic main character, give it a chance. Maybe you will enjoy it.

I absolutely loved this book! The Blacktongue Thief is a gritty, dark fantasy akin to The Witcher series or the Mistborn trilogy. Elements drawn from ancient mythology give the story a deeper resonance. The world-building in this book is phenomenal. There is a fully developed history, distinct regions, and even slang words for the world that the author created. I was really impressed with the details and nuances. The characters are complex and flawed, but ultimately likable. I found myself unable to stop turning pages to find out what happens. The writing style is easy and down to earth while still offering complexity and humor. If you are looking for a great fantasy to escape into, this is it. The ending is satisfying but leaves enough open ends for another book. I rarely give a 5-star rating, but this one is completely deserving.

Kinch Na Shannack, drowned in debt and down on his luck, unwillingly gets dragged into a dangerous quest when his path crosses with Galva, a knight searching for her missing queen.

First and foremost I would like to thank NetGalley and Tor Books for providing me with a review copy. Please note that this in no way affects my opinions.

Looking at other reviews, I found myself wondering if I was reading a different book because it was extremely difficult to immerse myself into the story being presented to me. There was barely anything about this story that tickled my fancy or tantalized me. I was mostly confused by the lack of a cohesive plot and world or mildly disgusted by the language through which the characters speak.

Here are my in-depth thoughts on why this book sucked me in with a gorgeous cover, but ultimately did not take me on the journey I was promised.


Writing:

If I were to use a word that would best describe the writing used to convey the story, it would be excessive. While I didn't find it particularly hard to make my way through the book, there was a lot of vocabulary that was used far too much for my liking.

The word 'shyte' was overused, and the amount of talk relating to bodily fluids and excrement was far more than I would have liked to see. There was also an intense focus on the human body and its more private parts. Every time a new person is introduced, Kinch had to describe whether or not they are 'fat' (and for the most part they are depicted as such).

As you can see, the language used was very crude and oftentimes immature. There were a few good lines in there but for the most part, it was just full of bad humour.

The story was also told introspectively, which means that the main character was narrating everything himself. It is kind of like how in The Emperor's New Groove, Kuzco would pause the story to describe what is going on, only in this case it was way less charming and filled with unnecessary information.


Plot:

For the majority of the book, I felt like I had lost the plot. I honestly forgot what the plot was several times. Nothing really felt cohesive as the storylines didn't blend together seamlessly. I would finish a chapter and then wonder how Kinch ended up in the situation he was in in the following chapter. I felt like I had either zoned out or accidentally skipped something because of the gaps in the story.

The story did get a bit more interesting in the middle, but then it proceeded to become uninteresting again not long after. It says a lot about a book when it cannot keep my attention. The only thing that I would say that was decently well written were the fight scenes.

Because this story is told through the narration of the main character, there were a lot of unnecessary descriptions in this. For example, the story goes into excruciating detail about a card game that Kinch plays. It felt like an absolute waste of space and story. The sheer number of unnecessary details also disconnected me from the story because it felt more like ramblings than points that were crucial to the plot.

World-Building:

I will say that I spent at least half of this book confused by the number of peoples in this. There was a lot of information that was thrown at you in order to build the world, but at the same time, my brain did not take in any of that information. Everyone just went in one ear and out the other. One thing that peeved me a bit was the fact that Kinch and his people have black tongues, the namesake of the book, but as far as I am aware not once did it mention why.

What I did understand was that this world is highly influenced by a pantheon-like religious system, which I did find was interesting. What disappointed me though, was the fact that we did not learn much about the gods and goddesses. I was tantalized by the idea of there being a Forbidden God, but sadly they were barely mentioned.

As for the magic system, I am also rather confused by it. There seemed to be several different kinds of magic (black, brown, tattoo, plague, etc.) and different kinds of magic users (magi, magicker, witches, etc.) as well. I was hoping that there would be an index in the back that would further explain the system, but there was not, so I felt like I was left in the dark.

Characters:

Our unfortunate MC, Kinch, whose journey we follow side-by-side with, was probably the least interesting character of the bunch. As I said in the writing section, his characterization was mainly just full of crude and immature jokes. It also took a bit for him to be a useful character, as originally in fight scenes he would just stand back and shoot the occasional arrow. Galva was more interesting than Kinch, but I did have an issue with her characterization. I felt like there a strange amount of emphasis on her chest. Her character, to me, was being downgraded in order to focus on that.

As for a character who drives the main conflict, Sesta, I felt like her involvement was pointless. She would only appear randomly and occasionally so she felt less like a fully fleshed-out character and more like someone just thrown into the mix to mess things up a bit. The addition of Bully the cat also didn't really have much relevance, and this is coming from someone who loves cats no matter what.

Another addition that I thought added nothing to the story was the romance. I thought that there was zero attraction between the characters, especially when they just met each other. If a romance cannot be done well, it is better off not being included in the first place.

Overall, the characters were just not able to hold a story that was already fractured.


