City of the Uncommon Thief, Lynne Bertrand
City of the Uncommon Thief, Lynne Bertrand
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City of the Uncommon Thief

Author: Lynne Bertrand

Narrator: Alan Kelly, Justine Eyre

Unabridged: 14 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/09/2021


Synopsis

A dark and intricate fantasy, 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 now the whole city faces an uncommon threat: a pair of black iron spikes that has the power of both sword and needle on the rib cages of men has gone missing, but the mayhem they cause rises everywhere. If the spikes are not found, 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.

About The Author

Lynne Bertrand is the author of two books for very young readers. This is her first book for young adult readers. She works in A&R for a music label and lives with her family in Northampton, MA.


Reviews

Goodreads review by ~Evie's

"What is it in us that makes us hope for uncommon things?" Okay, first off, the constant references to Virgil, Homer, Robin Hood, King Arthur and so many others was FANTASTIC 😍🥰 tbh might've been my favourite part!!! It was just *chef's kiss* 🤌😌 The shorter chapters made this book feel faster, but tb......more

The time is an alternate reality or a dystopian future. The place is a walled-off city of 1,000 mile-high towers — fascinating! And also, quarantine?! Each tower belongs to a guild, and the guilds run the city — some extracting more influence than others. At ground level live the guild-less, who are......more

Goodreads review by Paul

As many other reviewers have noted, the language can be a bit challenging at first. However, many things worth doing (or reading) are not easy. It's silly to assume one should be able to visit another country with a different language and customs and feel at home right away. Similarly, it is the stra......more

Goodreads review by Laura

If this hadn't been quite as long (due to padding) it could have been a five star. Something has happened in this world, something that created a walled off city of mile-high towers, each tower belongs to a guild that makes some product eventually shipped to the greater world once a year. Teens can b......more

Full review on my blog: The Sea Writes Ok. Ok ok ok. Where do I start? First of all, I guess, a lot of the other reviews here say that they couldn't finish because of the writing, and I just...do not understand? I found it to be pretty straightforward, and downright clever in places, but never confus......more


Quotes

"City of the Uncommon Thief is dizzying and bright, a masterful novel that sits somewhere in the space between Frances Hardinge and Philip Pullman."—Tor.com

★ "A macabre marvel of a tale."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Bertrand is wildly ambitious, and she’s masterful in her success, trusting readers to be patient and thoughtful enough to tackle shifting locations, characters, perspectives, and plots. It all comes together into a conclusion that drags wildly disparate parts together, howling for their independence but finally yielding to become part of a (begrudgingly) tamed and comprehensive whole that is worth every word."—BCCB, starred review

★ "Not only a sprawling work of precise storytelling, but also a literary Rubik’s cube […] City of the Uncommon Thief is genre-defying fiction at its finest, and Bertrand sticks the landing on a book that knows no fear."—Book Page, starred review

"Epic...Recommended for fans of Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes and Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows."—SLJ

"A strange, fascinating adventure in a singular world."—Publishers Weekly

A BookPage Best Book 
A Tor.com Reviewers' Choice
A
BCCB Blue Ribbon Book