The Blacktongue Thief

"Good fantasy book, made great by injecting a great sense of humor. I laughed frequently as the story continued which, maybe I’m reading the wrong fantasy books, is a rarity in fantasy books. Very clever, good plot, good read."

"3.5 star.<br/><br/>Every so often I start a book and from the very first chapter, I know I'm going to love it. This stayed true until about the halfway mark. Ugh so disappointing. Honestly, it's difficult to put my finger on what went wrong. I think it might have been the structure of the story which was often chaotic and didn't seem worth telling at times.<br/><br/>Kinch came out strong and swinging though. I immediately loved his arse-face charm. I was surprised at so much character depth in such a short amount of time. Also the narrator Christopher Beuhlman is probably the only reason I finished the story. Or maybe it was because if I finished the person I was reading it with couldn't mark me as a quitter. Which I desperately wanted to do. Also, the jokes and jabs from Kinch were quite fun at times too.<br/><br/>This book had everything going for it. Magic, banter, witts, character depth. A strong female lead who was surprisingly a side character which intrigued me. Normally Kinch would have been on the outskirts so I was curious to see where that lead.<br/><br/>This is one of those times when I know the story is good but it just wasn't for me. The structure was so clipped that I think I could have often skipped whole paragraphs and not have gotten left behind. I did feel the rich history of the world but the magic system had no set of rules or boundaries and that is never believable to me even in a fictional world.<br/><br/>The romantic side plot was fresh and fun. We got to see a new side to Kinch. It was still strange to see Kinch as the main character but honestly, he was the most fun, so maybe not so strange after all. It was just refreshing but in the end, the storyline couldn't hold my attention.<br/><br/>"I won't be your dog but if you're half the wolf I think you are, you've found a fox to run with.""

"Mediocre adventure that moves at a snails pace and is filled with too much worthless details. "

"Slow burn book at times but eventually lead to a quite surprising twist at the conclusion of the story."

"Finished this book mid April and I still can’t stop thinking about it. The world building and its characters is just incredible. "

"I have been eagerly anticipating this book for over a year, so when i got the opportunity to review an ARC from Netgalley for an unbias review, I was SO excited.<br/><br/>Initial impressions, this book felt wholly original to me. The author took classic fantasy tropes (elves, thieves guild, magic guild) and spun them on their head. They created a fascinating magic and "debt" system that drives the Protagonist to act agains't his own better nature, and how to deal with these consequences. <br/><br/>I particularly loved the flashbacks to Kinch's educations. It reminded me of Scott Lynch's Locke Lamora, and i would love to see more.<br/><br/>The only reason I gave this a 4 star versus a 5 is I felt the ending was really rushed. He built out this awesome world, new magic system, and built out Kinch as a character, to then rush to setup for a sequel. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the sequel I just hope the adventure doesn't feel rushed and forced."

"Drop a mischief maker into a complex political journey, enjoy while he creates chaos. Journeys through forests and oceans and monsters, oh my!"

"A near perfect Grimdark Fantasy novel. Highly reccomended. "

"Audiobook was great, this author normally has great audiobooks"

"Great sense of humor and world building."