Concluding Thoughts:

With the book having more downs than ups for me, I ultimately think that this didn't offer me anything that was particularly interesting or for me. Do I still think that many people will enjoy this, however, yes?

If you like questing or books with an introspective dialogue, try this out for yourself and see where you stand.

The below 5-star review was posted to Every Day Should Be Tuesday on 5/25/21 and to Amazon and Goodreads on 5/26/21:

Buehlman had me at “stag-sized battle ravens.” That alone was enough to make me jump at an ARC of The Blacktongue Thief when offered one by the publisher. And we do indeed get a giant warbird (if not quite so much as we might hope or dream), but The Blacktongue Thief is so much more than that. There is epic fantasy-scale worldbuilding with pulp sensibilities, magic and mayhem, death and despair and hope. It is already on my short list for best books of the year, and would be even if I actually had time to properly keep up with my reading.

Kinch is a thief. Not just any thief, a guild-trained thief. Which has left him with many, many useful skills (including the ability to cast a few cantrips), but also with a mountain of debt. It is that debt that leads him to attempt to waylay the wrong woman on a remote road and to accompany her on her quest after. Galva is a knight who doesn’t have a horse, but she has something better—a giant warbird. She also has need to cross half the continent to a country that has been invaded by giants. They intentionally add the apprentice of a powerful sorcerous and unintentionally add a fearsome assassin with the oddest hiding spot along the way.

The story is told entirely in the first person from Kinch’s perspective. I love his voice. The choice by Buehlman is a canny one. Not only is he a fun character, he doesn’t know as much about what is going on as the other characters, helping shield the reader from details more impactfully revealed later. And his budding internal conflict nicely complements all the external conflict.

Kinch is a Galt. Along with his profession, his ethnicity provides the title of the book. Galts, with their rumored elvish heritage, are known for their literally black tongues. The Galts are very Irish.

“I suppose unexpected trouble describes Galt generally, at least as we’ve been found by our conquerors from Holt. It took the Holtish fifty years to subjugate our lands, and they’ve spent the three centuries since regretting it. No good at taking orders, blacktongues, we’ll never be invading anybody—but we’re hell on our own soil. Galts are natural archers and good at throwing anything from a stone to a spear to a rotten squash. Fine musicians and riders, too, back when horses ran on the plains.”

I can’t help but like the Galts. Chesterton would too; their wars are merry and their songs are sad:

“My five Upstart sons are all bloody and brave
I’ve got one on the gallows, and two in the grave
One is your prisoner, and none is your slave

I’ve got one in the hills that you never have met
And though he is young, he will murder you yet”

Buehlman is a horror writer, as I understand it, making his first foray into fantasy. What a foray it is! Not that Buehlman cannot still invoke some terror when the tale calls for it:

“I would never forget it; not the sight of its rending suckers squeezing out water on the bottoms of its tree-thick tentacles, nor the sound of sailors yelling for their lovers and mothers while it stripped the skin off their backs or plunged them into the brine.”

The Blacktongue Thief is Grimdark at its best. Very dark and very grim, horrific at times, but Buehlman understands that grimness is not mutually exclusive of wildly fun worldbuilding. There is magic and monsters a plenty. Goblins, giants, kraken, giant warbirds . . . the hits come early and often. It reminds me of old-school pulp worldbuilding, thick with “hey, look at this cool thing!” and efficient in its delivery, never suggesting the author is attempting to meet his quota of allusions to a much thicker, hidden, carefully indexed appendix. It is very effective and very fun.

Fun isn’t usually something I associate with the Grimdark subgenre. I have come to cast a wary eye on the subgenre, for all that many of fantasy’s most talented storytellers are working in the space. Too often it is fantasy less most of the magic and fun, all with an overly dour cast. The Blacktongue Thief has magic and fun aplenty. But make no mistake, the world is still really frigging grim. Remember the reference to horses above? The goblins cooked up a plague that killed almost every horse in the world. And people care. Galva, knight of a horse-loving people, bears readily apparent emotional scars from their loss. Not that physical scars are in short supply. Goblins are biters, see, so ten isn’t necessarily the most popular number of digits. And that is for the people who lived. Enough men died in the first goblin war to cause a noticeable dearth of men of a certain age. Enough women fought in the next one to cause a noticeable dearth of children of another age. Wandering the lands in which The Blacktongue Thief is set is like wandering Europe after World War I. The goblin wars cast a dark pall over everything.

Worth separate mention is the thieves’ guild Kinch is in hock to. I have been traditionally leery of thieves’ guilds in fantasy, inevitably finding them terribly unrealistic (dragons are terribly unrealistic too, but they are much cooler than thieves’ guilds). Buehlman gives us a believable, terrible guild that has its grubby fingers in just about every pot in the land. It topples thrones; thrones do not topple it. Living under the thumb of the guild in its assassins is positively dystopian, and it isn’t just guild-college educated, indebted thieves like Kinch or the legions of legbreakers it can call on by virtue of expensive-but-easy-to-finance colleges that are mostly a scam—it is kind of . . . everyone. And however awful you think the guild is, the truth is worse.

