The Blacktongue Thief

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Christopher Buehlman is a very effective writer, with accessible prose that is smooth and easy to glide through. It was one of the strongest points of the tale. This also enforced the strength of our main character, and also those around him, as the gradual crafting of the surrounding cast was natural and very well done. Whilst reading my main desire is to feel attached to characters and feel that they are distinctive, and I definitely found that here.

Kinch’s voice is immediately impactful, hitting the right darkly humorous note from the outset. There’s nothing contrived about it, it’s natural and consistent, with more than an edge of snark. It works well with the pace of the novel, which is more like UF, but the scope of the worldbuilding is nothing less than epic. While I haven’t read his other works, it seemed to me that the author’s horror past is evident throughout, and especially in his depiction of the Goblin Wars. There’s a brutal reality to these wars, and to the goblins themselves, devastating in their effects both personal and worldwide. They intrude upon the narrative in surprising ways, in terror filled battles and silly diversions. A horrifyingly high stakes game of tug-of-war remains on my mind as I'm writing this ... months after reading. But just because its a pitch dark world doesn’t mean it can’t also be funny. If you like your humour crude as hell, that is. It's clear that this won't work for everyone, but Kinch is worth all the gutter talk. 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

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The story follows Kinch who is an indebted thief to the takers guild and he is in debt because of his training so now the guild basically controls him. The book starts with him and a team setting an ambush for Galva who is a knight, a follower of the goddess of death and who is looking for her missing queen. Next thing they find themselves together on an epic adventure! Buehlman is an excellent writer who has honed his skills in other (closely related) genres. I think he carries something from his historical fiction over to this book in as much as his use of songs, sayings, ways of speaking, and ways of viewing the world all add a strong sense of place and time. Obviously every fantasy writer strives for this, but Buehlman brings something fresh to it and achieves great things. Now for the first time ever, I'm making a third category. Things I liked, but may frustrate the hell out of others:

There is a plot which drives the book, but for me it is not why you would read this. It was weaker than the other elements, but that does not really detract from the story. It seems that Christopher Buehlman consciously decided to focus on the characters and world-building, with the plot weaving in and around them. However, the plot was still there, and did help the building of tension to the final satisfying climax of the story. The female characters in the book were well written too, they were not sexualized and they were stronger even than the male characters. Al tiempo que describe los lugares de nota que la fuerza de Buehlman como narrador es muy sobresaliente. Lo que es más importante, fue un placer leerlo. Sarcasmo de asesinos que os harán reír a veces a carcajadas con momentos agridulces que os dejarán sin aliento.

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Jarril sensed the bird coming up on his flank and stopped his run, wheeling to face it. He didn’t have time to do more than raise his axe before the thing speared him with its beak where no man wants beak nor spear. His heavy chain mail hauberk measured to his knees, but those birds punch holes in skulls, so what was left of Jarril’s parts under the chain mail didn’t bear thinking about. He dropped, too badly hurt even to yell. Frella yelled, though. I glanced left and saw Pagran bent over, covered in blood, but I think it was Frella’s—she was bleeding enough for both of them, spattering the ground from a vicious underarm cut that looked to run elbow to tit. And of course, like most of the best fantasies, we have magic-magic that shows up in all sorts of unexpected ways and in unexpected things...like cats or tattoos. I was so scared, I half wanted to piss myself, but the difference between the strong and the weak isn’t that the strong don’t piss themselves. It’s that they hitch their pissy pants up after and go through with it.” The narration is all done in "Irish", which adds a certain flair and flavor to the story. I say "Irish" because the author/narrator is American, and it's bold indeed to do an entire book in an accent that isn't yours 'naturally'. I think he performs it admirably- but since I'm not Irish, I also don't know how much it is just stereotype and how much it is a genuine Irish pronunciation. Either way, I think that takes courage and I was happy with it.