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A review by heabooknerd
Among Thieves by M.J. Kuhn
5.0
This is not a book about heroes. This is not a book where the good guys win. A criminal mastermind, an assassin, a smuggler, a thief, a forger, and a disgraced guard. Six agendas, one epic heist.
It's rare for me to read a book outside the romance genre but the cover and description for AMONG THIEVES really caught my eye and I ended up absolutely loving it! This was a stunning debut from M.J. Kuhn. The thing that hits me the most is how fast paced this was compared to a lot of fantasy books. It's told from several different points of view so we get the motivations and thoughts of everyone involved. The world building is really interesting and easy to understand even though there's quite a lot of pieces and parts that make up the world of Thamorr.
But what makes AMONG THIEVES truly fun is the characters -- our band of misfit thieves, criminals, and killers. Each character has their own agenda and the backstabbing and betrayal led to some great twists and turns. I actually loved that all these characters were selfish, morally gray, and out for themselves. Many of them are victims of poor upbringings or impoverished circumstances and while some of their motivations are about helping those they love, they're each still willing to do anything it takes to get what they want.
While I enjoyed each character, my favorite was probably Ryia, aka the Butcher of Carrowwick, because she's a chaotic ball of sarcasm and deadly accuracy with an ax. She's been on the run for a long time and she's determined to protect her secrets. She also has a surprisingly noble reason for joining the heist and I liked how we started to see a more vulnerable side to Ryia without lessening her deadly personality. I don't know if the author intends to write more about this world because the ending definitely left room for more, but either way I'm looking forward to more books by this author.
Content Warning: slavery, child abuse, graphic violence
**ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
It's rare for me to read a book outside the romance genre but the cover and description for AMONG THIEVES really caught my eye and I ended up absolutely loving it! This was a stunning debut from M.J. Kuhn. The thing that hits me the most is how fast paced this was compared to a lot of fantasy books. It's told from several different points of view so we get the motivations and thoughts of everyone involved. The world building is really interesting and easy to understand even though there's quite a lot of pieces and parts that make up the world of Thamorr.
But what makes AMONG THIEVES truly fun is the characters -- our band of misfit thieves, criminals, and killers. Each character has their own agenda and the backstabbing and betrayal led to some great twists and turns. I actually loved that all these characters were selfish, morally gray, and out for themselves. Many of them are victims of poor upbringings or impoverished circumstances and while some of their motivations are about helping those they love, they're each still willing to do anything it takes to get what they want.
While I enjoyed each character, my favorite was probably Ryia, aka the Butcher of Carrowwick, because she's a chaotic ball of sarcasm and deadly accuracy with an ax. She's been on the run for a long time and she's determined to protect her secrets. She also has a surprisingly noble reason for joining the heist and I liked how we started to see a more vulnerable side to Ryia without lessening her deadly personality. I don't know if the author intends to write more about this world because the ending definitely left room for more, but either way I'm looking forward to more books by this author.
Content Warning: slavery, child abuse, graphic violence
**ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**