Thick as Thieves

• Author: M.J. Kuhn
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: July 25, 2023
• Publisher: Saga Press
• Series: Thieves #2

Thank you to Saga Press and Julia McGarry for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

M.J. Kuhn returns to the gritty world of heists, magic, and deception in this high-stakes fantasy follow-up to internationally bestselling Among Thieves—perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and V.E. Schwab.

Ryia Cautella, aka the Butcher of Carrowwick, and her motley crew have succeeded in the ultimate heist…with the most dire possible consequences. A terrifyingly powerful tool has fallen into the hands of Callum Calm, the criminal leader of the Saints, who was already one of the most dangerous men alive. With the newfound ability to force magic-wielding Adepts to his will, he is unstoppable.

The group has scattered throughout the five kingdoms of Thamorr, and not all are on the same side of the fight. Things seem hopeless, but can Ryia get the gang back together for one last job? Or will chess-worthy power plays and shifting loyalties change Thamorr as they know it?

I planned it out so that I could read this duology back to back, which doesn’t always happen. I can’t even explain how happy I am about this, because I couldn’t wait to jump into it, and it turned out to be the right decision.

After completing a near-impossible heist that turned out to have ridiculously disastrous results, Ryia decides that she has to try her best to get the crew back together for one more job. But the crew is spread out across five kingdoms, and again, not everyone is on the same page. 

She’s got one ally, and that’s Evelyn. I loved seeing how the connection between the two of them really grew even more throughout this book, and they both let down their walls and learned to trust the other. And yes, while the sapphic slow-burn continues in this book, there is a little bit of kissing, but not much in the way of spice. They work together as a team, and you can see how they improve over time.

They can’t defeat Callum Clem without the help of the rest of the crew, especially now that he’s developed all of these super-powers, turning him into mega evil-Cal, focused on wreaking havoc on the world. This allowed Kuhn to really explore the magic system more in this story, which I appreciated since it was so interesting. We also get to see more of Thamorr and the kingdoms within it. 

There’s so much action in this story, I couldn’t stop reading it. This is one of those books where I promised myself I’d read just one chapter repeatedly. With each character having their own motives and goals, there was backstabbing in addition to the usual plot twists, and I never quite knew what to expect. I loved this book, and personally felt like it was even better than the first book. Overall, this was the perfect conclusion to an already great duology, with action, intrigue, forgiveness, redemption, sapphic romance, loss, and taking responsibility for one’s actions, and I would whole-heartedly recommend it.