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books_n_pickles's review
3.0
Just a quick little note here, since this empty review was looking sad. I felt a bit bad giving the book only three stars, but...it's the book I would have wanted to read when I was younger. Magic and revolutionary Boston? How cool is that?!
Pretty darn, but a couple things kept me from being 100% happy.
First and foremost was that this was not the first book--it's either the third or the fourth, though I was unclear on which, since the author's bio and list of previously published works seemed to contradict each other. There was no indication that it wasn't the first in a series. It wasn't too hard to read without having read the others, but I still felt cheated, like the lack of a big #3 or #4 on the front denied me the chance to say, "You know, this sounds cool, I think I'll start the series properly."
Really, the series sounds great. There were so many interesting-sounding back stories woven into this one that I'm almost afraid they don't all fit in two or three previous books. Ethan Kaille's had an interesting life that I'd like to hear more about--his age and real (as opposed to Gary-Stu-like) imperfection make him interesting.
The same cannot be said of the women characters. Five are named, two are gorgeous, two are pretty, and one is old. Thanks, thanks a lot for reducing a little more than half of humanity to a handful of worn old stereotypes: the trouser-wearing femme fatale, the beautiful and devoted lover, the crazy old black lady spouting wisdom, the girls who need protecting. What's most frustrating is that there are seeds of originality in each that could make them remarkable enough to hold their own...but the narrative denies them that chance and reduces them to either a plot point or a wet dream (almost literally, at one point). I was especially enraged when one of the women forgot that her gun couldn't shoot more than once. If there were any firearms at the time that could do so, that wouldn't be a thing you'd forget. The default of the time would be to assume that you only had one shot.
A lot of the supporting male characters were interesting, and the women were too, it was just frustrating that they couldn't be held in more equal narrative standing. Still, I would like to read more about all of them. Maybe someday I'll pick up the first and start from the beginning.
Pretty darn, but a couple things kept me from being 100% happy.
First and foremost was that this was not the first book--it's either the third or the fourth, though I was unclear on which, since the author's bio and list of previously published works seemed to contradict each other. There was no indication that it wasn't the first in a series. It wasn't too hard to read without having read the others, but I still felt cheated, like the lack of a big #3 or #4 on the front denied me the chance to say, "You know, this sounds cool, I think I'll start the series properly."
Really, the series sounds great. There were so many interesting-sounding back stories woven into this one that I'm almost afraid they don't all fit in two or three previous books. Ethan Kaille's had an interesting life that I'd like to hear more about--his age and real (as opposed to Gary-Stu-like) imperfection make him interesting.
The same cannot be said of the women characters. Five are named, two are gorgeous, two are pretty, and one is old. Thanks, thanks a lot for reducing a little more than half of humanity to a handful of worn old stereotypes: the trouser-wearing femme fatale, the beautiful and devoted lover, the crazy old black lady spouting wisdom, the girls who need protecting. What's most frustrating is that there are seeds of originality in each that could make them remarkable enough to hold their own...but the narrative denies them that chance and reduces them to either a plot point or a wet dream (almost literally, at one point). I was especially enraged when one of the women forgot that her gun couldn't shoot more than once. If there were any firearms at the time that could do so, that wouldn't be a thing you'd forget. The default of the time would be to assume that you only had one shot.
A lot of the supporting male characters were interesting, and the women were too, it was just frustrating that they couldn't be held in more equal narrative standing. Still, I would like to read more about all of them. Maybe someday I'll pick up the first and start from the beginning.
caycel's review
5.0
Another fantastic novel
Reading another Ethan Kallie novel is like hanging out with an old friend you haven't seen in a while. A historical, magical friend who takes dangerous cases for ridiculously cheap prices, but a friend none the less. Any who, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I neglected the care of my children whilst engrossed the colonial happenings. A fully realized character, a fast paced mystery to solve and plenty of consequences for our main character as well as those he cares about. D. B. Jackson has done it again but alas I can't start the next book until I have properly cared for my children.
Reading another Ethan Kallie novel is like hanging out with an old friend you haven't seen in a while. A historical, magical friend who takes dangerous cases for ridiculously cheap prices, but a friend none the less. Any who, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I neglected the care of my children whilst engrossed the colonial happenings. A fully realized character, a fast paced mystery to solve and plenty of consequences for our main character as well as those he cares about. D. B. Jackson has done it again but alas I can't start the next book until I have properly cared for my children.
dtaylorbooks's review
3.0
How did we end up here?
The good people at Tor sent me an email about some books. The sound of THIEVES’ QUARRY was a good one to my ears so I requested it. I don’t think I’ve read a Revolutionary-set book recently (or at all) so I was intrigued by the era and the premise. I wanted to see what the author was going to do with this.
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
The plot hit the ground running right from the beginning. BAM! Nearly 100 people dead. I like my books with body counts so that was a good way to get me hooked. The magic was also evident from the beginning, as was Kaille’s profession, that lent itself to some excitement. There was enough blood and magic on the pages to keep be reading, that’s for sure.
What worked . . .
The author certainly knew his stuff when it came to 18th century Boston. The picture he painted was incredibly vivid and it wasn’t a problem to follow the characters down the streets as they walked and/or ran them.
