Douglas Hulick: Among Thieves

[Brian G Turner]

This book has come up on my radar and sounds interesting - reviews suggest to me something like a cross between Scott Lynch and Brent Weeks.

Anyone here willing to provide an opinion on this book?

 

[elvet]

This book has come up on my radar and sounds interesting - reviews suggest to me something like a cross between Scott Lynch and Brent Weeks.

Anyone here willing to provide an opinion on this book?

I recently read it. I gave it a 3/5 on Goodreads. I don't think it was as good as Lynch or Weeks. There were lots of plot twists and turns, but none of it was fleshed out enough to follow easily and I found it uneven. It didn't have the humor of Lynch or the depth of Weeks. Having said that, I did like it and would look into any sequels.

 

[Grunkins]

This probably won't help that much, but I started a few months ago, got about 15 pages in, then stopped. It seemed like my time was better spent on other novels. I think it would be entertaining, but relatively low quality.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I recently read it. I gave it a 3/5 on Goodreads. I don't think it was as good as Lynch or Weeks. There were lots of plot twists and turns, but none of it was fleshed out enough to follow easily and I found it uneven. It didn't have the humor of Lynch or the depth of Weeks. Having said that, I did like it and would look into any sequels.

I've gone and ordered it now, on the grounds that someone who has a Masters degree in mediaeval history should, in theory, be able to add some degree of detail to the world and experience.

I appreciate he's gone for the quick read/pace approach - just hope I can pick a few details of value from it!

 

[elvet]

Well, I didn't find "Way of shadows" to have much depth, so that's a little worrying!

Sorry, I meant the main character had more depth than the protagonist of Among Thieves.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I liked it a bit more than those above. I agree it was a little uneven and not as good as The Lies of Locke Lamora (but then, I really really like Lynch's first book) but I enjoyed reading it and the world Hulick's put together was very interesting.

 

[Anne Lyle]

I enjoyed Among Thieves a lot, TBH - sure it doesn't have the awesome writing skillz of Lynch, but I warmed to Drothe and found his struggles amongst the criminal underworld fun to observe. And boy does he get put through the mill!

I tried reading some Brent Weeks and found it a bit meh - guess I have different tastes to many readers

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm about a third the way through and quite enjoying this - a lot better than some of the other books I've read, and certainly more intelligently written than Weeks! (I thought Way of Shadows more YA Fantasy than Epic Fantasy TBH.)

The world building is nice without being in your face, though he does drop in infodumps every now and then, though luckily just for a couple of paragraphs at a time.

The most curious thing is that I thought Douglas Hulick was a scholar of mediaeval history - but this comes across as somewhat Renaissance: Drothe carries a rapier, sits in chairs, drinks coffee - post-Mediaeval for sure.

But the pacing is nice, there is some good use of detail, and the protagonist is engaging enough. Also enjoying the general "criminal underworld thriller" and low magic.

And also that Drothe is intelligent enough to pick up on clues immediately, instead of wandering around for half a book unable to put 2+2 together, which is nice!

Surprised we haven't seen more of Hulick being mentioned on chronicles, actually.

Then again, I am only a third the way through ...

 

[Anne Lyle]

Medieval/Renaissance is a bit of a blurred line, since it didn't happen uniformly across Europe

Regardless of his academic specialisation, Doug is also a student of historical martial arts, particularly the rapier, which probably motivated his decisions when creating the setting.

(I know Doug quite well - he blurbed my second book, and we hung out together a fair bit at WorldCon last summer.)