Among Thieves

De: M. J. Kuhn

Narrado por: Zoe Mills

International Best Seller

A thrilling fantasy debut - a high-stakes heist novel set in a gritty world of magic and malice, and perfect for fans of Six of Crows!

In just over a year’s time, Ryia Cautella has already earned herself a reputation as the quickest, deadliest blade in the dockside city of Carrowwick - not to mention the sharpest tongue. But Ryia Cautella is not her real name.

For the past six years, a deadly secret has kept her in hiding, running from town to town, doing whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of the formidable Guildmaster - the sovereign ruler of the five kingdoms of Thamorr. No matter how far or fast she travels, his servants never fail to track her down...but even the most powerful men can be defeated.

Ryia’s path now leads directly into the heart of the Guildmaster’s stronghold, and against every instinct she has, it’s not a path she can walk alone. Forced to team up with a crew of assorted miscreants, smugglers, and thieves, Ryia must plan her next moves very carefully. If she succeeds, her freedom is won once and for all...but unfortunately for Ryia, her new allies are nearly as selfish as she is, and they all have plans of their own.

©2021 M.J. Kuhn. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Promising debut

I almost didn’t get past the first few chapters. The characters seemed unlikable and it felt like the author was trying hard to make the point that women can be as vulgar and crude as men. The foul language seemed forced.
But then the characters started to develop, and they started to show redeeming qualities so that, by the end, I was fully engaged and genuinely cared how things would end.
The world and the magic system are imaginative and interesting.
It was very good as a debut novel and I’m looking forward to more books by the author.

Solid story that moves quickly

This has enjoyable storytelling and plot. A lot of room was left open and unexplored which would have helped. Hopefully it's just leaving content for more in a series.

Great story held back an annoying narrator

This is MJ Kuhn's debut novel and it's a really fantastic one. i plan will on following her career closely and i think I'll end up owning everything she puts out. really interesting world building and character development carry a solid plot throughout. and the "enemies to lovers" tease is just 🤌.

That being said, the narrator held back the audible version from greatness. it's pretty noticable early on that the same audio clip is used everytime she says "Riya" and soon you'll notice the same for "Thamorr". i think she recorded the entire story mispronouncing those 2 words and when it was noticed it was too late, so they simply recorded her saying the ONCE correctly, then proceeded to copy and paste it at every opportunity. and it shows. it really took me out of the story, so much so that i ended up buying a print version and reading it instead.

if that bothers you, buy the text and read it. the story is too good to pass up. if it doesn't, give this a listen. i HIGHLY recommend it.

Great book. I love the sarcastic humor

The heist was fun and interesting and all the characters were unique and dynamic.

Is a nice work of ficion

In just over a year’s time, Ryia Cautella has already earned herself a reputation as the quickest, deadliest blade in the dockside city of Carrowwick - not to mention the sharpest tongue. But Ryia Cautella is not her real name.

Worth the listen

The story had started a little slow, and was a little rough to get into. The way this audio book was recorded made it much harder to stick with it. However, once the story picked up I can honestly say I really enjoyed it.

Fantasy Heist

This story was fun. There were a few points of characterization that made me curious. Ryia is supposed to be remorseless at the beginning of the story, There's no motivation for her to be subservient to Callum Clem. Also, when it's revealed who she is and how she came to be the way she is (which is never fully revealed in this story), she already had power. Why did she allow those monstrosities without using her power to stop it? Some of the getaway scenes seemed too easy also. There are A LOT of loose ends in this book. But one comes to expect that in fantasy with the potential for multi-book series.
If you enjoy books like Lynch's The Gentlemen Bastard series or Bardugo's Six of Crows, this is just like those books. Dark, gritty, fantastical heist where betrayals abound. Fun entertainment, but for me this won't be overly memorable.
But the reason for this review is actually to rant about the audio. The narrator was adequate. She did not try to employ too many voices that she wouldn't remember from one character to to next. But here was my MAJOR distractor which bothered me so frequently that I'd often have to rewind. The recording sounded like the narrator had read the whole book pronouncing Ryia's name wrong then had to go back and edit in the correct pronunciation. Every single time Ryia's name was spoken, it was distinctly disconnected from the rest of the contextual phrase. Every time. There were numerous other audio edits that were quite jarring as well. I do hope whoever is responsible for the audio production can find better sound editors. Once can tolerate the occasional trackable edit, but when they appear in every chapter, that's just unprofessional.
In spite of this, I didn't return the book, so it's worth the listen. Or better yet, buy the paperback and read it yourself! It'll be better that way.

Distracting Narration

The story is good. I'll be buying the next in the series. But I wouldn't be able to listen to this one again. The narration is good in most ways but the name "Ryia" clearly being inserted after the fact is incredibly distracting. Something occasional like a place name is okay to be edited like that, but a main character's name comes up way too often.

Back alleys & backstabbing = bollicking good times

“Did that feel good, referring to yourself in the third person? Because you sounded like an idiot.”
Ah, frenemies banter, the first sign of my kind of fantasy. It starts a bit slow, taking three hours to set the stage for the heist and introduce the multiple POVs of Ryia, Tristan, Ivan, Nash, and Evelyn. But, once it gets going it’s a delicious tale starring an uneasy alliance of rogues. Everyone has a hidden agenda and
I loved machinations and changing alliances.

“Good luck; try not to get dismembered.”
The world building is fascinating, with a creepy, blood-based magic system and mindless Adepts, their Disciple overseers, and the Guild Master over them all. I love that there are cutthroat gals who aren’t merely around to be love interests. While it took me almost to the end of the book to warm up to Ryia, my favorite character was Nash, the self titled Empress of the Seas. Although for that matter, each of the MCs is unique and engaging.

“No one is going to die.”
“Easy for you to say, you’re not the bait.”
This is medieval fantasy that skews closer to Six of Crows YA rather than First Law grimdark. There’s occasional F bombs and raunchy euphemisms without any actual sex. There’s only the slightest whiff of romance here, and it never goes beyond a kiss in book 2, leaving fantasy at center stage. The major plot arc satisfyingly concludes in book 2, although there are enough loose threads to allow for other books.

P.S. I only heard slight audio issues and it didn’t at all detract from the story.

Fun! I hope the author writes a sequel

This was a fun surprise. The author left space for a series and I hope she follows through.