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A review by ravencrantz
Den of Thieves by David Chandler
4.0
Finally! A good read to offset all the terrible books I've come across lately!
Malden is a thief and is given the task of stealing something very important from the Burgrave of the Free City of Ness. The job will pay him just enough to settle a debt with Cutbill, the leader of the underground thieves guild. In this world of demons and sorcerers, Malden is just an ordinary thief trying to survive another day.
I actually really enjoyed this. I love the world building. We are only given insight into the City of Ness, but even then it's wonderful. It reminds me a lot of Terry Pratchett's Ankh Morpork, only less satirical. It goes into reason about why you give children small beer and not water or milk (water is highly polluted and milk is expensive), forges and tanneries smell like no tomorrow, the poor are poor the rich are rich, children pickpocket to survive. It's pretty realistic for a fantasy novel.
I really like Malden, which is such a wonderful change from my recent reads. He's been dealt a terrible life, as the son of a whore no one will respect him or give him a chance at honest work which is why he resorted to thieving. Even so, he's not exactly pessimistic about life. He just has a good grasp on reality. And still he's able to crack jokes. He's good at what he does and he knows it, but he's not overconfident. He knows being overconfident will lead him to the gallows, so he keeps a level head.
Sir Croy is another matter. He comes from money and has never had to struggle as Malden has. Croy is all about honor. He is a knight banished from the city who comes back for love and refuses to stop until his love is free and they can be together happily ever after. He refuses to believe that the beggars and thieves have no choice, that they can rise up and earn an honest living if they just try. He has no idea what it means to go through hardships in life. He's mister perfect knight in shining armor. And I really don't like him. He's a great character, don't get me wrong, but I just don't like his character. I don't like people who look down on the poor and think well gee you shouldn't have been poor then. I kept rooting for his death, but sadly it never came.
Bikker is probably my favorite. He trained Croy, but has denounced his knighly hood and has turned to the dark side, so to speak. He no longer cares about honor and is all about who can pay him more. Croy isn't pleased, and that's putting it lightly. I really like Bikker because he's Croy, but without the whole mindset of everything can be fixed if only you tried harder. Bikker knows the world is a mess, he knows people need to kill to survive. He's such a great character and I wish he got more page time.
Cythera was a great character until the end when they dropped the big plot twist. It wasn't really her fault, but that part is actually what's keeping this from a five star rating.I like the idea of her tattoos and the curse. I like that she can hold her own and she's all about protecting her mother. It's just dropping that plot twist so casually, I mean she had plenty of other times to say it and it felt like it came out of nowhere. The author did set it up, so I'll give him that, but still it felt out of place and brought my opinion of the book down.
Hazoth is a great villain, but that's about it. He's super overpowered, but he's lived for 800 years so that's understandable. Other than that there's really not much to say on him?
Looking back, so much happened, but at the same thing not much at all. Yet, I never felt bored. It was full of wonderful descriptions of the city and the way it worked. There are so many twists and turns and you just have to sit and hope Malden finally catches a break. I actually cared what happened to the characters (minus Croy) and once I got started it was hard to put down. I honestly can't wait to pick up the second book.
Malden is a thief and is given the task of stealing something very important from the Burgrave of the Free City of Ness. The job will pay him just enough to settle a debt with Cutbill, the leader of the underground thieves guild. In this world of demons and sorcerers, Malden is just an ordinary thief trying to survive another day.
I actually really enjoyed this. I love the world building. We are only given insight into the City of Ness, but even then it's wonderful. It reminds me a lot of Terry Pratchett's Ankh Morpork, only less satirical. It goes into reason about why you give children small beer and not water or milk (water is highly polluted and milk is expensive), forges and tanneries smell like no tomorrow, the poor are poor the rich are rich, children pickpocket to survive. It's pretty realistic for a fantasy novel.
I really like Malden, which is such a wonderful change from my recent reads. He's been dealt a terrible life, as the son of a whore no one will respect him or give him a chance at honest work which is why he resorted to thieving. Even so, he's not exactly pessimistic about life. He just has a good grasp on reality. And still he's able to crack jokes. He's good at what he does and he knows it, but he's not overconfident. He knows being overconfident will lead him to the gallows, so he keeps a level head.
Sir Croy is another matter. He comes from money and has never had to struggle as Malden has. Croy is all about honor. He is a knight banished from the city who comes back for love and refuses to stop until his love is free and they can be together happily ever after. He refuses to believe that the beggars and thieves have no choice, that they can rise up and earn an honest living if they just try. He has no idea what it means to go through hardships in life. He's mister perfect knight in shining armor. And I really don't like him. He's a great character, don't get me wrong, but I just don't like his character. I don't like people who look down on the poor and think well gee you shouldn't have been poor then. I kept rooting for his death, but sadly it never came.
Bikker is probably my favorite. He trained Croy, but has denounced his knighly hood and has turned to the dark side, so to speak. He no longer cares about honor and is all about who can pay him more. Croy isn't pleased, and that's putting it lightly. I really like Bikker because he's Croy, but without the whole mindset of everything can be fixed if only you tried harder. Bikker knows the world is a mess, he knows people need to kill to survive. He's such a great character and I wish he got more page time.
Cythera was a great character until the end when they dropped the big plot twist. It wasn't really her fault, but that part is actually what's keeping this from a five star rating.I like the idea of her tattoos and the curse. I like that she can hold her own and she's all about protecting her mother. It's just dropping that plot twist so casually, I mean she had plenty of other times to say it and it felt like it came out of nowhere. The author did set it up, so I'll give him that, but still it felt out of place and brought my opinion of the book down.
Hazoth is a great villain, but that's about it. He's super overpowered, but he's lived for 800 years so that's understandable. Other than that there's really not much to say on him?
Looking back, so much happened, but at the same thing not much at all. Yet, I never felt bored. It was full of wonderful descriptions of the city and the way it worked. There are so many twists and turns and you just have to sit and hope Malden finally catches a break. I actually cared what happened to the characters (minus Croy) and once I got started it was hard to put down. I honestly can't wait to pick up the second book.