The Blacktongue Thief
The Blacktongue Thief series, Book 1
Christopher Buehlman
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy/Humor
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: In the years after the goblin wars devastated the lands of men, wiping out generations of girls and boys sent to battle and even seeing the land's horses fall to some foul goblin plague like the ones they spread against people, a thief still has to earn a living. This is especially true if, like Kinch, they still owe the Guild of Takers for their training, and with the Guild's agents in most every human realm, there's no running out on a debt. Which is why the wiry thief was waiting in the woods with a gang of half-baked bandits looking for a likely mark... only the woman they target is no fainting flower. She's a foreign swordswoman, veteran of the wars and sworn disciple of the goddess of death, and though Kinch escapes with his life, fate will see their paths cross again. For the Guild has devised a new way for Kinch to pay back his debt: seek out the woman Galta and join her on her quest to find a lost princess in a realm now under assault from giants. Only the Guild refuses to tell him what he's to do when they find her, and he'd bet his black tongue they have no interest in restoring her to her throne, as Galta means to do. He's done a lot of dark deeds in his day, more than his share some might say, but this is a line he won't willingly cross - even if defiance will bring down every curse and every assassin of the Guild upon his head. Good thing he's known for his luck - only luck has a way of running out just when you need it most...
REVIEW: I'd heard many good things about this book, and finally found the audiobook title available through Overdrive, narrated by the author. It happily lived up to its hype, and then some. Buehlman establishes a dark and filth-stained world of shady guilds and squabbling powers and clashing cultures and magic reminiscent of old epic sagas, where witches wear the legs of dead men and an old blind cat can carry a hidden assassin tattooed with magic spells. In a world like this, heroes are nearly as rare as the dying horses, a blow that everyone, even those born after the plague that wiped them out, still feels acutely. It's a world that belongs instead to the backstabber and the thief, the scarred veteran who cannot let go and the shrinking coward who rationalizes their own inaction and misdeeds. Kinch is just a young man from a conquered people struggling (and failing) to keep ahead of the perpetual debt that the Guild of Takers uses to keep their people leashed, but there's just enough vestigal decency and defiance in him to try, on occasion, to do the right thing, even if it backfires at least as often as not. Galta has the spirit of a noble knight, entrusted with a grand quest for her nation, but even she is not entirely above the muck and the gray morality that permeates the broken land. They pick up traveling companions along the way, including a witch in training and a rival from Kinch's homeland who knows the thief for the coward he is. There's action, a fair bit of it violent, and a vein of dark humor from the first page that doesn't significantly let up throughout the tale. There's also tears and sacrifice and failure, hidden facets to just about everyone and everything (even the goblins and the giants), and magic aplenty. The whole was a thoroughly enjoyable and immersive tale, one that works reasonably well as a standalone but which leaves several threads for the impending sequel. I think I may have to buy myself a print copy of this one for rereading, which, given my exceptionally limited physical shelf space and book budget these days, is saying something...
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