There is bit of magic but it's expensive thing and reserved for few. As a 'nose', information gatherer for crime boos, he is proficient fighter, a good thief and sneaky bastard but by no means person of extraordinary talents so when story takes him to situation way over his head he must rely on his wits, good decisions, bit of luck and healthy dose of paranoia to stay alive.įights themselves are done very well and rarely our protagonist get out of them easily or without wounds. Entire story is told through PoV of Drothe, anti-hero with some compassion and true sense of loyalty but who can be merciless bastard who kills and tortures to get to his goals. There is constantly something happening and story keeps moving fast. Worldbuilding is fairly localized and takes backseat to story that keeps you on the edge. And indeed Among thieves sometimes seems like older, more level headed brother of Lies of Locke Lamora. Setting and characters are somewhat similar to Gentleman bastards but more balance, plausible and ridden of some of melodrama present Lynch's books. We seen that already done well in more famous Gentlemen bastards and Ryria revelations so Among thieves has already good competition to measure against but luckily first book of Tales of kin lives up and even surpasses in some segments cousins that preceded it. Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizesīook with bromance between two criminals where one is skilled thief and other one great fighter. If you're looking for comparisons I would point at Scott Lynch, Brent Weeks, and Sebastian De Castell. The sword fights are well portrayed and the friendship between Drothe and the Degan feels real. Magic is deployed from time to time but most of the conflict comes in the form of sword fights which we are given in considerable detail and from an expert point of view since Hulick himself is a keen fencer. He does a lot of running about through a complicated plot, trying to keep himself and his sister alive while unraveling the mystery from the inside. Drothe is a 'nose' (I think) whose job entails getting information.ĭrothe gets rather too much information (in the form of a book) and suddenly is the focus of interest of dangerous and powerful groups. Our two heroes are Drothe who is himself a criminal (a member of the Kin) and the Degan who is a more morally upstanding fellow and part of a small order of elite swordsmen.

That fact stuck with me as Prince of Thorns (which has no torture scenes) was getting stick at the time for having torture scenes :)Īnyway, this is basically a buddy movie that takes place in a city dominated by organised crime. I didn't review it at the time so this is from hazy-ish memory.Īs I recall, the book opens with a torture scene. I read this back when Prince of Thorns was first published as it came out just before my debut.

Among thieves by douglas hulick