A Thief in the Night: Book Two of the Ancient Blades Trilogy (Ancient Blades Trilogy, 2) Mass Market Paperback – September 27, 2011

This is the second book of the "Ancient Blades" trilogy and imho a marked improvement on the first one. It’s a year or so after the end of Den of Thieves and Malden has settled into his job for Cutbill, the master of the Thieves’ Guild of Ness, using his skills to nab would-be amateur thieves and make them either work for Cutbill or give up thievery. Meanwhile, the revoltingly over-honorable Croy meets Mörget, a barbarian from the plains across an almost impassable mountain range to the east of Skrae, who also has one of the Ancient Blades. He says he’s encountered a demon and is looking for a little help in tracking it down and killing it. Croy tries to talk Malden into accompanying them, but he doesn’t want to—until he meets a man in monk’s robes who demonstrates his ability to kill him, and then threatens to kill him in a few days. Malden then decides to join their expedition to the mountains after all, and accompanied by the lovely sorceress Cythera and the exiled dwarf Slag, they travel to the mountains and enter an elaborate series of caves once inhabited by dwarves, but for the last several hundred years the prison of the surviving elves of Skrae. (Whether any elves are still surviving is unknown.) And then there are a lot of adventures underground; good action and good characters. Croy is still as insufferable as ever, but Mörget and Slag are well-done (Slag appeared in the first book, but was very minor) and Malden and Cythera are at least as good as they were in that one.

As a thief, Malden is unparalleled in the Free City of Ness. But he has no desire to take up arms against the forces of horrific evil. Yet by saving the life of the knight Croy, Malden has bound himself to an ancient, noble brotherhood and he now possesses a magical weapon forged at the dawn of time, one of only seven swords with incredible powers.The plot of A Thief in the Night is just like Den of Thieves and not at all predictable. Chandler’s writing makes you form a mental conclusion for the end of the novel but manages to leave you with mouth open forming an “I didn’t expect that to happen”. Still, I felt a little let down by a thief novel turning into a more Indiana Jones style adventure. But A Thief in the Night still kept me excited to find out how the end of the story unfolds in book 3, Honour Among Thieves. Well worth the time and effort in reading this series.

Spoilers.In the first book, one KEY POINT in both the plot and the characters' relationships was that the Woman could not touch her love interests or would end up discharging lethal amounts of magical energy into them.In this second book, a KEY POINT is that the Woman can now discharge said lethal energy into inanimate objects - e.g. to break down doors - and afterwards be fine and able to touch things and people without risk.WHAT. Why was there so much whining in the first bok about how she couldn't touch people - boohoo what a lonely and sad existence - if she could just touch some doors and then be OK. This really really frustrated me.Also, in this book, Our Hero wins the Woman's heart by pouting and acting snippy when she doesn't pay attention to him.

There are 3 books in this series, and each gets better. You will like all the characters, both good, bad, and mysterious. Malden is a thief, who gets wrapped up in a larger organization, and a larger plot. There are simple minded Knights Errant, and devious, nasty Wizzards. The world created is full of Dwarves and Elves also. All the 1st story takes place in one city, but the others spread out into the world. I am currently enjoying the third book on my Kindle. Buy it, you'll like it.

This book is one of the best fantasies I have ever read , I recommend it for everyone who loves adventurous books

This is definitely not high fantasy, but at a few points in this one i literally broke up and laughed until i had tears streaming down my face. Characters on a mission getting separated and trying to find one another-- only to run into unexpected company that only knew part of the information needed. Utter frustration and finally desperation, the characters get moved around to comically ridiculous fates. The slow start finally pays off with characters being pushed past limits of endurance and ultimately crack.

Rather formulaic dungeon quest relying heavily on stereotypes and cliches than the first novel in the series. I am in the middle of the third book, Honor Among Thieves, which is a much better effort by David Chandler.

I very much enjoyed this exciting series

Here we have a traditional fantasy story, good characters and an interesting setting. The hero is a thief but not the thoroughly nasty type of thief becoming so popular in other books. Then there is the knight and the witch.The story and the relationships are quite involved but never too complicated or confusing.I can say that the action and tension is constant, not a pause to draw breath. I do feel that a some brief calmer moments to allow the reader to draw breath would be nice. You need that because then it can help the build up to the next moment of excitement. Spielberg demonstrated that most effectively in the film "Jaws"Rather than write separate reviews for the other two books in the series I will say that they follow the same pattern but in different locations. Book 2 is even more concentrated in terms of non stop action. I have had to have a rest and read something else before continuing with book 3

This series of books was a change for me as these books were my first for David Chandler. I enjoyed these books immensely. Good characters with their different problems, at times funny. Yes I would buy more from this writer.

Rather than review each in the series seperately, this is a job lot.The stories read well but I began to find it all a bit predictable after a while. Why did nobody sit Croy down and tell him what a twit he was/is?I bought the books for Kindle. Overall they weren't bad, but there's not enough in there to hook me hard enough to buy another one, should it come out.

Its a great story and I still think the main characters are really very good. I noticed a few typos but not nothing annoying. Anyway, well worthy of 4 stars for an exicting story-line and amazing fantastical invention.

book