Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael McClung was born and raised in Texas, lived in Southeast Asia for twenty years, and currently resides in Poland. He has published nine novels, a novella and a short story collection. His first novel was published by Random House in 2003, and in 2016 he won Mark Lawrence's inaugural SPFBO contest with The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braids. He goes by @mcclungmike on Twitter, but doesn’t do the Facebook anymore, because reasons. He occasionally talks about stuff on his blog at somethingstickythiswaycomes.blogspot.com if you're interested in, uh, stuff being talked about.

Published: November 28, 2012 by Michael McClung Length: 208 pages (Kindle) Formats: Literary awards: SPFBO Award for Best Fantasy Book (2015) Series Amra Thetys #1

LUKASZ

The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble's Braids is the first SPFBO winner. The title is catchy, and the first chapters are definitely engaging. 

The story follows Amra Thetys, a small-time thief living in the gritty city of Lucernis. She’s a thief who won’t steal from those poorer than her, but everyone else is fair game. Amra likes spending her days between jobs drinking wine and avoiding trouble. But when her friend Corbin asks her to hold on to an ugly golden toad statue for a day, things quickly spiral out of control. The statue comes from a temple heist gone wrong, and not long after, Corbin is brutally murdered.

Amra swears to get revenge. But soon, she’s caught in something much bigger than she expected. Nobles are involved, hidden identities come to light, and Amra finds herself tangled in the hunt for a powerful artifact called The Blade That Whispers Hate. An immortal assassin and a mad mage are both after it - and they’ll stop at nothing to get it. For some reason they believe Amra has it. Except that she doesn’t, and she has no idea where it is. The clock starts ticking and if she doesn’t figure that out soon, she and everyone she cares about are as good as dead.

Amra is an interesting character; She’s not particularly friendly or social, and thankfully, there’s no romance subplot weighing down the story. The book is written in first-person, so we get to know her fairly well. She’s smart, quick, and has a knack for one-liners.

That said, I wasn’t fully charmed by Amra. Some of the one-liners and the light banter with other characters feel forced at times. I think she has the potential to grow into a more compelling character later in the series, but in this first book, she still feels a bit flat to me.

The book is short and moves at a fast pace. The worldbuilding stays in the background, you learn about Lucernis and its world as the plot unfolds, which I liked. There’s no overwhelming info-dumping or unnecessary history lessons. The story stays focused within the city limits, and we only get details that actually matter for the plot.

My main issue is that I didn’t feel much connection to the characters. They felt a little flat overall. Will I pick up the sequels? Perhaps, but I’m not rushing to do it right now. It’s a well-written, entertaining start to the series, but it didn’t leave me desperate for more.

MIHIR

The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble's Braids was my introduction to the roller coaster ride that are SPFBO Finals. 2015 was when the face of Indie Fantasy changed with the start of SPFBO. Michael McClung was the winner of the first edition & hence it was only logical for us to want to start the FBC SPFBO Champions League with this dark fantasy gem. 

The story is set in the city of Lucernis, wherein our scarred & street-smart protagonist Amara Thetys has been making her living as a retrieval specialist aka a thief with a dependable reputation.  Taking on a new job with fellow thief Corbin, she assumes that it will be a cakewalk but that’s where things go sideways in a dark way.  Amara is forced to hide an artifact as her friend Corbin gets brutally murdered. She soon finds out why that artifact is such an important thing as she tasks a mage to find out more. Things however are never crystal clear as Amara finds out and beneath the veneer of normalcy in Lucernis, there's a supernatural war brewing.

Mixing sword and sorcery with streamlined pace, Michael McClung's debut is a terrific story that is very much in the vein of works by Scott Lynch, David Dalglish & Douglas Hulick. This debut novel showcases the best of a sword & sorcery tale but also gives us a protagonist that we can root for entirely. Amra is a thief with a very grey sense of morality but she’s written so well that once can’t help but root for her. She’s got scars and a history that’s hinted at but never outrightly stated. The plot opens up quickly and then it’s very much a mystery story within a secondary fantasy world. 

The city of Lucernis very much has a noir tone and it helps that the author really leans into it. We are shown its gritty streets and grim nature and it feels like a city with an edge. Amra’s travails as she struggles to figure who is hunting her and why get nicely contrasted with the ambivalent nature of the city she does business in. The author showcases the brutal nature of the life of most of the general populace and mixed within is some pointed commentary about class, socio-economic divides and the nature of law and crime. From a character perspective, we only get Amra’ s POV but the writing is done so effectively that we get a fascinating picture not only of Amra but her friend Holgren and the many other characters that she comes across or interacts with. The author peels several layers from Amra and we get to know her plucky and snarky mind. Her loyalty towards her friends and her dogged resolve to find what truly is behind her and the dagger. As POV characters go, she’s definitely one of the memorable ones that I have come across in indie side of dark fantasy. 

The plot is a tight one and it keeps barreling towards an action-packed climax as is the norm for most noir stories. The biggest twist is the supernatural aspects that are added within and make complete sense. The story ends with a revelation of an impending apocalypse; and yet the tale feels complete. I absolutely am stoked for the forthcoming sequels.

The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble's Braids is a fascinating debut that showcases how talented Michael McClung is. I very much enjoyed this debut that is very reminiscent of the Lies Of Locke Lamora in its setup but less grimdarky and with a much more straightforward protagonist. The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble's Braids should be on your TBR if you are tired of chonky tomes and want something quick, dark and dangerous.