The Blacktongue Thief
Kinch Na Shannack owes a fortune to the Takers Guild, the assassin school that taught him to lie, steal, and kill. To pay it down, he agrees to escort a Spanth knight named Galva through a continent ravaged by giants, dragon-eating goblins, and the catastrophic war that left almost no men alive. The mission goes wrong inside chapter two and stays wrong for 400 pages, in the best way.
What you might want to know about The Blacktongue Thief
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A thief in deep guild debt escorts a knight across a war-broken continent stalked by giants, talking cats, and surviving dragons in this debut fantasy from a horror veteran.
Yes. The Blacktongue Thief is followed by The Daughters' War and is part of Christopher Buehlman's planned Blacktongue series. The author has indicated more books are coming.
Yes. The Blacktongue Thief is widely cited as one of the wittiest fantasy novels of recent years, with a smart-mouthed protagonist whose voice keeps the dark world propulsive. Christopher Buehlman is also a horror novelist (The Suicide Motor Club, A Black Town for Sale).
The Blacktongue Thief was written by Christopher Buehlman, published in 2021 by Tor Books.
The Blacktongue Thief is 416 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Blacktongue Thief takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
The Blacktongue Thief is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
