Strong, colourful fantasy: The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

This was a very pleasant surprise. When I first saw it on the #NetGalley selection pages, I hesitated because it was fantasy, my favourite genre, and then decided to pass it over, probably because of the cover and because I didn't know the author. The next time, fortunately, I decided to select it. This is an unmissable picaresque tale. 

The world building is extremely original and vivid. Manreach is mainly inhabited by women because most of the men have died in successive wars against the goblins. The different human nations and nationalities are vividly portrayed. So although a protagonist is male there are any number of female characters of all descriptions: knights, witches, assassins, fencing masters, infantas, pirates, even giants. There are no horses in this world because the goblins killed them using biological warfare. Buehlman's portrayal of goblins and their culture is the best I have found, he manages to make them both disagreeable and at the same time strangely compelling. Magic is strong and folksy, some of it seems to derive from the magic of classic fairytales, such as those of the Brothers Grimm (no, I don't mean the Disney versions), or Russia.

 

Like all good picaresque tales this is told in the first person, our hero is a low ranked thief or Prank, attempting to make his way in this world, it has to be said not very successfully, when he becomes embroiled in a quest that seems far bigger than himself. The language is rich and salty there are swear words aplenty used to great effect in dialogue, descriptions and scabrous doggerel, which often made me laugh out loud. There are also several very strong scenes, Manreach is a brutal, violent place, the sensitive should therefore be wary. Overall this is a riveting book and I hope there are more in the series.

But Tor/Macmillan,  what the hell is with that drear, soulless cover? This is a tale full of rich colour and life, you should be illustrating it to reflect that.

As always, thanks to #NetGalley for allowing me to preview this text.