The audiobook is the way to go with this one. Fantastic stuff, probably made me enjoy the book even more. But even so, I think this is above average than the typical fantasy fanfare; I can see why it’s fairly popular. The setting is evocative, character exactly how I like my thieves: Not irredeemable, but tinged with a kind of realism regarding corruption and the way the world works, and ip front about their own opportunistic nature.

It’s a pretty bleak world, ruled by the guild that educated him and indentures all sorts to carry out their will. There are goblins that are particularly nasty, but more so because of socio-economic circumstances and other stuff. The world building specific to thieving and magic was really interesting, though not wildly novel, but that is wildly rare now, with the market saturated with these kinds of stories and D&D-esk stories more so.

I’d describe it as something just really well executed, at every level. It won’t blow your mind if you’ve been reading in the genre for a while. But it’s funny and poignant and earns it’s twists and endings; it’s even sweet sometimes, which is a feat for characters constantly assailed by dangers and not exactly likeable, generally. I’d certainly pick up the next and that’s not something all that usual for fantasy series these days.