When it comes to epic fantasy, David Chandler’s breathtaking trilogy, The Ancient Blades, steals the show! Honor Among Thieves, the concluding volume in the fantastic adventures of young cutpurse Malden in and beyond the treacherous City of Ness, honors a glorious fantasy tradition while offering a fresh take on loyalty, love, magic, friendship, and duty. In this final chapter, Malden, having failed to protect a kingdom despite wielding one of seven Ancient Blades, must employ trickery and cunning to survive rampaging barbarian hordes and former friends alike. With his magnificent Ancient Blades novels—Den of Thieves, A Thief in the Night, and now Honor Among Thieves—David Chandler has boldly established himself as a major new voice in fantasy fiction, spinning gritty tales of intrigue, knights and bandits, witches and warriors, demons and monsters, as adroitly as Brent Weeks, Scott Lynch, Joe Ambercrombie, R. A. Salvatore, and possibly even challenging the throne of George R. R. Martin himself.
Honor Among Thieves
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From the Back Cover
When allies become enemies,to whom can a clever thief turn?
Armed with one of seven Ancient Blades, Malden waschosen by Fate to act as savior . . . and failed dismally.And now there is no stopping the barbarian hordes from invading and pillaging the kingdom of Skrae. Suddenly friends and former supporters alike covet the young hero’s magic while seeking his destruction—from the treacherous King and leaders of theCity of Ness to the rogue knight Croy, who owes Malden his life.
It will take more than Malden’s makeshift army of harlotsand cutpurses to preserve a realm. Luckily the sorceressCythera fights at his side, along with the ingenious,irascible dwarf Slag. And the wily thief still has a desperate and daring plan or two up his larcenous sleeve . . .
About the Author
David Chandler was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1971. He attended Penn State and received an MFA in creative writing. In his alter-ego as David Wellington, he writes critically acclaimed and popular horror novels and was one of the co-authors of the New York Times bestseller Marvel Zombies Return. Den of Thieves is his first fantasy novel, soon followed by A Thief in the Night and Honor Among Thieves.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Honor Among Thieves by David Chandler did not have a happy ending. It shouldn't have. It had the absolutely correct ending. I sat stunned for several minutes after I finished, just gathering myself. Ness was a little more real to me than my own kitchen. Or wherever-the-hell-I-was when I finished. I was emotionally scraped raw by that point. I didn't want to leave, but it was time for the book to end, for me to leave Ness, and well, anything else would be spoilers.
There is no honor among thieves. That's what people say. That's why that phrase has become such a truism, because such honor does not exist. Except that occasionally it does. There is another cliché that may apply here, the one about the exception proving the rule.
Honor Among Thieves is the final book in the Ancient Blades trilogy. In the first book, Den of Thieves, our thief and hero, Malden, snuck into the Free City of Ness like, well, like a thief in the night. In the second book, appropriately titled A Thief in the Night, Malden and his companions, the Knight-Errant Sir Croy, the witch Cythera, the dwarf Slag and the Barbarian Mörget, investigated the demon-lair under the mountains that protected the country of Skrae from the barbarians of the East. Unfortunately, in order to defeat the demon, they blew up the mountain. The whole mountain. Leaving civilized Skrae, including Malden's home city, ripe for a good old barbarian scourging.
The companions believe that Mörget was trapped and killed in the explosion. He's actually leading the barbarian horde. Sir Croy is serving the crown, because that's what Knights always do, whether they think the crown is stupid or crazy or ill-advised or whatever. That leaves Malden and Cythera.
The thief and the witch return to Ness to discover that the rats have deserted the sinking ship. The rich have all left the city. The reasonably well-off or reasonably healthy and idealistic form an "Army of Free Men" under the Burgess, the leading noble. And that leaves the dregs of society. The only healthy people left are the thieves and the prostitutes. Malden's people. And Cutbill, the head of the underground but extremely influential Thieves' Guild has left town and left it all to Malden. As presents go, Malden would rather find the Nessian equivalent of coal in his stocking. He doesn't want to be in charge. But he knows he has to be.
And when it comes to the choice between saving their city or letting the barbarians run them over and kill them, the supposed dregs of society will band together, and there is honor to be found among thieves.
Escape Rating A: If you love sword and sorcery fantasy, run, don't walk, to get yourself a copy of Den of Thieves and start reading the Ancient Blades. This is a series where you need to read the whole thing, and you won't be sorry you did. This is new-school type sword and sorcery, so the gods don't intervene the way they used to in Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser's day. These gods are made in the images of men. I think that just makes their worship more powerful, but also much darker. There are no good choices here, just shades of grey. Anyone who likes Steven Brust's Jhereg series but wishes it had an actual ending will love Ancient Blades. I know I did.
There is no honor among thieves. That's what people say. That's why that phrase has become such a truism, because such honor does not exist. Except that occasionally it does. There is another cliché that may apply here, the one about the exception proving the rule.
Honor Among Thieves is the final book in the Ancient Blades trilogy. In the first book, Den of Thieves, our thief and hero, Malden, snuck into the Free City of Ness like, well, like a thief in the night. In the second book, appropriately titled A Thief in the Night, Malden and his companions, the Knight-Errant Sir Croy, the witch Cythera, the dwarf Slag and the Barbarian Mörget, investigated the demon-lair under the mountains that protected the country of Skrae from the barbarians of the East. Unfortunately, in order to defeat the demon, they blew up the mountain. The whole mountain. Leaving civilized Skrae, including Malden's home city, ripe for a good old barbarian scourging.
The companions believe that Mörget was trapped and killed in the explosion. He's actually leading the barbarian horde. Sir Croy is serving the crown, because that's what Knights always do, whether they think the crown is stupid or crazy or ill-advised or whatever. That leaves Malden and Cythera.
