Thief: Ratcatchers, Volume Two: A Fantasy Hardboiled

Overall it is one of my new favorite fantasy books. I have found the flavorful descriptions of the world and the political intrigue that exists within to be equal parts fun and confounding at points. Each character is depicted as having their own goals and motivations normally. Some of the actions characters take can be infuriating at points but are normally understandable.The main character has faults, has flaws, is not the smartest person in the world, he is human. That humanity is painted as both harmful and helpful in nearly equal measure.My only main gripe is how seemingly almost every female in the series falls all over him at points. Oh...And the fact that it has been 9 years with no third book.

Mathew Colvile is a great author and a better world builder. His books and other professional work are phenomenal. I'm not a literary composition expert by any means so I find it hard to articulate exactly why his books earn my favor. But they do. I bought Thief twice after losing my first copy because I wanted to keep it in my collection.

I very, very rarely write reviews. But I have been exceedingly happy with the discovery of this series by Colville and avidly look forward to reading more.Neither Priest nor Thief talk down to the reader as so many stories do. Rather than long-windedly explaining this or that idea or concept, Colville merely introduces them and builds the story using them allowing the reader to pick up on contextual clues and further details as the stories are woven.In some ways they remind me most of the series of books led by The Hangman’s Daughter. As with those novels, these feel like artfully constructed whodunit tales straight out from the Middle Ages, until you realize it’s not our world at all. But the ways in which they differ become clear, and the differences always interesting.Most enjoyable has been the concept of a religious power structure based upon actual interaction with gods and saints. Far more appealing than the cookie cutter concept of spells tossed around by clerics, prayers that may evoke miracles backed by actual divine entities that choose only to answer them if they feel it proper. Divine beings that may appear as nearly human and spoken with as such is refreshing. As is, most of all, a “church” of generally well-meaning and effective acolytes rather than the common caricature of nasty, political animals who could not possibly have good intentions that is most often overused these days as tired and overwrought commentaries on the same old religious targets today.Well crafted stories provide the scaffolding to support a world of characters informed by good, bad, and so many in-between levels of morality. Good characters fall, bad ones find redemption, both often struggle between the two in an endless loop. Being “good” is hard, and the “right” decision is rarely the obvious one.I think the expression, demonstrated and illustrated repeatedly by the protagonist Heden, sums up the hopeful premise for me best: A man is better than the worst thing he has done. Show me risen heroes, show me fallen thieves and malcontents, but above all, show me hope - not just at the macro/epic level, as most series do, but on the individual character level. Do that, and you’ve got me hooked.

The first book in this series is one of my favorite fantasy books. I thought I had reviewed it before, but since I can’t locate that review, a little bit about Priest before I review its sequel. Priest’s protagonist, Heden, is a former campaigner, or Ratcatcher as it’s called in this world. Heden is a man troubled by his past and is trying to redeem himself by doing right in his present. Without going too much into the plot, he rescues a young woman that those in power would prefer dead, and then he is sent on a mission on which he’s expected to fail. This book has everything I like in the fantasy genre. It shows the respect for its characters on par with Patrick Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind. It has a similar level of grim humor as a Joe Abercombie book, as well as a sense of a fully developed world ready to explore as any of the greats have created. It has all that and then there’s this one line of dialogue, where Heden eloquently states the theme and says, “A man is better than the worst thing he’s ever done.” It seems simple but right there I feel like this sets this book apart. It’s about something important: redemption and also about how we judge people.In Thief, we get to explore more of the "Ratcatchers" world, and it’s every bit as vast and fully realized as we suspected in Priest. We learn more about the world’s players. We learn more about the young woman that Heden rescued back in the beginning of Priest. In addition to his excellent sense of world building, Colville maintains a high level of grim humor as Heden is confronted with odds that are initially beyond his understanding. These are some of my favorite scenes. Heden crossing the line between bravery and stupidity, and what observers of this have to say are brilliantly crafted and hysterical. Again it makes me want to draw a comparison to Rothfuss for how much Colville makes us care about the characters, feel for them, mourn when one of those we’ve come to care about is lost, and how we come to seethe at and loathe the villain.The theme is less straight forward, but Thief is also about something. Heden repeats his brilliant words from Priest about redemption. But here we see this viewpoint mature. Heden is faced with someone that he forgives but cannot fully redeem. And we see that maturation. Heden forgives that person, but that person still needs to pay for what he’s done, redemption is earned not granted.In a way, I wish these books had been taken to a traditional publisher. First, the series is good enough that it deserves to be promoted. It deserves to be mentioned alongside with the other great fantasies of our era. In addition to the thematic items mentioned above, I have to say that as much I like a good fantasy doorstop book, the fact that Colville has achieved what he has in these shorter ~300 page, quicker reads, is amazing. The second reason, is that in Thief there was one thing that I think should have been fixed in editing. The point of view for the vast majority of the book is a close third person, which is fine, except in a few scenes the point of view jumps and there’s some head popping, which I wish had been caught in editing. That said, it seems nitpicky to mention given the fantastic experience that the book delivers.I’m looking forward to spending more time in this world and will pick up volume three as soon as it’s available.

Na continuação de sua obra, Matt nos leva a um ambiente mais urbano e até mais moderno, com uma pegada investigativa e abusando de intrigas. Isso tudo sem perder o caráter de drama psicológico, nesse livro representado pela redenção, e a presença dos elementos de fantasia mágica sempre marcantes. Consegue superar o primeiro, a meu ver por uma combinação de maior dinamismo com uma menor necessidade de apresentar personagens e cenários, o que empresta uma naturalidade maior à leitura. Esperemos que com Fighter mantenha o bom trabalho.

If you like D&D, or similar lore, you will like this book. I caught the fever, and have been watching Coleville's YouTube series where I first learned of this series. I finally found myself with time to give them a read, and I blazed through them. I was hoping to be able to read these by the end of my summer break, and ended up only needing a week per book as I had trouble putting them down. They are great!

Reading this book is just like playing that RPG campaign with your epic-level characters that you never find time to do. It's all there: multidimensional personalities, a plot that thickens every encounter, the right amount of magic and wondrous items, some luck involved and lots of badass quotes. I'm loving this series and can barely wait for the next session! Ahem. i mean book, next book!

For the longest time I avoided reading Priest and Thief, knowing that they’d either become my favourite books or a bitter disappointment.I’m happy to say it’s the former. While I admit I am a willing participant, the world of Orden inexorably drew me in. Heden is a hero I identified with from the beginning, and the assembled cast of dashing and dastardly characters inhabit a living world rather than the pages of a book. I admire the world building and characterisation but the standout quality for me is efficiency. The books know when to dwell on a point, and when to skip to the next scene. It’s a testament to incredible editing and all good ideas requiring a redraft.I can’t recommend the books enough, in fact I would insist upon them as essential reading. Well done Matt.

Fully realised world and characters. It/They feel very real and the story telling just pulls you in. Reminds me of old school, grounded D and D campaigns I’ve played in the past. Thoroughly enjoyed this one and Priest (Ratcatchers Book 1) in my opinion a must read.