City of the Uncommon Thief

Lynne Bertrand

A dark and intricate fantasy for readers of The Book of Dust and Leigh Bardugo. 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 as a result the whole city faces an uncommon threat: a pair of black iron spikes that have the power of both sword and needle on the rib cages of men have gone missing, but the mayhem they cause rises everywhere. If the spikes not found and contained, 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.

A big, immersive, and thought-provoking high fantasy from a new YA author. Delivers extraordinary worldbuilding, an intricate plot, and an unforgettable cast.A thousand tales in one book. Bertrand has woven a love letter to the history of storytelling in her novel of mayhem and redemption. From the Odyssey to the Three Kingdoms to Beowulf and beyond, City of the Uncommon Thief is a joy for any reader who senses the magic in retelling ancient tales.Incredible voice. Odd Thebes, the bard of this tale, is a brilliant, frustrating, and completely beguiling stroyteller.Complicated female characters. Bertrand undercuts traditional masculine heroism with a cast of extraordinary women.Breathtaking and imaginative action sequences. Bertrand's violence is as calculated as it is intense but never strays into brutality for its own sake.An allegory about the dangers of a culture obsessed with making things. Readers who notice early that life in these seemingly ancient guilds bears some resemblance to contemporary life will be rewarded.