The Blacktongue Thief

Great everything. The protagonist is the best character and also not the best, while being the best all the same

Absolutely phenomenal.

The characters and scenes from very different world are brilliantly brought to life by the gifted narrator/author. I would love to see the magic and adventure of this work spark a series. It was a true pleasure listening to this book.

Excellent storytelling. Creating a new world with a new twist on magic. And a nice bit of humor wrapped in.

Having previously enjoyed a couple of Buehlman’s horror novels, I was expecting to enjoy this one as well. However, the Blacktongue Thief is, far and away, my favorite of his works, to date. Imbued with his usual biting wit, The Blacktongue thief sends the reader on an engaging and inventive quest, filled with equal measures of horror and heart.

I was waiting on this book to come out for a while (having seen it in the “coming soon” section) and I was not disappointed! Reading this book felt like reading a really entertaining Dungeons & Dragons campaign, but one narrated by a witty Scottish halfling rogue in a party full of women much stronger and more competent than him. In other words, it was utterly charming. I found myself laughing out loud more than once. Perhaps even more noteworthy was this male author’s ability to write female fantasy characters seen through the perspective of a male character, and yet NOT objectify them. Not a single paragraph about gravity-defying boobs or reducing them to their physical appearances. Hallelujah, it CAN be done. And he didn’t have to sacrifice romance and attraction to do it. I actually really liked the romance in the story, found it very sweet and genuine. So much so that I wanted to see more of it than the ending gave. It was a bit ambiguous whether there will be a sequel or not—I hope so, because I want to read it.