City of the Uncommon Thief

By: Lynne Bertrand

Narrated by: Alan Kelly, Justine Eyre

A dark and intricate fantasy, City of the Uncommon Thief is the story of a quarantined city gripped by fear and of the war that can free it.

"Guilders work. Foundlings scrub the bogs. Needles bind. Swords tear. And men leave. There is nothing uncommon in this city. I hope Errol Thebes is dead. We both know he is safer that way."

In a walled city of a mile-high iron guild towers, many things are common knowledge: No book in any of the city's libraries reveals its place on a calendar or a map. No living beasts can be found within the city's walls. And no good comes to the guilder or foundling who trespasses too far from their labors. Even on the tower rooftops, where Errol Thebes and the rest of the city's teenagers pass a few short years under an open sky, no one truly believes anything uncommon is possible within the city walls. But one guildmaster has broken tradition to protect her child, and now the whole city faces an uncommon threat: a pair of black iron spikes that has the power of both sword and needle on the rib cages of men has gone missing, but the mayhem they cause rises everywhere. If the spikes are not found, no wall will be high enough to protect the city—or the world beyond it.
And Errol Thebes? He's not dead and he's certainly not safe.

Critic reviews

"City of the Uncommon Thief is dizzying and bright, a masterful novel that sits somewhere in the space between Frances Hardinge and Philip Pullman."—Tor.com

★ "A macabre marvel of a tale."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Bertrand is wildly ambitious, and she’s masterful in her success, trusting readers to be patient and thoughtful enough to tackle shifting locations, characters, perspectives, and plots. It all comes together into a conclusion that drags wildly disparate parts together, howling for their independence but finally yielding to become part of a (begrudgingly) tamed and comprehensive whole that is worth every word."—BCCB, starred review

★ "Not only a sprawling work of precise storytelling, but also a literary Rubik’s cube […] City of the Uncommon Thief is genre-defying fiction at its finest, and Bertrand sticks the landing on a book that knows no fear."—Book Page, starred review

"Epic...Recommended for fans of Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes and Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows."—SLJ

"A strange, fascinating adventure in a singular world."—Publishers Weekly

A BookPage Best Book
A Tor.com Reviewers' Choice
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book

Stunning

I loved this book with all my heart, and you will too! I wild ride or fantasy that opens your eyes to the writer's world, a tightrope walk of action, adventure, and friendship.

Great Adventure!

Reading City of Uncommon Thief was like entering a new world of heros, adventure and characters that win your heart.
Interwoven are tales of old that we know and see anew!
This book is well written and is imaginative and alive with wit and heart.
MUST READ!!!

Would not recommend

I really struggled with this book. I kept on with it because I wanted to see if it would eventually make sense. While some of the mysteries and confusion was cleared up by the end of the story, I feel like I wasted my time listening to it. Overall - I felt like the story was relayed by a young child who didn't have the maturity or world-view to put the events into context. While the author has built a unique world - there is no description or explanation of any of it. We are just dropped into this world where the struggle to understand where we are and what is happening and what the rules are is real. I'm sorry, I really wanted to like this book but I cannot recommend it for anyone.
P.S. A drawback to listening to this story on audible, versus reading it, was that for a good portion of the book I thought the "House of Thebes" where the story begins was really the "House of Thieves" (because of the title was about a Thief).