The thief and the witch return to Ness to discover that the rats have deserted the sinking ship. The rich have all left the city. The reasonably well-off or reasonably healthy and idealistic form an "Army of Free Men" under the Burgess, the leading noble. And that leaves the dregs of society. The only healthy people left are the thieves and the prostitutes. Malden's people. And Cutbill, the head of the underground but extremely influential Thieves' Guild has left town and left it all to Malden. As presents go, Malden would rather find the Nessian equivalent of coal in his stocking. He doesn't want to be in charge. But he knows he has to be.
And when it comes to the choice between saving their city or letting the barbarians run them over and kill them, the supposed dregs of society will band together, and there is honor to be found among thieves.
Escape Rating A: If you love sword and sorcery fantasy, run, don't walk, to get yourself a copy of Den of Thieves and start reading the Ancient Blades. This is a series where you need to read the whole thing, and you won't be sorry you did. This is new-school type sword and sorcery, so the gods don't intervene the way they used to in Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser's day. These gods are made in the images of men. I think that just makes their worship more powerful, but also much darker. There are no good choices here, just shades of grey. Anyone who likes Steven Brust's Jhereg series but wishes it had an actual ending will love Ancient Blades. I know I did.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By E. Tsui
Format:Kindle Edition
This trilogy is pretty interesting in that it tries to sample the gamut of epic fantasy without really committing to one genre in particular. The first book of the trilogy, Den of Thieves: The Ancient Blades Trilogy: Book One, was a typical inner-city heist story, while the second book, A Thief in the Night: Book Two of the Ancient Blades Trilogy, was a travel adventure story. "Honor Among Thieves" is a version of military fantasy, as Malden somehow ends up in charge of defending Ness against the barbarian hordes through a series of laughably improbable events.
The book picks up after the events of "A Thief in the Night" with a pass opened up that allows the barbarian horde a way in to attack Skrae. Croy separates from Cythera and Malden to defend the King and his daughter, while the other two return to Ness. In the meantime, Morget schemes to gain more control over the barbarians from his father Morg and his sister Morgain. The book builds up to a final confrontation outside the walls of Ness while Malden tries to unite the people to defend the city against a siege.
This particular book closes off the trilogy in a good conclusion, but seemed very rushed compared to the first two, which were entertaining and had many witty moments. To force the plot to move along, many of the characters' choices are taken away from them in cheap ways by too-powerful or too-wise one-dimensional mystery characters such as Cutbill and Coruth. Somehow these people know more about what's going on than anybody else, and Malden has no choice but to do what they say. As a result, the depth and charm of the major characters is lacking compared to the first two books.
The book picks up after the events of "A Thief in the Night" with a pass opened up that allows the barbarian horde a way in to attack Skrae. Croy separates from Cythera and Malden to defend the King and his daughter, while the other two return to Ness. In the meantime, Morget schemes to gain more control over the barbarians from his father Morg and his sister Morgain. The book builds up to a final confrontation outside the walls of Ness while Malden tries to unite the people to defend the city against a siege.
This particular book closes off the trilogy in a good conclusion, but seemed very rushed compared to the first two, which were entertaining and had many witty moments. To force the plot to move along, many of the characters' choices are taken away from them in cheap ways by too-powerful or too-wise one-dimensional mystery characters such as Cutbill and Coruth. Somehow these people know more about what's going on than anybody else, and Malden has no choice but to do what they say. As a result, the depth and charm of the major characters is lacking compared to the first two books.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A. Saunders
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This entire series was entertaining with a good mix of con games that a thief should have in their bag of tricks and some very long running fights where a thief who doesn't really know how to use a sword has to somehow overcome powerful swordsmen using supplementary tactics. The sorcery and world building was somewhat interesting though definitely taking a back seat to the main character. Unfortunately the main character of Malden is really the only character strongly realized. Croy and Slag I kept anticipating to develop through the series but rather than develop their basic characters change to something different. Cythera initially seemed like she might be an interesting character but over the course of the series became a damsel in distress whose contributions to the story were minimal. So while I still enjoyed the series and am recommending it right now its difficult to give 5 stars. Unfortunately many reviews on Amazon tend to be over the top or haters so when there is a book I actually enjoyed it is always tempting to just go ahead and give it 5 stars for competitions sake but I can't quite bring myself to do it just because so many others are. Particularly with the likes of Locke Lamora and Eli Monpress whose series contain a bit better story telling along with a compelling cast of characters. On the other hand I am not rating the series a 3 either as that would be unfair to the author and perhaps lead to some people missing what is still an enjoyable series.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
An ending with opportunities for new tales
The book ends with a bang but does so in a manner that leaves several ongoing issues that can be addressed in future volumes. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Joe G. Kushner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Christmas Present
I bought this for my little brother for Christmas. He said it was okay. It arrived in good condition, even though after Christmas. (I ordered too late)
Published 5 months ago by Shelly
4.0 out of 5 stars
Books 2 and 3 are better than book 1
A great cast of characters. The Thief is great. Large plot lines, good action. Book 2 spent too much time under the mountain. Read all 3 on your Kindle, you'll be satisfied. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Big Dave
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read
A great book in continuation of book 1 nd 2,however you do need to read the first 2 books to gain the storyline. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Nigel Parker
3.0 out of 5 stars
Honor Among Thieves
Well crafted story line with characters that vividly come to life. I recommend this to lovers of epic fantasy and fiction.
Published 10 months ago by Harley46
5.0 out of 5 stars
fast-paced military fantasy
Fate chose Malden the thief as the savior of the people of the Skrae Kingdom when he obtained one of the seven Ancient Blades. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Harriet Klausner
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