The Blacktongue Thief
by Christopher Buehlman · first published 2021
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Witty, snarky fantasy with solid characters and a fast, entertaining pace. It suits readers who don't usually pick up the genre and fans of Buehlman's other fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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.
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grugq recommended The Blacktongue Thief a few months ago, and it was fantastic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29670545 Since then, I've read several of the author's other books — and recently I've been re-listening to The First Law…
on “Ask HN: Which book are you reading, since when?” ↗…titles you might like if you're a DCC fan: * Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer -- post-apoc dystopian, somewhat cozy, told from a robot's perspective (who is joined by a companion cyborg dog) * Blacktongue Thief by Chris Buehlman -- witty and snarky fantasy, solid character development and world building; and, if you like it, book 2 in the series (book 3 if you count a prequel) comes out soon * Mortedant's Peril…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗> The Blacktongue Thief I just started this last week after wrapping up DCC series and seeing it recommended in a reddit thread. I'm surprised that I'm enjoying it, it's not my usual genre
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗"Between Two Fires" is so good, I think about it a lot. From the same author (although, in a very different vein) I really enjoyed The Blacktongue Thief.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗…William Blake on bad acid feel and builds to a tremendous crescendo while retaining deep heart and complex characters. Christopher Buhuelman is one of my favorite "new" authors, his new fantasy series The Blacktongue Thief[4.22] and The Daughters War[4.3] are both excellent as well. His horror chops enable him to to make what might be more traditional fantasy stories much more impactful. For example, The Daughters War…
on “Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the 21st Century (So Far)” ↗I just finished book 8 of DCC, and while I wasn't blown away with the series like others, it was entertaining enough to keep me reading. I just started reading The Blacktongue Thief (hardback) and The Name of the Wind (ebook). I've heard very good things about the latter, and although I'm aware that the series may never complete, I'm trying to not let that dissuade me.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗…McDowell) was an awesome horror novella with a mostly excellent cast of characters and plot, whicho was almost totally let down by an unsavory trope that’s unforgivable in something written in 2014. The Blacktongue Thief (Christopher Beuhlman) is the first novel in a new grimdark series with some interesting variations on familiar tropes, although the characters were somewhat flat overall. Here are some books I read…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023” ↗