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Amra Thetys #1-3
Pulled Spat Knocked: The Amra Thetys Chronicles, Books 1, 2 & 3
Gods and demons? Sorcerers and assassins? Powerful artifacts that threaten to destroy reality itself? All in a day's work for one small, scarred thief and her mage companion.
This omnibus edition comprises the first three books in the Amra Thetys sword & sorcery series: The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble's Braids, The Thief Who Spat In Luck's Good Eye, and The Thief Who Knocked on Sorrow's Gate. It also includes a brief overview of Amra's world, never before published.
"McClung has an impressive ability to write compelling characters and a fast paced and action packed plot that never seems to let up." -Speculative Book Review
This omnibus edition comprises the first three books in the Amra Thetys sword & sorcery series: The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble's Braids, The Thief Who Spat In Luck's Good Eye, and The Thief Who Knocked on Sorrow's Gate. It also includes a brief overview of Amra's world, never before published.
"McClung has an impressive ability to write compelling characters and a fast paced and action packed plot that never seems to let up." -Speculative Book Review
- GenresFantasy
646 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 10, 2014
35 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Michael McClung
36 books392 followersMichael McClung was born in San Antonio, Texas, but now lives in Europe. He has had the requisite number of odd jobs expected of a speculative fiction author, including soldier, book store manager, and bowling alley pin boy. His first book, the Sword & Sorcery novel "Thagoth," won the Del Rey Digital first novel competition in 2002 and was published by Random House in 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 27, 2015
Best free books ever
So I download tons of free books, 95% are not good. But ever once in a while you find a story that is awesome. I read the first book and went and bought the rest after. Looking forward to the one coming out.
So I download tons of free books, 95% are not good. But ever once in a while you find a story that is awesome. I read the first book and went and bought the rest after. Looking forward to the one coming out.
October 2, 2025
The Amra Thetys fantasy novels are everything you'd expect of an indie published fantasy. They both follow the usual "unwilling hero comes into their power" path while being quirky and offbeat about it. The story structures aren't what you'd expect, even while the snarky narration, underworld dealings and large scale magical mysteries might put you in mind of Locke Lamora. They aren't without flaws; the odd typo, choppy sentences, wrong word usage, wrong character names, and in one case plot points given away before they've actually been revealed to the characters. A little bit of a polish up would go a long way in banishing the ghost of indie publishing's problems.
But it's the weird and wonderful, meandering story of thief Amra and her reluctant-but-awesome mage partner Holgren as they come to discover their world is even more messed up than they knew. Gods, demons, ancient powers awakening even as the world's magic tries to drain away... There's a lot of misadventures that can come their way. They're fun, slightly dark, daring tales for an audience who loved the adventure of Dungeons & Dragons worlds while also wanting them to be a bit more gritty.
There is gore, and some pretty dark twists when it comes to battling evil. It's not quite grimdark level, and with the author's imaginative way of using the usual fantasy monsters I'm really glad it's not.
The only issues I'd note would be:
- Amra's character sounds very masculine.
- Amra and Holgren's odd relationship . The do have a lot of fun with sarcastic friendly banter though.
Do they matter? Not really. They're just things that may or may not be worth noting for certain readers who really care about these things.
I was easily drawn into Amra's weird and gritty world, and the three strange tales in this omnibus were easy to savour. Book 3 is likely the strongest. Leaving you dangling on a cliffhanger, it begs you to want to find out how deep this particularly twisted rabbit hole is going to go.
The author has a flair for the darkly funny, and writing characters who really won't take any trash the world happens to throw at them (even if it's a set of cursed magical knives created by a mad goddess bent on revenge against pretty much everything in creation). Fun, fulfilling reads I'd certainly carry on with.
But it's the weird and wonderful, meandering story of thief Amra and her reluctant-but-awesome mage partner Holgren as they come to discover their world is even more messed up than they knew. Gods, demons, ancient powers awakening even as the world's magic tries to drain away... There's a lot of misadventures that can come their way. They're fun, slightly dark, daring tales for an audience who loved the adventure of Dungeons & Dragons worlds while also wanting them to be a bit more gritty.
