THE BLACKTONGUE THIEF

This book is hilarious! Sass of the filthiest quality. 100 stars! Reads very much like a standalone but has some open things for a sequel. Super enjoyable.

This is a very readable and entertaining fantasy of a thief rescuing a damsel in distress. It is filled with snark, shit jokes, and quite a bit of blood and gore. The prose flows and it is very light hearted fun. A very enjoyable read.

4.5 StarsThe creativity of Christopher Buehlman is evident and I quoted many dialogues. The prose is first-person straightforward with many poems in it. The narration of the protagonist is well done by the author and has a strong voice to it.The characters are explored with the movement of the plot towards the end, which makes it a well-paced book and not a slow burn.The world-building is found in every chapter and it feels like this first book sets the whole world for the series. The author holds your hand in every chapter to explain the Magic system, geo-locations, traditions, and history. It has a lot of history and backstories for the world, which not all but have some part to play in the overall plot.There are multiple sets of creatures in it just like a fantasy should have. The Magic system works well with the plot and there should be more to it in coming books.If you like world-building with many different cultures, many backstories, a good amount of action scenes, magic, characters swearing with wit, and amusing chapters then this book is worth your time.I would definitely come back for the future books in the series as I enjoyed it a lot.

This has to be one of the most confusing books I've read recently. Also, I'm not quite sure I know exactly how I feel about it. Here's me trying anyways.First of all, even for a story not based on pirates, this felt very Pirate-y. Kinch, our protagonist, is a thief working off his debts to his guild. And now, he has to go on a journey towards the other side of the land on an unknown, but very likely to be fatal mission. But he has a few tricks up his sleeve. Those taught to him by his guild and those he's been living with for longer.And so we meet his company for this journey, a Spanth knight and a witchling. And others they meet up on the way. And a blind cat. (Who's the most important character in my opinion. Fight me.)To start with a very obvious choice - the world building. It was immense. And immensely interesting too. What with historical wars between humans (or kynd I should say) and goblins, and the rich variety of people among the kynd itself, the various cultures, all with a magic system which will make your head spin. There's so much of everything. Sometimes it was overwhelming. But, also, I was too intrigued by it all to really mind. Also, also, really not one I want to live in though. 😅The cast of characters was a huge plus point for the book too. You are constantly learning new things about them, and they are interesting enough to make you anticipate doing that. To speak of the MC, Kinch, who's pretty important given that we have a First person narration, is a captivating enough from the start, (though sometimes, feels like the one irritating brother you can't get rid of😅) and you grow to love him as you progress through the story. The writing was, like him, sassy, self-deprecatingly hilarious, rough around the edges and a lot of times, quite crude. But, like Kinch, you grow to get used to it.As for the plot, it felt more like a series rather than movie. Not to say it was disjointed, but it wasn't in the typical format of a story with an introduction, conflict and conclusion (to speak in the broadest terms😅). Keeping it non-spoilery, as you read the book you have an expectation of where and when the story is going to end, but it's not really all that exciting. To go back to the analogy, it felt like we left off mid-season, though with an episode with quite a satisfying ending - 'cause, those last few chapters were really quite good.Overall, I'd just like to say that I am very much looking forward to that sequel.Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.