Tyler Whitesides

The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn is the first in an action-packed epic fantasy series featuring master con artist Ardor Benn. Ardor Benn is no ordinary thief. Rakish, ambitious, and master of wildly complex heists, he styles himself a Ruse Artist Extraordinaire. When a priest hires him for the most daring ruse yet, Ardor knows he'll need more than quick wit and sleight of hand. Assembling a dream team of forgers, disguisers, schemers, and thieves, he sets out to steal from the most powerful king the realm has ever known. But it soon becomes clear there's more at stake than fame and glory - Ard and his team might just be the last hope for human civilization.

The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn

Kirsten Simkiss

The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn was a great book. Not an amazing one, but a great one. The world building? Solid. The plot? Amazing. The characters? Decent and realistic. The Dragons? Absolutely my favorite cup of tea. I cannot tell you how much I have missed feral, dangerous dragons and that was absolutely a highlight for me.

The world of the book is that of a chain of islands, inhabited mainly by humans, trothians (blue skinned humanoids that see energy and have to bathe in saltwater for the health of their skin), and, of course, dragons. The entire society is based around what they harvest from dragon dung, which acquires magical properties through the digestion and torching post defecation. A weird concept, to be sure, but definitely one I hadn't seen before. Basically different types of bones and/or bonelike material could be ground up into magic powders called grits and employed for a different use based on the type of grit. They used it to light their cities, to heat their homes, to fight their wars. It was really an interesting concept, especially given one of the world-affecting plot twists.

As far as the plot went, I found it was a very intelligent story line, especially looking back. My only gripe with it was that, on occasion, I thought the characters got from point A to point B a little too quickly. Ard's infiltration into noble society, for instance, went from 25 to 100 real fast. I don't wanna spoil things so I won't give details. I just felt like maybe that was something that might have been trimmed out in the editing process to shorten this already very long book. I wanted to see more of him conning his way into things, seeing as it's a skill he prizes in himself above all others.

And thank god for the vicious dragons. I'm so tired of reading books where the dragons are extra large puppies and can talk. These ones will just eat you. They don't give a damn and I love it.

All in all, I can happily recommend this book to others. It is dauntingly large, but it flowed well and I enjoyed myself.

AN EXPLOSIVE TALE OF DARING DEEDS, DECEIT AND DRAGONS 'If you enjoy The Lies of Locke Lamora . . . then I can confidently predict that The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn is the book for you . . . Highly recommended' The Eloquent Page 'I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is easily the best fantasy-heist book I have read in years!' A Fantastical Librarian Ardor Benn is no ordinary thief - a master of wildly complex heists, he styles himself a Ruse Artist Extraordinaire. When a mysterious priest hires him for the most daring ruse yet, Ardor knows he'll need more than quick wit and sleight of hand. Assembling a dream team of forgers, disguisers, schemers and thieves, he sets out to steal from the most powerful king the realm has ever known. But it soon becomes clear there's more at stake than fame and glory - Ard and his team might just be the last hope for human civilisation. 'A fun, terrific read I heartily recommend' David Dalglish, author of A Dance of Cloaks 'The plot and world of this book are one of a kind . . . a very impressive debut' The Quill to Live 'From start to finish this is an amazing read' The Book Plank 'Fun, entertaining and has a unique magic system . . . pretty darn cool' BookNest 'This one is for all you fans of Scott Lynch and Marshall Ryan Maresca eager to meet your next favourite fantasy ne'er-do-well' B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog

Kingdom of Grit, Book One

Absolutely gorgeous. Fast paced. Heists. All the right twists and turns and lots of fun in between. If you want some pretty unique fantasy worlds, this is intoxicating.

The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn

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