trope: rogue/shadowy alley

The Swords of Haven (A Hawk & Fisher Omnibus Book 1)

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Enforcer: The Shira Calpurnia Omnibus

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The Swords of Haven (A Hawk & Fisher Omnibus Book 1)
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Hawk and Fisher: partners, husband and wife, Captains in Haven’s City Guard. Known, respected, and mostly feared, Hawk and Fisher fight crime, pursue justice, and protect Haven with their unique blend of strength, steel, and razor-sharp instinct. Haven’s citizens have never needed their protection more. The city is a hotbed of violence and corruption, where the natural and supernatural constantly collide, ready to boil over at any moment. Hawk and Fisher have their work cut out for them—for even by daylight, Haven is a dark place.

Swords of Haven brings together the first three novels in New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green’s beloved Hawk & Fisher series:

Child of the Night Guild: A Grimdark Sword and Sorcery Fantasy Thief Adventure

Child of the Night Guild: A Grimdark Sword and Sorcery Fantasy Thief Adventure
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They killed her family. They ripped apart her home. But to repay her debts, she’ll have to sacrifice her innocence.

4 gripping novels, 1300+ pages of grim, dark intrigue in the underworld of thieves and cutthroats!

Viola, a child sold to pay her father’s debts, has lost everything: her mother, her home, and her identity. Thrown into a life among criminals, she has no time for grief as she endures the brutal training of an apprentice thief. The Night Guild molds an innocent waif into a cunning, agile outlaw skilled in the thieves’ trade. She has only one choice: steal enough to pay her debts.

The cutthroat streets of Praamis will test her mettle, and she must learn to dodge the City Guards or swing from a hangman’s rope. But a more dangerous foe lurks within the guild walls. A sadistic rival apprentice, threatened by her strength, is out for blood.

Thrown together with unlikely allies, her burgeoning skills draw the attention of sadistic bullies and jealous rivals with dark intentions. But fueled by grief-filled rage, Viola won’t let anything distract her from preparing for The Guild’s most treacherous test.

standalone series set in the same world as Defenders of Legend, but can be read either before or after. Chronologically, it occurs before the events of the previous collections

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
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See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone — Season 2 streaming now!

Meet Kaz Brekker and his crew: Jesper, Inej, Wylan, and the star-crossed Nina and Matthias, on the heist of a lifetime in Six of Crows from #1 bestselling author, Leigh Bardugo.

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo returns to the breathtaking world of the Grishaverse in this unforgettable tale about the opportunity—and the adventure—of a lifetime.

Read all the books in the Grishaverse!

Of Shadow and Sea (The Elder Empire – Shadow Book 1)

Of Shadow and Sea
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Part of a 6 books serie with a parallel  trilogy “Of Sea and Shadow”

The Consultant’s Guild has served the Aurelian Empire for over a thousand years, working in the darkness to hunt dissension and eliminate traitors.Now the Emperor is dead.For Shera, an assassin in the employ of the Consultants, the Emperor’s death is the beginning of a nightmare.

Powerful forces hunt the Heart of Nakothi, a cursed artifact that can raise a second Emperor…and corrupt him in the process.But some desire power at any cost.The Guild of Navigators, an infamous collection of swindlers and pirates, has been paid a fortune to secure the Heart.

Their only lord is greed, their only loyalty to gold, and they would sell the Empire’s freedom for the promise of a quick coin.In the shadows, a woman works to set the world free.On the seas, a man seeks to raise a lunatic to lord over mankind.Will you walk the shadows here with Shera? Or will you explore the seas with Calder, in the parallel novel “Of Sea and Shadow”?

Blackhearts The Omnibus (Warhammer Chronicles)

Blackhearts: The Omnibus
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Classic collection of stories from the Warhammer Fantasy universe. Under threat of death for their crimes, Reiner Hetzau and his fellow prisoners are given a choice: they can either be executed or work for the very people that have imprisoned them.

Forced to carry out the most desperate and suicidal secret missions, all for the good of the Empire, the Blackhearts encounter Chaos cultists, ratmen, dark elves, rogue army commanders and more. Time and again they are pitted against impossible odds and survive – yet what they most desire they cannot have: their freedom.

Low Town: A Novel

Low Town
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Follow up novel here

Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town.

In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its cham­pion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens.

The Warden’s life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his dis­covery of a murdered child down a dead-end street . . . set­ting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House—the secret police—he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn’t get investi­gated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psy­chotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted.

Daniel Polansky has crafted a thrilling novel steeped in noir sensibilities and relentless action, and set in an original world of stunning imagination, leading to a gut-wrenching, unforeseeable conclusion. Low Town is an attention-grabbing debut that will leave readers riveted . . . and hun­gry for more.

The Gutter Prayer (The Black Iron Legacy Book 1)

The Gutter Prayer
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A group of three young thieves are pulled into a centuries old magical war between ancient beings, mages, and humanity in this wildly original debut epic fantasy. Enter a city of saints and thieves . . . The city of Guerdon stands eternal. A refuge from the war that rages beyond its borders.

But in the ancient tunnels deep beneath its streets, a malevolent power has begun to stir. The fate of the city rests in the hands of three thieves. They alone stand against the coming darkness.

As conspiracies unfold and secrets are revealed, their friendship will be tested to the limit. If they fail, all will be lost, and the streets of Guerdon will run with blood. The Gutter Prayer is an epic tale of sorcerers and thieves, treachery and revenge, from a remarkable new voice in fantasy.

It Takes a Thief to Catch a Sunrise

It Takes a Thief to Catch a Sunrise
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Set in a new world of corruption, deceit and thievery; mixing magical fantasy and alchemy-punk with a healthy smattering of airshippery. “There comes a point in every thief’s life where one has to take stock of all that they have achieved.

We have stolen almost everything there is worth stealing: Prince Henri’s Jadefire ring, the Marquisse d’Bola’s collection of prized toy soldiers, Elize Gion’s Living Autumn, the very first airship schematic, and who could forget we definitely made off with Baron Rivette’s pride. The trick, I find, is not to break in. No. The trick is to convince the mark to invite you in.”

 

follow up here

The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora
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“Remarkable . . . Scott Lynch’s first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, exports the suspense and wit of a cleverly constructed crime caper into an exotic realm of fantasy, and the result is engagingly entertaining.”—The Times (London) An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr.

But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly.

Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.

Praise for The Lies of Locke Lamora “Fresh, original, and engrossing . . . gorgeously realized.”—George R. R. Martin “Right now, in the full flush of a second reading, I think The Lies of Locke Lamora is probably in my top ten favorite books ever. Maybe my top five. If you haven’t read it, you should. If you have read it, you should probably read it again.”

—Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times bestselling author of The Name of the Wind “A unique fantasy milieu peopled by absorbing, colorful characters . . . Locke’s wit and audacity endear him to victims and bystanders alike.”

“High-octane fantasy . . . a great swashbuckling yarn of a novel.”—Richard Morgan

Skullsworn: Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne

Skullsworn
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Brian Staveley’s new standalone, Skullsworn, returns to the critically acclaimed Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne universe, following a priestess attempting to join the ranks of the God of Death. Pyrre Lakatur is not, to her mind, an assassin, not a murderer—she is a priestess. At least, she will be once she passes her final trial. The problem isn’t the killing. The problem, rather, is love. To complete her trial, Pyrre has ten days to kill…

Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne universe