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ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Was it ground breaking? No. Did I have a fun reading it? Yes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Death, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism
marleywrites's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Slavery
Moderate: Murder and Death
Minor: Ableism
theteamsreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
An incredible read from beginning to end. The literal form of edge-of-seat writing and action. All characters presented well with different attitudes and skills required for the heist, and the plotting itself was superb. Definite reread required, but mixed feelings on whether or not I want a sequel. Recommend to anyone wanting a badass selection of characters (all morally grey of course), found family, huge diversity, a realistic heist, and a well thought Medieval-esque world for these characters to cause chaos in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Slavery, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, and Torture
Minor: Alcohol and Abandonment
lastblossom's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
tl;dr
It's a crew of misfit kids with varying secret histories doing a heist in a brutal fantasy world. You already know if you want to read this.
About
Ryia "The Butcher" Cautella is on the run. She has been for a while. She's always managed to stay one step ahead of the Guildmaster of Thamorr, but he seems to be closing in faster every time. And now, with time running out, she's forced to join a team of people with histories and motives as secretive as hers to steal from that very Guildmaster.
What I Liked:
It ticks all the boxes for me, genre-wise. Fantasy heists are my kryptonite, and a team of misfit kids will always get me excited. This book absolutely delivered on the promise - a thrilling heist, conflicting motivations, morally gray characters, deadly secrets, interesting magical worldbuilding, and some fun interpersonal relationship stuff. Multiple POVs written with powerful distinct voices, and I liked all of them. Ivan is my favorite, with Evelyn a close second. The item being stolen was well woven into the world building and magic system. Writing was fast-paced and snappy. The ending strongly implies a sequel, and I hope that it comes quickly. Can't wait to read more!
What Wasn't For Me:
My other kryptonite is found family, and there is very little going on here. I do respect the author doubling down on a group of thieves who all plan to betray each other, and I think I'll probably eat it up it when it happens. But if you were hoping everyone would learn to look after each other after they went through some trials - that absolutely will not happen. I prefer slow burn romance, but I was not even aware there was a romance until I read it in a description.
It's a crew of misfit kids with varying secret histories doing a heist in a brutal fantasy world. You already know if you want to read this.
About
Ryia "The Butcher" Cautella is on the run. She has been for a while. She's always managed to stay one step ahead of the Guildmaster of Thamorr, but he seems to be closing in faster every time. And now, with time running out, she's forced to join a team of people with histories and motives as secretive as hers to steal from that very Guildmaster.
What I Liked:
It ticks all the boxes for me, genre-wise. Fantasy heists are my kryptonite, and a team of misfit kids will always get me excited. This book absolutely delivered on the promise - a thrilling heist, conflicting motivations, morally gray characters, deadly secrets, interesting magical worldbuilding, and some fun interpersonal relationship stuff. Multiple POVs written with powerful distinct voices, and I liked all of them. Ivan is my favorite, with Evelyn a close second. The item being stolen was well woven into the world building and magic system. Writing was fast-paced and snappy. The ending strongly implies a sequel, and I hope that it comes quickly. Can't wait to read more!
What Wasn't For Me:
My other kryptonite is found family, and there is very little going on here. I do respect the author doubling down on a group of thieves who all plan to betray each other, and I think I'll probably eat it up it when it happens. But if you were hoping everyone would learn to look after each other after they went through some trials - that absolutely will not happen. I prefer slow burn romance, but I was not even aware there was a romance until I read it in a description.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Classism, Death, and Murder
emily_mh's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
On the surface, this book was promising. The magic and political systems were both really interesting, and I liked how the five main characters all had such dynamic reasons for their involvement in the heist, connecting back to the worldbuilding in captivating ways. That’s kind of where my positives for this story run out. One of my main issues is that it was too short to give the plot, world, and characters a chance to develop properly. The worldbuilding in particular was pretty thin outside of the city of Carrowick. Nash and Ryia had the EXACT same voice (could not tell them apart), and the romances felt forced.
Aside from this, the dialogue was so cliché it was cringey (literally nearly every line of dialogue was cliched, I couldn’t believe it). And perhaps most importantly, the heist sucked. It was just straightforward, linear action with no surprises or subplots - and it was also, like, WAY too easy All in all, I’m not convinced I’m going to pick up the sequel, but who knows.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Murder, Torture, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Death, Violence, Vomit, and Physical abuse
Minor: Blood, Cannibalism, Ableism, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Sexual content, Trafficking, War, Gore, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, Confinement, Excrement, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
Minor warnings for forced separation from family, illness, epidemic, capital punishment, sick parent.celizardo7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I’d like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this before it’s release. This is a really fun debut filled with morally grey characters that are all the rage nowadays. There were quite a few typos throughout which was a bit frustrating, but hopefully those get edited out. I didn’t find any of the reveals to be surprising but they still fit the progression of the story so it was still enjoyable. The dialogue is fun, but the characters still seem to fall a bit flat; for a debut these characters still had enough life that you wanted to follow them through to the end. The story overall is a good one and I look forward to seeing where the author takes this storyline.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Gore
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