On the HahaFiction shelf
The Blacktongue Thief
by Christopher Buehlman
Blacktongue · Book 1 · 2021
Kinch Na Shannack learned his trade on credit, and the Takers Guild expects its money back. Robbing a traveler seems like a practical next step until he picks Galva, a knight who survived the goblin wars. After the failed ambush, he finds himself traveling with her through a battered world while she searches for a missing queen.
From the publisher’s blurb
“Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.”Read the full description at Hachette / Gollancz
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What makes it funny?
The Guild has made Kinch's debt into public entertainment. His cheek bears a hand tattoo visible in firelight, and whoever spots it in a tavern can slap him for a free drink. The Books, Bones & Buffy review notes that he keeps going to taverns anyway. He also bargains with his god of mischief as though better luck might still be negotiable.
The comedy at work
Kinch tells the story with a smart mouth and an eye for personal inconvenience. Institutions that can ruin his life also arrange petty humiliations, and his own habits keep him exposed to them. That irreverent viewpoint accompanies the monsters and bloody fights throughout the journey.
Try this if…
Consider this for a fantasy quest with an opinionated thief doing the talking. Detailed world-building and mismatched traveling companions matter as much as the jokes, and the dangers include creatures willing to eat people.
Good to know
Expect foul language, bloody violence and grisly magic. The independent review found some of the world-building leisurely and noted that the ending resolves some problems while leaving Kinch's larger journey open.
More funny quest
Sources & further reading
- Bibliographic edition and series
Book information
- Publisher
Publisher
- Books, Bones & Buffy review
Review
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