Press Reviews

• Anthony Ryan, New York Times bestselling author of Blood Song

  The Blacktongue Thief is a delight from start to finish. What begins as a sidekick's view of the hero's journey soon blossoms into a finely crafted and highly entertaining ride through a world as monstrous as it is wondrous. Christopher Buehlman takes the well-worn tropes of fantasy and weaves them into a new and vibrant tapestry

• Brent Weeks, New York Times bestselling author of The Black Prism

  The Blacktongue Thief announces a remarkable new voice to the genre. It's fast and fun and filled with crazy magic balanced by tight characterization. I can't wait to see what Christopher Buehlman does next

• Glen Cook, author of The Black Company

  Wow! Truly outstanding. I can't say enough about how good The Blacktongue Thief is. Damned good stuff

• Jonathan French, author of The Grey Bastards

  The Blacktongue Thief is equal parts fairy tale, D&D adventure, and acid trip. Buehlman has successfully blended the essences of these elements into something at once familiar and fresh. I look forward to returning to this evocative and f*cked up world!

• Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names

  The Blacktongue Thief is a masterclass in voice and thoughtful world design, with a wonderful cast and a protagonist who grabs you instantly. Fans of Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora will love this one

• A. K. Larkwood, author of The Unspoken Name

  Buehlman's prose floats nimbly from grisly to lyrical and back again, evoking a damaged world that's by turns bleak and starkly beautiful. A fantastical road trip with a hard-boiled sensibility, complete with shape-shifting assassins, murderous kraken and some delightfully gruesome magic

• David Dalglish, author of the Shadowdance series

  Instantly immersive, with wit as sharp as a thief's blade

• Anna Smith Spark, author of The Court of Broken Knives

  Dark, gritty, lightning-fast, intelligent, irreverent . . . I loved it

• Brian Naslund, author of Blood of an Exile

  I fell in love with Kinch on page one. He's a hilarious narrator and I was also touched by his sensitivity. Christopher's world building is unique, precise, and masterfully woven into a page-turning story. I couldn't put it down! A joyfully mischievous adventure, but also tragic and so heartfelt. Fans of Nicholas Eames and Joe Abercrombie will love The BlacktongueThief

• Andrew Pyper, author of The Demonologist

  Lyrical and visceral... Prepare to be transported

• Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld

  THE BLACKTONGUE THIEF is my kind of book. Chock-full of wry wit, foul language, and characters who arrive on the page with savage, sordid pasts hot on their heels. Often humorous, occasionally horrifying, and sometimes incredibly poignant, I loved every single page of this book. Every sentence, even. It's that good.

• Elspeth Cooper, author of SONGS OF THE EARTH

  This is an extraordinary debut. It has all the trappings of a traditional quest - the motley band of adventurers, the history and songs, magic and monsters - but told in the snarky, self-aware voice of first-person urban fantasy. It's salty and funny and vivid as a bruise, a rollicking adventure with a cast (and a cat) you won't forget.

• Edward Cox, author of The Song of the Sycamore

  Fast-paced and action-packed, funny and adventurous - great fantasy fun.

• Jeremy Szal, author of Stormblood

  Refreshingly original but reassuringly familiar, The Blacktongue Thief's cutthroat voice and deliciously dark world is sure to delight, shock and thrill

• Robin Hobb

  The Blacktongue Thief delivers an engaging narrator, a dazzling array of magic and dangers, and a succession of twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing. Book one of a trilogy that reads as a satisfying stand-alone

• Publishers Weekly

  Packed full of magic, mayhem, and mischief, Buehlman's world and characters are artfully rendered

• Arthur Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Memoirs of a Geisha

  One of the most impressive novels I've read in a long time-clever, imaginative, and extremely well written

• Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist for Get In Trouble

  The Blacktongue Thief was one of my favorite fantasy novels of the last few years - epic in scope, funny, and nail-bitingly tense. Like Naomi Novik or T. Kingfisher, Buehlman has a real gift for writing complicated, endearing characters trying to do their best in a complicated, fully lived in world. I can't wait for his next book