When I read The Blacktongue Thief several years ago, I expected it to be a one-off book. Christopher Buehlman had not written a series before, and while Thief didn’t necessarily wrap up all of the loose ends, it ended with enough of a note of finality to serve as an ending. (And who better to appreciate an ending that is not the ending than we here at Dragonmount?)

I was incredibly excited to read The Daughters’ War, the subsequent prequel to The Blacktongue Thief. I was ecstatic to discover that there was a third book in the works. The Thrice-Bound Fool by Christopher Buehlman returns to the perspective of Kinch Na Shannack and returns to where Thief had left off. Kinch and Galva are on the run from the dangerous and seemingly nearly omniscient and omnipotent Taker’s Guild, of which Kinch is a (disgraced former) member. Complicating things further, they are carrying a sentient and deadly mischievous book that will kill anyone who sees a page of it without being able to read its forbidden language (no word on if Tor has considered this feature in an imprint). Troubling as the tome may be, the terrible text may also contain the secret to defeating the Taker’s Guild. And, our hero Kinch can read the lethal letters, which evens the playing field a bit.

Returning to the perspective of Kinch Na Shannack is a joy, even if the material of this book is a bit darker than the first in the series. I have been impressed by Buehlman’s ability to adjust the tone and voice of his writing to match different points of view—both in The Daughters’s War and in the medieval horror Between Two Fires—but Kinch’s voice is particularly distinct. Perhaps this comes from Buehlman’s 25 years performing at renaissance faires as Christophe the Insultor, a persona who surely shares Kinch’s appreciation for a well-timed verbal barb. Indeed, having listened to the author-read audiobook of The Blacktongue Thief, I found that Buehlman’s Kinch was such a distinct character that I was hearing the accent and pronunciations in my head as if I was listening to him read this book as well. (Note: The Thrice-Bound Fool will be available as an audiobook read by Christopher Buehlman.)

The Thrice-Bound Fool takes us over the mountains and into the lands of the giants and half-giants. The half-giants are particularly interesting as a technologically—but not necessarily societally—advanced race of peoples. They are slavers and enjoyers of bloodsport and just might be considering an alliance with the goblins that would surely mean the end of kynd. In this inhospitable setting, Kinch and Galva find many enemies and a few unlikely allies, and a whole host of characters who are somewhere in between (in one case depending on whether it is day or night). Don’t get too attached to anyone though; despite the ease with which I found myself chuckling at Kinch’s cleverisms, these books belong solidly in the grimdark category and any plot armor gives about as much coverage as anything Frank Frazetta ever dreamed up. In fact, I read a good chunk of this on a flight and was taken completely off-guard by one death to the point that I had to focus on looking out the window for several minutes to regain my composure.

Look, this is the third book in the series (whether you are reading chronologically or in order of release) so if you read and enjoyed the first two, I can only recommend that you will very likely enjoy this as well. If you haven’t read the first two, but have enjoyed books by Joe Abercrombie (for the grimdark) or Terry Pratchett (for the whimsy), or other books by Christopher Buehlman (Between Two Fires has been thriving on bookTok lately), I recommend trying this series out! 

The Thrice-Bound Fool comes out on October 13. Thank you to Tor for the advance reader copy!