There is gore, and some pretty dark twists when it comes to battling evil. It's not quite grimdark level, and with the author's imaginative way of using the usual fantasy monsters I'm really glad it's not.
The only issues I'd note would be:
- Amra's character sounds very masculine.
- Amra and Holgren's odd relationship . The do have a lot of fun with sarcastic friendly banter though.
Do they matter? Not really. They're just things that may or may not be worth noting for certain readers who really care about these things.
I was easily drawn into Amra's weird and gritty world, and the three strange tales in this omnibus were easy to savour. Book 3 is likely the strongest. Leaving you dangling on a cliffhanger, it begs you to want to find out how deep this particularly twisted rabbit hole is going to go.
The author has a flair for the darkly funny, and writing characters who really won't take any trash the world happens to throw at them (even if it's a set of cursed magical knives created by a mad goddess bent on revenge against pretty much everything in creation). Fun, fulfilling reads I'd certainly carry on with.
March 7, 2022
As a new self-published author myself, I'm making an effort to read the other ones out there over traditionally published books.
This collection was my introduction to Michael McClung's work. While each book is on the shorter end compared to the giant tomes I typically read, they were a welcome change of pace after slogging through stuff like Dune and Steven Erikson in recent years.
Great dialogue. And two interesting, believable characters in Amra and Holgren. And, as a fellow sarcasshole, I enjoyed all the snark throughout.
I look forward to seeing the story progress in books 4 and 5, which I just ordered before writing this. Keep up the good work, sir!
This collection was my introduction to Michael McClung's work. While each book is on the shorter end compared to the giant tomes I typically read, they were a welcome change of pace after slogging through stuff like Dune and Steven Erikson in recent years.
Great dialogue. And two interesting, believable characters in Amra and Holgren. And, as a fellow sarcasshole, I enjoyed all the snark throughout.
I look forward to seeing the story progress in books 4 and 5, which I just ordered before writing this. Keep up the good work, sir!
October 19, 2019
Good Storyteller
I was gripped at the start. You know when you read an author that has a certain way of threading a book that activates your brain on a few levels at once? I loved it.
I was gripped at the start. You know when you read an author that has a certain way of threading a book that activates your brain on a few levels at once? I loved it.
June 13, 2020
I really love the Amra Thetys series, so I had to buy this and re-read her adventures. It's witty, fun, and unique. A 'must read' for fantasy lovers.
May 8, 2016
*Note: I am a friend of Michael McClung.*
Michael loves fantasy novels and he writes them damn well. He loves fantasy games - I've played D&D with him; he's a wiz. But I am not so into fantasy myself and I found D&D difficult (I kept forgetting to look around before I entered a room). Not a games person. I don't even like poker.
However, I love Michael's books. I wish he was getting rich from them, but he'd have to stop giving them away for that to happen! These were initially eBooks and now they are available in soft cover. Buy them!!!
OK: review - pardon the cliches.
In these books, the witty dialogue of his cheeky protagonist and her friends work well to entertain, and Mike's ability to build suspense and even a sense of dread when required are perfect for the rollicking rides he takes us on; a bunch of quests, revenge plots, just enough magic (for me), and fights with bad people, philosophical debates with evil people, trying to kill undead people again, and of course running away from or staying to fight creepy, crawly evil monsters of all sizes. The genre demands a battle of some description (wits, swords, magic) almost every chapter and, here's the rub, eventually I find this tiring. Don't get me wrong: I raced through these books and enjoyed them all the way. But my next book is not going to be in the fantasy genre. But that's just me.
Fantasy fans, even newcomers to the genre, will absolutely LOVE this series.
My wish? That Michael would write a conventional novel, or at least a different genre. All that detailed plotting and the witty, gritty dialogue could go brilliantly in a noir detective novel, for example. At least that's what I reckon.
Listen: this is what I mean. I was privileged to be asked to read a part of the first draft of the first book in this series. At one point, my palms were sweaty as Amra quietly stole up (she's a thief after all) on a bad guy's house. I was right on the edge with her as she crept into danger... And then something happened, the tension broke: she had to fight a monster. I asked why a monster, why then, I was enjoying it as it stood? Humoring me, he took the monster out for the final version. Reading it again now, I think the scene works perfectly well as it stands, pure situational tension ALL the way, no need for a battle. (Well done me, eh? Maybe you/Mike don't agree. There are other opinions out there.)
