Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Blacktongue Thief

I enjoyed this! I was a bit hesitant about it at first, since I haven’t really been reading much fantasy lately, and I was worried I was going to discover that my tastes had changed more than I thought… but I had nothing to fear, this was a lot of “fun” (I hesitate using the word as there are lots of really horrible things that happen in this book… but as a whole, it was entertaining and “lighthearted”). I really appreciated that the author took the opportunity (often) to joke around and show that this wasn’t a story to be taken too seriously.

Thank you to Goodreads and the publisher for a complimentary advanced copy.

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nebulasaurus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tinyelfarcanist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A delightful ride from beginning to end. With frequent humor to even the dark themes, the author doesn't let the fun or grim stuff distract from the plot, or even the best part: the worldbuilding.

"Reminded me of an old poem about lovers separated by war. She asks, he answers.

How will you be coming back home?

By earth, by water, by fire or crow.

Meaning, not at all. They'll bury me in a grave, dump me off the boat, burn me on a pyre, or leave me for carrion. It seemed to fit my present state, only I had no lover at home to ask. Only siblings, a mother, and a niece to suffer for my failure. And there were no crows to eat me here. Only fucking puffins."

The narrator's voice is interesting and distinct, even for funny characters in fantasy. Filled with enough political intrigue, wise observations, unique memorable characters, and a touch of romance, it stands by itself but is still a great introduction to the Blacktongue saga. I finished this book with a sense of fulfillment, my only regret is not picking it sooner.

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catsy2022's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Rating: A

I didn't even write my review before I returned the damn book... I really enjoyed this one, the writing was very digestible, the world was so richly developed and the characters were endearing.

This is my first book by this author but I've heard good things about Between Two Fires as well, which I also have.

Kinch na Shannack is a thief trained by the Takers' Guild but unable to pay them for the cost of training (kpop trainee company much), so now is indebted to them. One day he and his gang choose a mark, an Ispanthian soldier who surely and promptly knocks the shit out of them and spares Kinch. He is then tasked with going on the journey with the Spanth by the guild, with an assassin-adept sent to encourage him. Along the way they also pick up some other companions.

This was a really fast-paced book, NGL. Something is always happening and it doesn't exactly feel like a waste of pages. I felt like it did really serve to build more of the world and to develop the characters. In what could have been another generic fantasy novel, there are so many unique elements that drew me in.

In the backstory of this world, humanity has been at war with the goblins for literally decades. Some nations have an uneasy truce with the goblins, who tend to live underground in big warrens, yet also can take to the sea. They remind me a bit of what darkspawn came to be in Dragon Age. In the war, horses were almost completely massacred but mostly died to a sickness (which is a bit like mad cow disease AFAIK).

There are a few words here and there in the various languages and some helpful explanations of what accents sound like. There are tonnes of poems and songs and some mystery around the pantheon of gods.

I was reading this book alongside another one about a sneaky dude, so I did get a bit confused between the two, but this does stand out as its own thing. The comedian thief has almost been done to death but Kinch has such a rich perspective with his backstory and culture giving him a funny voice. I did like the small parts where characters react to him, especially when he laughs about something he's thinking of and they all look at him like he's insane.

I seriously loved the world building in this. The first few pages have a map, calendar and year cycle to give context to the passage of time. The magic system was so so interesting with several different sub-schools and capabilities.

If there was something to criticise, the book happened to just be full of conveniences. The characters find a bunch if items and clues that are practically all utilised once in the story so you can pretty much tick off each item as coming up. Even some big mysteries from the past are solved in this book, like we are doing side quests and they play into a bigger picture...but like immediately.

Isn't that lucky? Some of the jokes didn't quite land for me and even though I like songs, we will never hear then despite the sheer number of them...

Still it seems this book will definitely scale up. I'm in for the sequel/s

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readundancies's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Well, this was fun. A bit strange, but still very fun.

First, let us address the dust cover because it is simply gorgeous.

Now, with that out of the way, The Blacktongue Thief, the first in a series, is a very classic adventure tale in it's tone and how it's structured. The stakes don’t seem high at first, but as the plot progresses we learn that perhaps they should be, as it feels like we’re on a perpetual adventure; never-ending, with many stops along the way, and a vast number of characters that we meet from all kinds of places, with varying intents and proclivities. It’s set at a consistent medium-like pace, very easy to get through as something is always happening.

