Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

44 reviews

apollo0325's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

THIS BOOK ABSOLUTELY FUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The plot, the characters, and the setting really took influence from folk and fairy tales with queer and morally grey bad bitch MCs who don’t take shit. I had SO MUCH FUN reading this book. Owen’s humor really shines but doesn’t overshadow or trivialize the struggles and trauma of characters. It was perfectly humorous, fun, and that final confrontation was bonkers.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Murder, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

I really think that teenage me would have adored this book. The representation, the characters, the humour. 

I find myself flittering around the edges of enjoying Young Adult, one of the downsides to growing up. Then a book like this comes along and I can put myself back in the mind of a teenaged me, obsessed with reading and books piled all around. 

There is not much more to say other than I found this book to be a joy and I hate how long it took me to actually read it. Curse my ever growing TBR, keeping gems like this hidden from me!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Grief, and War

Minor: Body shaming and Emotional abuse

miblette's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait to dive into the next. I really love fairytale retellings, and this one did not disappoint! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Classism

aytac's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Violence, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Genocide, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

cookiecat73's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I finished this book in 3 days, which considering the amount I've been reading on average per day so far this year, is fast. The writing style is one that I flew through, and the plot had me hooked from chapter one, which isn't common. Despite the constant threat of death, the trauma, and dark topics, this is the funniest book I've read in a while. It doesn't make light of the heavy stuff, but the narration and dialogue contain a lot of jokes which so happened to be exactly my sense of humour, and I laughed a lot. I also cried a little bit.

I adore so many of the characters, especially Ragne. The world was good, though nothing incredible. The Gods were amazing, probably my favourite Gods that I've ever read in a story, though to be fair I'm not normally a big fan of Gods in stories so there's not much competition. The description of Eiswald was incredible.

Unfortunately, this book isn't 5 stars for me. So many parts of it were, and I wish it had been 5 stars, but there were certain things in it that I just didn't like as much. Nothing it did wrong really, just things that brought my enjoyment of it down.

I can't believe they called this Untitled Goose Girl when it was being written, reading that in the acknowlegments cracked me up.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Child abuse, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Outing, Addiction, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Acephobia/Arophobia, Cannibalism, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, and Vomit

librarista's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault and Murder

quill88's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Physical abuse

sabrinz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

3.5

The blurb (as well as the beautiful cover) drew me to this story, topping this up with being about fairy tailes and you had my full attention.

The book starts a bit slow and is (in my opinion) never really fast-paced as we follow Vanja, posing as a princess, who steals from the reach to flee the country (and the decisions her godmothers want to impose on her). But her greed draws the curse of a deity and she'll die at the next full moon if she does not give back what she took.
Enter a junior investigator who is more than he seems and a wrathful husband-to-be who schemes behind the scenes, but why?
As an unlikely alliance forms, the past and how Vanja came to pose as the princess come to light and maybe some amends will be made.

I was mad at myelf for not getting which fairy tale this was until after having read a very unmistakable name - and only then realizing what this meant after a few more hours. 
It's a great read with many elements from different fairy tales (a lot of it from German mythology) but also a lot of German influences (esp. the food - with some liberties in the spelling).

There is a second book, but this one can be read as a stand-alone. It does not end on a cliffhanger but is also not a definite end to the journeys the characters have gone on.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Murder

r_a_bell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Classism, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Gaslighting, Blood, and Gore

marleywrites's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

Margaret Owen, I love you forever for writing this book. I’m writing this review after reading this book for the second time in preparation for Painted Devils. 

Vanja is incredible. I adore Emeric. I could not create a more perfect duo. Add Gisele and Ragne to the mix and you’ve got the perfect conniving crew. 

This story had action, adventure, sleuthing, chaos, and beautiful romance(s). It features a queer normative world. It has magic and gods and politics. It has thieving and scheming. 

This story made me cry both times I read it. Vanja is such a strong character, I love her and I see so much of myself in her story and her fears and her hopes. She is an excellent example of how to write PTSD in characters, without glorifying or romanticizing their traumas. 

Emeric is possibly one of my favorite book boyfriends ever. I’ll leave it at that! 💛

I cannot wait for Painted Devils! I’m posting this review 8 days from the release date!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Grief, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Animal death

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Violence, Infidelity, Police brutality, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Sexual assault

There are moments when a character is triggered by her previous sexual assault. But the sexual assault does not occur on page.