Friday 22 October 2010

Cover art and blurb: Among Thieves

Here's the cover art and blurb for Among Thieves, a debut novel from Douglas Hulick due from Tor UK next year in April.


Rather like this cover. I think the figure's arms are a little rigid, but I love the colour scheme and overall I think it's a stylish cover with good commercial appeal. Here's the blurb:

Drothe is a Nose, an informant who finds and takes care of trouble inside the criminal organization he’s a part of. He also smuggles imperial relics on the side.

When his boss sends him to Ten Ways to track down who’s been leaning on his organization’s people, Drothe discovers hints of a much bigger mystery. Someone is trying to stir up trouble between lower-level criminal organizations, including the one Drothe belongs to. And there’s a book rumored to contain imperial glimmer (or magic) that a lot of very dangerous people seem to be looking for - including two crime bosses known as the Gray Princes.

When Drothe discovers the book, he finds himself holding a bit of swag that can bring down emperors, shatter the criminal underworld, and unlock forbidden magic…that's if he can survive long enough to use it.


From what I've been hearing, thieves are the new assassins, so be prepared to see plenty more novels like this. But Among Thieves seems interesting, even if the 'Grey Princes'  sound like almost a carbon copy of the 'Grey King' from The Lies of Locke Lamora...

One to watch, especially given the high quality of Tor UK debuts in recent years.

2 comments:

Aidan Moher said...

Brent Weeks was just talking this novel up in my interview with him. Will definitely keep an eye on it.

The Multicoloured Commoner said...

"But Among Thieves seems interesting, even if the 'Grey Princes' sound like almost a carbon copy of the 'Grey King' from The Lies of Locke Lamora... "

Yeah, but let's face it, neither of them is very original. The colours white, grey and black combined to aristocratic titles such as prince, lord, king - and sometimes their female counterparts - are almost as common a phenomenon as having a protagonist with fighting skillz.