Honor Among Thieves by David Chandler (The Ancient Blades Trilogy: Book 3)

Honor Among Thieves is the last book of the epic/high fantasy Ancient Blades Trilogy, and is preceded by Den of Thieves and A Thief in the Night.

When allies become enemies, to whom can a clever thief turn? Armed with one of seven Ancient Blades, Malden was chosen by Fate to act as savior… and failed dismally. And now there is no stopping the barbarian hordes from invading and pillaging the kingdom of Skrae. Suddenly friends and former supporters alike covet the young hero’s magic while seeking his destruction - from the treacherous King and leaders of the City of Ness to the rogue knight Croy, who owes Malden his life.

It will take more than Malden’s makeshift army of harlots and cutpurses to preserve a realm. Luckily the sorceress Cythera fights at his side, along with the ingenious, irascible dwarf Slag. And the wily thief still has a desperate and daring plan or two up his larcenous sleeve…

I will not give a large summary of the events that Malden and his fellow party members face in Honor Among Thieves, this would reveal to much of the ending of A Thief in the Night. Just a teaser.

In Honor Among Thieves a new passage has been created by a sequence of events in A Thief in the Night. With an army marching from the East to conquer the lands of the West, Malden is faced with his destiny to be the savior. After fleeing from the dwarven city in A Thief in the Night, Malden and his party go to the king. Already the news of the invasion of the East is spreading throughout the kingdom of Skrae. This news draws the bearers of the Ancient Blades together to fight the invasion (finally!). Will the drawing of the most powerful knights in the kingdom of Skrae with their magical enhanced swords be enough? Will Malden be able to rise as a savior of the Free City of Ness? I guess you’ll have to read it to find it out!

After having read all three books of The Ancient Blade Trilogy I must say that the first book, Den of Thieves, is more a standalone novel. The storyline in Den of Thieves is not wholly followed up in the other two books. Den of Thieves more or less just introduces the characters and gives them some background information. The storylines of Honor Among Thieves follows up better with A Thief in the Night than Den of Thieves with a Thief in the Night (hope that is clear). The events described in a Thief in the Night are all of influence in Honor Among Thieves.

What I did like about Honor Among Thieves is that the plot and some events that happened in the second book fell into place. It suddenly made a lot more sense as to why certain things happened. In the prologue Cutbill suddenly disappears and it ends with “It was quite a while before anyone thought to check the ledger, and the message Cutbill had so carefully marked”. This stuff just makes me enthusiastic to find out what it was. I was very pleased with the ending of the novel and the last paragraph as it describes exactly of how a proper thief would make its escape. Also in the first novel it is mentioned that there are 7 Ancient Blades and the revealing of them was cool, although I would have like to see more of it. I rated the first book with an 8 and with an explanation of “Who doesn’t like magic swords ..” I had huge expectations of the magic those swords possessed and their capabilities. This was a bit of a let down, I’d expected more.

David Chandler manages again to urge you to finish the book. His way of writing is almost comparable to Abercrombie - straight to the point and understandable. There are no lingering events or boring parts in the book, the storyline jumps from several places in the world of The Ancient Blades. In Honor Among Thieves there is one final standoff and this event is vividly and wildly explained. Chandler is doing his best to create a gripping story, introducing certain plot twists and ending several chapters with sentences that just make you want to continue reading.

All in all Honor Among Thieves is good story that connects well with the other two books. The Ancient Blades Trilogy is in itself definitely worth reading. The motivation of the actions of the characters and the plot that Chandler uses make this trilogy highly enjoyable. I hope to read more fantasy books written by David Chandler in the future.

8/10 A solid ending of the events described in the first two books, a must read!