The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Set in a world of goblin wars, stag-sized battle ravens, and assassins who kill with deadly tattoos, Christopher Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief begins a 'dazzling' (Robin Hobb) fantasy adventure unlike any other. 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. Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford. “The Blacktongue Thief is fast and fun and filled with crazy magic. I can't wait to see what Christopher Buehlman does next." - Brent Weeks, New York Times bestselling author of the Lightbringer series At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

I loved every page of this book.

Review to come shortly

This was a very enjoyable book written with a unique voice and texture. The story is told from the POV of a thief traveling through these (irish-esque) land and the dialog, the slang and the vulgarities all reflect that. Lot of ‘tosser' ‘slipper' and those kind of things. You'll learn a lot about the vulgarities of the land throughout the book and that kind of led to it's enjoyment. There were plenty of quips and jabs and lots of action and an interesting crew of characters. Throw in a witch and an assassin animal companion and you have quite the quest.
I found the style a little difficult to get into at first but fell into the rhythm and terminology of it all. It was definitely different than anything else i had read before and I really enjoyed it.

“The thing about a crown though – if you lay it down too long, someone else'll pick it up.”

This book was such a fun read in a genre that's been kind of a letdown for me in recent years. After giving this the cautious “is this another YA fantasy” sniff test, I can tell you this is decidedly not a YA fantasy book, and if you like dark, gritty fantasy with a healthy layer of gallows humor along the way, this would probably be up your alley as well.

A down-on-his-luck thief (er, Taker) named Kinch Na Shannack is just trying to scrape enough cash together to pay back his debts when he runs into Galva, a knight on a quest to save a queen, on the road. He gets swept up in guild politics, gets sent on a secret quest to follow Galva, and has a host of misadventures along the way. Oh, and there's a cat. Don't forget Bully Boy. Rao.

There's lots, lots of worldbuilding in this book, from different races, different languages, different sayings, phrases, mannerisms, and a whole host of historical events and god/goddess stories. I never felt bogged down in any of it either, which I sometimes do when you're beat over the head with infodumps of lore in some books. There's also quite a bit of irreverent humor since this book is from the point of view of a thief, but not so much that it feels like you're going from quippy one-liner to quippy one-liner. Finally, there's some interesting magic here involving tattoos that I thought was a neat touch. And war crows.

I guess if I had to put my finger on why this isn't a 5-star book (because I really enjoyed this one), I think it's because there's very little change in the characters along the way. Things feel a little flat to me when there's no character development, and who these guys are at the beginning of the book is exactly who they are at the end of it. So while the entire thing felt an inch deep in terms of depth, the worldbuilding, humor, and overall style of the book made it a mile wide and incredibly engaging.

Highly recommend this one if you're looking for a little something different in the fantasy genre today, a little something grimdark, a little something gallows humor.