Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

CLASSIFICATION: Among Thieves is like a cross between Scott Lynch’s The Gentleman Bastard series and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: The Final Empire, told in a first-person narrative reminiscent of Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse novels but without the hard-boiled cynicism. Apart from the occasional expletive and some graphic violence, Among Thieves mainly keeps to a PG-13 rating. Recommended for readers who like their fantasy “dark and gritty”, but still accessible.

FORM... Read More

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

In Ildrecca, the capital of the Dorminikan Empire, there is, and always has been, a dark empire thriving beneath the ruling one: the criminal underworld of the people who lovingly call themselves the Kin. Drothe is a Nose — an information gatherer — who has spent most of his life as one of the Kin. Drothe works for one of the many crime lords, but smuggles holy relics on the side. Things go bad fast when Drothe’s boss sends him into Ten Ways to investigate rumors of rival gangs’ aggressions. Of all the seedy cordons in Ildrecca that the Kin control, Ten Ways is the most run-down, dangerous, and fiercely independent. Ten Ways is also the one place Drothe hoped he would never return to. While on this mission, Drothe’s self-interests conflict with his full-time job and he ends up in possession of an ancient holy book that contains secrets that can destroy the empire or grant the power to rule all.
Read More

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick is the first Great Summer Read of 2011. The book demands a beach, SPF3 30 sunscreen and a long-necked amber bottle fogged with condensation.

I didn’t love the book as much as my fellow reviewers (above), for some reasons I’ll explain below, but I’m still going to give it four stars. Normally, for me to give a book four stars it has to have exceptional prose, intense or intriguing characters, and/or something that makes me think about the world differently. Among Thieves doesn’t have all of those, but its mission is only to be darned entertaining. It fulfills its mission and that should be rewarded.

In the city of Ildrecca’s criminal underworld, certain occupations have the names of body parts. Swords-for-hire are called Arms. Magicians, who chant spells, are called Mouths. People who know the... Read More

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

Douglas Hulick’s Among Thieves has been highly praised by three of my fellow reviewers and is featured in our Favorite Books of 2011 list, so when I saw that Tantor produced it on audio last month, of course I had to try it. As I expected, it did not disappoint, yet I didn’t love it as much as Greg and Robert did. I have to agree almost completely with what they said about this fun fantasy adventure, though. My lower rating merely reflects my personal taste for this type of tale. Among Thieves is a sword & sorcery mystery set in a decadent city. It could be compared to Scott Lynch’s work or even Fritz Leiber’s ... Read More