But this sort of great writing could go in any book, anywhere, in any genre (or even non-genre) IMHO. Now, as I said I like noir-style detective novels. Maybe one day...
Oh great: guess what! He is working more conventional novels as well!
(http://somethingstickythiswaycomes.bl...)
Michael loves fantasy novels and he writes them damn well. He loves fantasy games - I've played D&D with him; he's a wiz. But I am not so into fantasy myself and I found D&D difficult (I kept forgetting to look around before I entered a room). Not a games person. I don't even like poker.
However, I love Michael's books. I wish he was getting rich from them, but he'd have to stop giving them away for that to happen! These were initially eBooks and now they are available in soft cover. Buy them!!!
OK: review - pardon the cliches.
In these books, the witty dialogue of his cheeky protagonist and her friends work well to entertain, and Mike's ability to build suspense and even a sense of dread when required are perfect for the rollicking rides he takes us on; a bunch of quests, revenge plots, just enough magic (for me), and fights with bad people, philosophical debates with evil people, trying to kill undead people again, and of course running away from or staying to fight creepy, crawly evil monsters of all sizes. The genre demands a battle of some description (wits, swords, magic) almost every chapter and, here's the rub, eventually I find this tiring. Don't get me wrong: I raced through these books and enjoyed them all the way. But my next book is not going to be in the fantasy genre. But that's just me.
Fantasy fans, even newcomers to the genre, will absolutely LOVE this series.
My wish? That Michael would write a conventional novel, or at least a different genre. All that detailed plotting and the witty, gritty dialogue could go brilliantly in a noir detective novel, for example. At least that's what I reckon.
Listen: this is what I mean. I was privileged to be asked to read a part of the first draft of the first book in this series. At one point, my palms were sweaty as Amra quietly stole up (she's a thief after all) on a bad guy's house. I was right on the edge with her as she crept into danger... And then something happened, the tension broke: she had to fight a monster. I asked why a monster, why then, I was enjoying it as it stood? Humoring me, he took the monster out for the final version. Reading it again now, I think the scene works perfectly well as it stands, pure situational tension ALL the way, no need for a battle. (Well done me, eh? Maybe you/Mike don't agree. There are other opinions out there.)
But this sort of great writing could go in any book, anywhere, in any genre (or even non-genre) IMHO. Now, as I said I like noir-style detective novels. Maybe one day...
Oh great: guess what! He is working more conventional novels as well!
(http://somethingstickythiswaycomes.bl...)
July 23, 2025
I absolutely love this series and I’m kicking myself for not reading it sooner. Love everything about this story - the characters, the world, it all made sense, it worked and it worked beautifully.
Love that each of the three books are named for idioms/sayings that exist in the world, and each is used in context in the relevant book.
The FMC is pretty much my favourite kind of heroine - yes, she has some skills, but mostly she succeeds by temerity and a little planning (sometimes). She’s thoroughly relatable in how she deals with the often extraordinary situations she finds herself thrust into – she steps up and does her part even though it may spell her doom. I absolutely love her.
Honestly, I feel like this author transcends mere writing, and engages his audience as a proper story teller. The complexity of this world and its inhabitants is portrayed perfectly in a dialogue-heavy style that I love (I’ve found I generally connect with characters a lot more/better through dialogue).
Flawless writing and a fun, clever story with plenty of humour.
Love that each of the three books are named for idioms/sayings that exist in the world, and each is used in context in the relevant book.
The FMC is pretty much my favourite kind of heroine - yes, she has some skills, but mostly she succeeds by temerity and a little planning (sometimes). She’s thoroughly relatable in how she deals with the often extraordinary situations she finds herself thrust into – she steps up and does her part even though it may spell her doom. I absolutely love her.
Honestly, I feel like this author transcends mere writing, and engages his audience as a proper story teller. The complexity of this world and its inhabitants is portrayed perfectly in a dialogue-heavy style that I love (I’ve found I generally connect with characters a lot more/better through dialogue).
Flawless writing and a fun, clever story with plenty of humour.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews