Reviews - A Little Trickerie

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319 reviews for:

A Little Trickerie

Rosanna Pike

4.13 AVERAGE

fiannah's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

savidgereads's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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: Complicated

emmaliz's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious

antonia_g's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous fast-paced

faeryfluff's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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: Complicated

sasha99's review against another edition

4.75

a book bar pic because why else would I be reading something set in 1500! Very very out of my comfort zone but I’m loving the writing style so far, I like the swearing throughout and how it’s so easy to read - if more historical books are like this then clearly I’ve been sleeping on them too long! I feel like when the trick happened it was a bit boring and I lost some of the initial interest but maybe because it took me so long to read. My copy is battered from taking it away with me and I feel like that makes the book hold even more memories and love. A book that made me feel so so warm and lovely at the end, I think I’ll reread it one day just to get that glow, but that fizzled out in the middle-end just a bit

andreeavis's review

3.25

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

If you like medieval stories, this book is for you. I was drawn from the first page, where a 14-year-old girl is left with a newborn as her mother dies in childbirth. Tibb and her mom are vagabonds in 1500s England, part of a cast of women who have no home, not that they CAN own a home, so they live on the fringes of society. Vagabonds had been recently outlawed as well, and the church, the institution that held all the power, is haunting them, arresting them, and either imprisoning or executing them based on… their mood, I guess? I am not sure what to call their assessment (you know, women = witches, gay men = sinful, and so on).

Pike starts the story with desperation: Tibb’s mother is dead, and she is left with a newborn. There is no time to grieve or contemplate her position, as she needs to keep the baby alive. And she tries, but of course, she will fail. She has no money, no house, no food, no water. She tries to steal milk but fails and, while desperately walking searching for resources, she stumbles on a beach where she meets Ivo, a lone, kind man who becomes her friend and protector. But the baby had already died, and Tibb had been walking around carrying her dead body.

Tibb’s world is not safe for her or babies. For a while, she lives on the beach with Ivo, eating wild birds' eggs, fish, clams, algae, and fruits. But they need to move on, as the locals discover them and scare them away. When reaching a town nearby, Ivo leaves Tibb, and she is, once again, alone, hungry, and abandoned. By accident, she finds a troupe of performers. She joins them, travelling through cities and encountering thieves, abusive lords, priests, royalty, and even pulling a massive trick that would help them escape to an island where they wouldn’t be prosecuted anymore (the “Holy Maid of Leominster”).

What makes the book exciting is Tibb’s voice, naive but foul-mouthed and defiant. Tibb is a fighter and challenges all the rules that work against her, including God and his rules (trigger warning - lots of blasphemy). In a world designed to hurt her, she survives and thrives, finding a new family and navigating these dangerous times with nothing but wit and the will to live.

This is a fast-paced story, so if you enjoy medieval tales, with theatre performers, language fitting the time, a journey through Middle Ages Britain and a beautiful (side) love story, pick this book up.