Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

Damn, it's already nearly the end of April and I have yet to update my blog! Well I won't make any excuses and, well, here I am now! So as many of you know my work, which has silly policies in place making it a termination offense to mention their name at all, has filed for Chapter 11. Is this the end of the bookstore? Nah, not by a long shot. This just means that the heads of the company have not been doing their job and now are scrambling to get things back together which I think they may be able to do. In any case, I still have a job and will hopefully have a job for quite a while yet. Enough sillyness! Perhaps I should be writing a blog about the magnificent Patrick Rothfuss or about the mesmerizing stories of the Wraeththu, but to be perfectly honest, those are just too big right now so instead let's talk about the fun debut novel by Douglas Hulick Among Thieves:

Kickass cover isn't it? I've said this before, but that old saying "don't judge a book by its cover" is sometimes just flat out wrong. For example, I would never have picked up Brent Weeks or Alastair Reynolds if it wasn't for their amazing cover art. Although, sometimes there are books that have such atrocious cover that, even if the content is excellent inside, I just cannot bring myself to read it. Alas, that is a blog for another time. Part of the reason I randomly picked Among Thieves was because it looked like good old fashion fun and that is exactly what it was too! Before I go on let me quote Brent Weeks:

"Among Thieves is an unalloyed pleasure: a fast moving, funny, twisting tale in an evocative setting with great characters. The kind of story that reminds you why you love to read. This book may just give you that feeling you had the first time you read Rothfuss or Abercrombie: Oh hell yeah, there's new talent in the game. Read this book. No really, read this book."

I can't fully agree with this description because Patrick Rothfuss is on a whole different level than Hulick, but I will say that he does remind you of why you love to read. You see, it feels like the Fantasy realm has plenty of High Fantasy and Epic Fantasy and such, but where are the anti-hero's? Where are the Han Solos and Mal Reynolds in fantasy? Oh they're there, but they're usually poorly written or straight copies of Han. This was part of the reason I loved Brent Weeks so much, his Night Angel Trilogy showed us the dark side of fantasy, it showed us that not everything is elves prancing through the forest, but there is a rich, unexplored underworld that far too many authors ignore. Weeks focused on assassins, Hulick on just about everything else! We are introduced to Drothe just as he's finishing up torturing a rat and from there we learn he is one of the many Kin, aka the criminal underworld of the Empire. Each of the Kin belongs to a different boss and does different things from the simplest purse cutters to the elite Blade's who are the paid assassins of this particular world. Our man Drothe is what is called a Nose, he sifts through the rumors and separates fact from fiction from the masses on the street, the closest I can get to describe his particular occupation is that of a spy, but it doesn't quite cut it. Hulick introduces everything that's needed for a solid fantasy, a great magic system, distinctly believable characters, some of the most accurate sword and weapon play I've had the pleasure to read, and a world that is almost endless number of stories and ends perfectly, leaving you wanting more, but without the horrifying cliffhangers many authors seem to think is best when writing a series.

Certainly, Among Thieves is not a literary masterpiece the likes of Tolkien or Rothfuss, but at the same time I don't think a book focusing on the underworld should be written in such a way. Honestly, the reason I love science fiction and fantasy is because a book can be written in any style without having to be held to silly standards that were set a hundred years ago. Fantasy has that unique talent for being fun without having to analyze every single word and every single theme, you just read for the pure joy of reading and Hulick does this flawlessly. It does have its faults, as all debut books do, but the pace and action of the story leave you flying through pages well into the night like an addict. On the whole I truly believe that Hulick has written a refreshing addition to the fantasy world and I look forward to future tales.