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Blacktongue #2
The Thrice-Bound Fool
Not yet published
Expected 13 Oct 26The Thrice-Bound Fool is the epic, rollicking next chapter in the bestselling and “awesome as hell” (Nicholas Eames) fantasy adventure series that began with The Blacktongue Thief.
Professional thief and inveterate trickster Kinch Na Shannack has always enjoyed a good book. But now his life, and the future of all of Manreach, depends on him deciphering a very bad book indeed; a stolen, sentient tome that tries to kill him every time he opens it—and often when it’s closed.
Galva, veteran of the goblin wars and death’s sworn handmaiden, has vowed to protect Kinch while he mines the book for its dark magic and even darker secrets. She does so not for Kinch’s sake—though the cheeky bastard is growing on her—but because the book is the key to stopping the shadowy tyrants out to kill the queen she serves, and loves.
The ruthless, all-seeing Taker’s Guild dogs their every step, and thief and knight must flee the known world entirely if they hope to succeed in their mission. But trouble finds Kinch wherever he goes, and the pair may have traded the devil they know for horrors far darker and hungrier as they enter lands unknown.
Professional thief and inveterate trickster Kinch Na Shannack has always enjoyed a good book. But now his life, and the future of all of Manreach, depends on him deciphering a very bad book indeed; a stolen, sentient tome that tries to kill him every time he opens it—and often when it’s closed.
Galva, veteran of the goblin wars and death’s sworn handmaiden, has vowed to protect Kinch while he mines the book for its dark magic and even darker secrets. She does so not for Kinch’s sake—though the cheeky bastard is growing on her—but because the book is the key to stopping the shadowy tyrants out to kill the queen she serves, and loves.
The ruthless, all-seeing Taker’s Guild dogs their every step, and thief and knight must flee the known world entirely if they hope to succeed in their mission. But trouble finds Kinch wherever he goes, and the pair may have traded the devil they know for horrors far darker and hungrier as they enter lands unknown.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 13, 2026
9 people are currently reading
4672 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I don't like reading e-books. Give me paper or give me dea- Scratch that. I'll read an e-book if you give me a really good reason, and "being the only way to read 'The Thrice-Bound Fool' now" was more than good enough.
So, despite being beset by many other duties, distractions, and disasters I have now finished the book. I'm left with the problem of putting into words why it's so good...
The bottom line is simply that it's Christopher Buehlman, and Mr B is one of the very best authors I've read. If you've read any of his other work you'll understand. He might have appealed to you with his excellent humour (he spent many years entertaining crowds as a comedian). He might have caught you with his story-telling, or his ability to get past your guard and side-swipe you with a low blow to the feels. Or, he might just have hooked you with his prose which is as effective as it is unpretentious.
The book carries on from The Blacktongue Thief directly, with Kinch and Galva and the Book of the Full Shadow.
I'd be hard-pressed to tell you what the plot of The Blacktongue Thief was, despite enjoying it so much. What I remember is a sequence of shocking, horrifying, funny, captivating scenes, sometimes one or two of these things, sometimes all of the above. This book in a similar way has a direction to it that appears to be shredded and thrown to the wind by circumstance.
What we're left with could be uncharitably described as "a series of things that happened". But so could many great books, like The Wise Man's Fear. The series of things that happen are so variously shocking, funny, horrifying, and captivating that it was a delight to simply wander through them in the company of this odd couple that we grew to love so much in The Blacktongue Thief.
Kinch is our point of view, but we know so much more about what's going on behind Galva's largely expressionless exterior because The Daughters' War made her into a deep multi-faceted character that we couldn't help but care about. And there's rather lovely link into that narrative in the book.
So, we are rapidly derailed into a delightful chaos where Kinch and Galva are subject to all manner of danger and a variety of encounters until they are washed up on the shores (figuratively speaking) of a desert-bound city filled with wonder and horror in equal measure.
The book doesn't miss any emotional beats either, with the characters having deeper moments amongst the amusing and the terrifying, and with more complex issues to deal with as well.
Some readers are all about plot. If the plot isn't developing (as they imagine the plot) then they feel that "nothing has happened". Moreover, they might call the book "slow" even if it's a non-stop action-fest. It's a different kind of reading to the sort that I'm familiar with, but having seen it in action, I've come to understand it. Hopefully, even such readers will be so taken with the wild ride that Buehlman takes us on that they won't at the end of it measure the worth of the journey by how far it has taken us along this notional plotline.