Kinch as a lead character is hilarious. There is so much humour he imparts as he narrates, and his interactions with others really allow his humour to shine in the most entertainingly dark albeit ridiculous way. A thief with a heart made of Galtian owlets, he can’t help but be softhearted, and while for the most part this serves him well, it also makes his existence difficult. Galva's strength, Norrigal's cheer, and even Bully Boy and the lovely little Assassin-Adept that is tied to him in addition to the plethora of the other individuals that our merry little group encounter on their journey all speak to the strength of the characterization of this novel.

The world building is very sparse though. There’s so much I wanted to be explained, but the manner in which the story is told implies that we will never get to thoroughly explore this world in the way that I would wish to. Which I can accept logically, but there’s another more illogical and tangential side of me that is genuinely upset at this knowledge. Because it seems like a world worth exploring. I will say however that I was really into all of the curses and how each of the vulgarities, regardless of which language they were in, actually sounded like insults. Like the vernacular actually sounds insulting, despite me maybe not knowing what the insult itself is, and I was here for it.

I’m very likely to pick up the sequel. I don’t want to say definitively, because it is a writing style that doesn’t give very much away, meaning I have to be in the right mindset to wade through the content, but if I’m in the proper mood for this type of quest-like adventure fantasy, I’ll be itching to pick it up. But I'm also kind of glad we have no release date for the sequel, because I need to sit with this awhile, and I don’t think if the sequel was readily available that I’d be able to do that. Don’t misunderstand me though, I am definitely keyed up with wanting to know more, and seeing how things play out.

Things I'm interested in learning in the sequel:

- Will we ever get to know with a definite answer as to who Kinch’s father is?
- The Galva backstory: I want to know it. We’ve gotten some semblance of her but not nearly enough info was provided to sate my curiosity about her.
- Will I get to see a kynd-giant alliance? Because I kinda want one.
- I think I want more magic. But like, more Kinch magic. Wouldn’t it be fun if he had to actually learn something? Also, a further explanation on his affinity with luck would be awesome because I need to know how it works.

All in all, this was a solid debut and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

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chilefry's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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unlikelyplaces's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

I have a lot of thoughts on this book…

Let’s start with the things I liked:

The world building was really solid, it felt really well fleshed out and interesting
I actually really enjoyed the plot overall, it was fast paced and kept me interested the whole way through and if it wasn’t for the negatives (which I’ll get to) I’d definitely want to be carrying on with this series
The action scenes were really well written, exciting but clear

Now for the negatives…

The characters… I am a very character driven reader and actually the snarky thief archetype are my favourite characters to read about however I found this main character just unbearably annoying and the rest of the characters were not really developed very well at all so there was just no one I felt attached to
There were just a few things to do with the writing that really bothered me. Like it wasn’t too bad overall but the author does this thing where he feels the need to end every chapter with like a LINE like the equivalent of “everything changed when the fire nation attacked” *dun dun dunnnn* and also chucks the same type of lines in throughout the chapter as well just to really try to shock you. I don’t know why this bothered me so much, it was just so repetitive…
I really hated the way this book portrays the female characters. It started with the mc constantly commenting on women’s appearances and what he would like to “do” with them and then it was like the mc was a man and all of the other characters were women that were underdeveloped and that the mc spends a lot of time ogling. And THEN the romance started and it was just cringey and at one point he describes a woman’s voice as “husky and fertile”… her voice… was fertile??… I’m not even sure what that’s trying to mean??
There is also a scene that deals with a sexual assault but I felt like the topic was not treated sensitively because the victim was a man which is not ok…
And then just a minor thing, it was marketed as like a dark fantasy/horror but like I didn’t find it that dark? Like it was a bit but not as much as I was expecting? Maybe I just have a high tolerance though.

So yeah… I was really expecting to love this book a lot because from the description it’s everything I love on a book but it just irritated me a lot throughout so… 1.5 for the world and the story but I will not be continuing this series.

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