Reviews - La città dei ladri

2.95k reviews for:

La città dei ladri

David Benioff

4.23 AVERAGE

tylermaun's review against another edition

5.0

One of the most delightful, beautiful reads of the last few years for me.

tgmess's review against another edition

3.0

3.5/4. Didn’t love it though can’t put my finger on why specifically. I learned a lot as it’s not a place/time in history I was particularly familiar. The characters were fun and I did love that everything that happens spins around a quest for eggs.

tjcurtis's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jasoneadams's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rwalkerspencer's review against another edition

5.0

City of Thieves, by David Benioff, is beautifully written, with an exciting plot and vibrant characters. City of Thieves takes place in Leningrad, Russia during World War ll during the Siege of Leningrad in which the Germans surround the city and block off all food and supplies. The story follows Lev and Koyla, two teenage boys arrested and sent on a mission to find a dozen eggs. Through the eyes of Lev, the reader is able to gain quite a bit of insight into the events of the time period while giving it a more personal touch. Benioff’s choice to tell the story through first-person point of view was brilliant, as he creates a character that simply feels real. He is able to create vivid conversations and inner narrative of dialogue that could make anyone question whether or not they had had the same conversations or thoughts. The author breaks the barrier of a time seventy years prior and creates a character that is easy to relate to. “She wasn’t looking at me anymore, she was back to studying the ibex. I was less interesting than a stuffed animal.” The commentary is raw, it rings true for so many people, and provides an interesting perspective: even in a time of war, when he is so close to death, Lev is still more concerned about capturing the attention of a girl. By creating a novel that focuses on the trials of a teen and his growth as a person, Benioff creates a story and a character that is relatable, often a difficult task in historical fiction. In doing so, he also creates an interesting commentary on how war and devastation shape a person. The novel starts with Lev as an old man recounting his story to his grandson before starting from the beginning and telling the story as if Lev is living it. This also allows an opportunity for the reader to consider Lev’s life as an old man, and how his choices highlighted throughout the story affected the life he now leads.
This book’s writing style is quite unique, keeping the reader on their toes at all times. It is fantastic writing. It is humorous, and raw, and exciting, and horrific- it does not have one true mood throughout, but is real, and truly transports the reader into Lev’s world. Historical-fiction fan or not, this is a book that many will enjoy. Anyone interested in reading a unique view on this often forgotten topic that will keep you fully entertained should consider picking up a copy of City of Thieves.

rbeau354's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

angelinka14's review against another edition

5.0

What a beautiful captivating story. Listened to this in audiobook form and I cannot emphasize enough how much I appreciate the narrator NOT use a horrendous Russian accent when reading the book.

“And there was the excellent possibility of death. I never understood people who said their greatest fear was public speaking, or spiders, or any of the other minor terrors. How could you fear anything more than death?

Everything else offered moments of escape. A paralyzed man could still read Dickens. A man in the grips of dementia might have flashes of the most absurd beauty.”