This is a wonderful, criminally entertaining book about a journey that is not guaranteed to advance us in terms of over-arching plot or even geography, but is still, nonetheless, a helluva trip. We dive deep into our characters, their relationship, and a world that fascinates me.
Warning: This book may contain traces of goblin.
The goblin content is considerably lower than that of either of the two previous books, but they are a factor, an important one, and when they are absent, Buehlman fills the void with the products of his fascinating imagination.
If you've read The Blacktongue Thief and The Daughters' War then you will already want to read this book. I'm here to tell you that you need to!
Join my Patreon
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
.
So, despite being beset by many other duties, distractions, and disasters I have now finished the book. I'm left with the problem of putting into words why it's so good...
The bottom line is simply that it's Christopher Buehlman, and Mr B is one of the very best authors I've read. If you've read any of his other work you'll understand. He might have appealed to you with his excellent humour (he spent many years entertaining crowds as a comedian). He might have caught you with his story-telling, or his ability to get past your guard and side-swipe you with a low blow to the feels. Or, he might just have hooked you with his prose which is as effective as it is unpretentious.
The book carries on from The Blacktongue Thief directly, with Kinch and Galva and the Book of the Full Shadow.
I'd be hard-pressed to tell you what the plot of The Blacktongue Thief was, despite enjoying it so much. What I remember is a sequence of shocking, horrifying, funny, captivating scenes, sometimes one or two of these things, sometimes all of the above. This book in a similar way has a direction to it that appears to be shredded and thrown to the wind by circumstance.
What we're left with could be uncharitably described as "a series of things that happened". But so could many great books, like The Wise Man's Fear. The series of things that happen are so variously shocking, funny, horrifying, and captivating that it was a delight to simply wander through them in the company of this odd couple that we grew to love so much in The Blacktongue Thief.
Kinch is our point of view, but we know so much more about what's going on behind Galva's largely expressionless exterior because The Daughters' War made her into a deep multi-faceted character that we couldn't help but care about. And there's rather lovely link into that narrative in the book.
So, we are rapidly derailed into a delightful chaos where Kinch and Galva are subject to all manner of danger and a variety of encounters until they are washed up on the shores (figuratively speaking) of a desert-bound city filled with wonder and horror in equal measure.
The book doesn't miss any emotional beats either, with the characters having deeper moments amongst the amusing and the terrifying, and with more complex issues to deal with as well.
Some readers are all about plot. If the plot isn't developing (as they imagine the plot) then they feel that "nothing has happened". Moreover, they might call the book "slow" even if it's a non-stop action-fest. It's a different kind of reading to the sort that I'm familiar with, but having seen it in action, I've come to understand it. Hopefully, even such readers will be so taken with the wild ride that Buehlman takes us on that they won't at the end of it measure the worth of the journey by how far it has taken us along this notional plotline.
This is a wonderful, criminally entertaining book about a journey that is not guaranteed to advance us in terms of over-arching plot or even geography, but is still, nonetheless, a helluva trip. We dive deep into our characters, their relationship, and a world that fascinates me.
Warning: This book may contain traces of goblin.
The goblin content is considerably lower than that of either of the two previous books, but they are a factor, an important one, and when they are absent, Buehlman fills the void with the products of his fascinating imagination.
If you've read The Blacktongue Thief and The Daughters' War then you will already want to read this book. I'm here to tell you that you need to!
Join my Patreon
Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizes
.
Want to Read
November 27, 2025Rao. I guess we are going to Giantlands. :)
I am seated, I love this world and I would die for Galva.
Want to Read
May 6, 2026SUPER PSYCHED ABOUT THIS!!!!
Want to Read
March 26, 2026I love the orange cover art, can't wait for October! I've loved both Blacktongue Theif and Daughters War:)
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
The Thrice-Bound Fool by Christopher Buehlman, the direct sequel to The Blacktongue Thief... I don't have the words to do it justice. It is an absolutely cracking read from start to finish. Kinch and Galva, adventure, vulgarity, hilarity, inescapable misery. The whole gamut.
I don't know that I've ever had as much fun with a fantasy adventure series than I have had with Blacktongue. Buehlman is a master wordsmith and his ability to turn a phrase is in a class of its own, alongside Kinch who just steals the show each and every page.
I don't know that I've ever had as much fun with a fantasy adventure series than I have had with Blacktongue. Buehlman is a master wordsmith and his ability to turn a phrase is in a class of its own, alongside Kinch who just steals the show each and every page.
Read
April 23, 2026ARC. Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews