![]() ![]() As a bonafide member of the Takers Guild-the official organization of thieves and other miscreants-Kinch is just pursuing his vocation, albeit at a low point in his life. We meet Kinch on page one when he’s part of a raggle-taggle band of highwaymen. ![]() ![]() In any case, the allusive name certainly can stand a modern-day repurposing.) ![]() (To the best of my awareness, the only famous fictional “Kinch” to date is the POW played by Ivan Dixon in Hogan’s Heroes, and so I don’t think any homage is intended-except insofar as both Kinches are underdog tricksters. It’s a rollicking ride from start to finish (a finish which is fully satisfying, but open-ended towards sequels), and it’s all contoured, colored and made tangible by the unique narrative voice of our anti-hero, Kinch. What he has delivered in this sixth of his tales is a glorious overstuffed “secondary world” fantasy that manages to balance the picaresque mode with that of the (far too often overdone) quest mode the cosmic with the mundane comedy with tragedy the scatalogical with the ethereal and unmitigated selfishness with noble dedication and altruism. But certainly my enjoyment of his newest, The Blacktongue Thief, will propel me to search out his earlier books. The Blacktongue Thief, Christopher Buehlman ( Tor 978-1250621191, $25.99, 416pp, hc) May 2021.Īuthor of five previous novels, Christopher Buehlman had not previously fallen across my radar screen. ![]()
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