It is three-dimensional Grimdark, which makes it more palatable, but it is also Grimdark with heart (GrimHeart). I love it.

I have no complaints about The Blacktongue Thief. I could gush for a 1,000 more words. But expectations can bend the reality of how the reader enjoys a tale. This is a quest tale. It isn’t an epic fantasy, at least not yet, goblin wars, and giants and giant warbirds notwithstanding. And it isn’t a heist story, despite featuring a thief as the main character. It is also very much the first book in a series—satisfying in its own right, but not a standalone by any means.

I received an ARC of The Blacktongue Thief from Macmillan-Tor/Forge in exchange for an honest review.

If you follow speculative fiction in the online book community, The Blacktongue Thief has likely been appearing over and over in your feed; it’s probably the most-buzzed-about release of 2021. This is often, for me, a red flag—I’ve been burned too many times by hype and misaligned, too-high expectations. But that mindset came around to bite me in 2019 when I put off what would become one of my favorite books of that year, Gideon the Ninth, for months and months. You can’t win! So I decided to give The Blacktongue Thief a try in the hopes of avoiding another Gideon scenario.

And…it’s fine. It’s fine? It’s fine.

The Blacktongue Thief is a book reminiscent of The Name of the Wind in that it relies entirely on the strength of its first-person narrator, a thief named Kinch, to carry the story and engage the reader. Kinch, unfortunately, didn’t quite work for me. I never found him particularly compelling or humorous (Buehlman leans heavily on the latter), and a novel can only go so far for you when its core conceit doesn’t click. This is likely a classic case of “it’s me, not you”; we all know how subjective humor is, and other readers seem to have responded positively to it, so I don’t feel comfortable claiming The Blacktongue Thief failed in what it is trying to do.

Kinch finds himself in debt and on an unanticipated journey across a fantastical world. He is accompanied by Galva, a knight who is handmaiden to the goddess of death (cool!), and various other characters, including a witch and a show-stealing assassin. Most of these characters are more interesting than Kinch himself, and I found their travels to be largely enjoyable. The Blacktongue Thief is fast-paced and borderline episodic, as if afraid even a brief pause might result in the reader losing interest, and although I was craving more downtime between action sequences so I could get to know the characters, I still enjoyed the inventiveness of the setpieces.

These sequences shine because the world Buehlman has created is, to put it bluntly, wild—in the best possible way. I’ve consumed a lot of fantasy in my life, and I was consistently impressed by how absolutely bonkers The Blacktongue Thief is; certain elements of its worldbuilding, and how those elements interact, are truly novel. It is all the more disappointing, then, that most of said worldbuilding is deposited via un- or loosely-prompted infodumps from Kinch. “That’s so cool!” I frequently found myself thinking as Kinch explained a bit of history or some aspect of magic, even as my eyes glazed over because the information was presented in a fashion more suitable for a fan wiki than an actual book.

I was rarely bored by The Blacktongue Thief, and I don’t regret my time with it. Will I read the sequel? Probably, if only to find out what else Buehlman has up his sleeve—there’s a lot of potential here that I hope will be realized in future installments. But for me, this was another case in which hype obscured nothing more than a perfectly competent and readable novel.

Where to begin with this book.. I've been describing this book as a DND adventure set in a rich and hilarious world. Which is exactly what it is! If you love adventure with plenty of humor and equally serious at parts, then this is your cup of tea. For his first debut fantasy novel, Christopher Buehlman has done such a great job at forming an enticing world full of wars and history that we've only just scraped at the beginning of. Kinch himself even grows throughout the book, learning more about the world he's seen so little of in reality, and all of the dangers that go with it. Goblins, Sailors, Soldiers, more Goblins, GIANTS, it's an amazing story with twists and turns at every corner. The best part was that it wasn't just point a to point b on their quest, it was a trail of characters and enemies that pop in and out of their lives.
My favorite part was the ending, that TWIST. It was a gorgeous beginning to a new series that I'm really looking forward to the next installment!

I was so excited to get my hands on this book after reading the synopsis. A thief that tries to steal from a woman only to realize she's a knight and them having to embark on a mission to another kingdom to stop an invasion is definitely eye catching. Sadly, this book was more dissapointing as it went on.

This book has an audience and it definitely is not me. The writing style was difficult to get through, as facts that could've been told precisely were instead dragged out in such a rambling manner that you lost the plot of the book. I understand this is a quirk of the main character so there's not much to be done for that. The way that the main character talks without stopping is also very off putting as he rambles on and on.

It's difficult to get into the story unless you really push yourself, it doesn't sweep you off your feet. It's hard to connect with anything when for more than half of the book you don't know what's actually about to happen and all interest is lost because of the info dumps. I will say that I appreciated some of the jokes, I genuinely laughed at them.

The guild was an interesting concept and overall it was a standard fantasy world but it ultimately failed to deliver.