I really liked Sephira and I was actually more taken in by her than I was Ethan. I don’t know if this was addressed in the first book but I’d really like to know her history and how a woman in such a stifling era came to be in such an outspoken and illicit position. Her role in this book was more at the fringes and she acted as more of a sinister nuisance to Ethan than anything else but I still would like to see her explained.
Despite this being the second book in a series I didn’t feel lost at all. The rep from Tor was spot on that these books really do stand alone. There was enough of Ethan’s history with all of the characters he comes into contact with that I didn’t think twice about his relationship to anyone or wonder why something was the way it was. It was all about the plot and everything else was woven into it rather seamlessly.
I liked the magic. It was definitely more old school, having to draw blood in order to cast. I’m guessing this may have more detail to it in the first book but what I said still stands: I understood plenty about how it worked and what was going on that I didn’t feel like I was missing anything and nothing ever took away from the plot.
What didn't work . . .
For all the detail the author went into I felt it was a bit much at times. Yes, it painted a vivid picture of the area and the era but it didn’t leave much to the imagination. It almost felt like he wanted to make sure all that research made it into the book so every little street had a name (no doubt accurate), every wharf was given a position that correlated with a street, every neighborhood was laid out in detail. It wouldn’t have taken away from the story at all to tone down on all that minutiae a bit.
I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters.The plot was interesting and I wanted to see how it all turned out, whether Ethan would save his neck or not, how Sephira fit into it all, who was really dead and who wasn’t. But I wasn’t invested in any individuals’s story (except maybe Sephira’s). I think a lot of it had to do with the style of writing. It wasn’t ridiculously old timey but it had an historical air to it that lent a distance to how it read. It was all very . . . blah in its execution in telling the story. Yeah, I kept reading but I certainly wasn’t on the edge of my seat and I didn’t give a whit whether Ethan lived or died at the end; I just wanted to see how the story wrapped up.
If you’re a self-harmer then you need to avoid this book at all costs. The cover should have the word TRIGGER in big red letters on it. Ethan carries a knife on him and he cuts his arm in order to draw blood and conjure and a sign of a conjurer is scarring on a person’s arm from all the cutting. It is absolutely unavoidable and is really an integral part of the story. There’s just no way around it.
And in the end . . .
It was an interesting story. I’m intrigued enough by the time period so there was a hook. The magical aspect of it was another hook. But I didn’t love it. I pretty much only liked it, and nominally at that. I liked seeing how it wrapped itself up, how the episode ended itself without too much disruption to Ethan’s everyday life. But it also ended rather neatly as well regarding Ethan’s life. A bit too tidy little bow on top for my liking but that balanced out to how the premise ended. That was rather gruesome and a bit sad but sometimes naiveté can’t protect a person. Turning a blind eye doesn’t help in the end.
It was okay. It’s a good look into the past with a pretty good premise and decent writing. Really middle of the road for me. I’d need to read more novels from this time period to really know where to place it in the grand scheme but it was okay for now. I was entertained enough to keep reading through until the end but it may have been a bit more out of compulsion to finish it than because I really wanted to keep reading. Just barely but it was there. I’m not really pushed enough to read the first book at this point, if that gets my point across better. Maybe at some point and maybe it’ll give me the Sephira history I’m looking for. But that would be for a rainy day when I’ve cleared out my reading pile, really.
The good people at Tor sent me an email about some books. The sound of THIEVES’ QUARRY was a good one to my ears so I requested it. I don’t think I’ve read a Revolutionary-set book recently (or at all) so I was intrigued by the era and the premise. I wanted to see what the author was going to do with this.
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
The plot hit the ground running right from the beginning. BAM! Nearly 100 people dead. I like my books with body counts so that was a good way to get me hooked. The magic was also evident from the beginning, as was Kaille’s profession, that lent itself to some excitement. There was enough blood and magic on the pages to keep be reading, that’s for sure.
What worked . . .
The author certainly knew his stuff when it came to 18th century Boston. The picture he painted was incredibly vivid and it wasn’t a problem to follow the characters down the streets as they walked and/or ran them.
I really liked Sephira and I was actually more taken in by her than I was Ethan. I don’t know if this was addressed in the first book but I’d really like to know her history and how a woman in such a stifling era came to be in such an outspoken and illicit position. Her role in this book was more at the fringes and she acted as more of a sinister nuisance to Ethan than anything else but I still would like to see her explained.
Despite this being the second book in a series I didn’t feel lost at all. The rep from Tor was spot on that these books really do stand alone. There was enough of Ethan’s history with all of the characters he comes into contact with that I didn’t think twice about his relationship to anyone or wonder why something was the way it was. It was all about the plot and everything else was woven into it rather seamlessly.
I liked the magic. It was definitely more old school, having to draw blood in order to cast. I’m guessing this may have more detail to it in the first book but what I said still stands: I understood plenty about how it worked and what was going on that I didn’t feel like I was missing anything and nothing ever took away from the plot.
What didn't work . . .
For all the detail the author went into I felt it was a bit much at times. Yes, it painted a vivid picture of the area and the era but it didn’t leave much to the imagination. It almost felt like he wanted to make sure all that research made it into the book so every little street had a name (no doubt accurate), every wharf was given a position that correlated with a street, every neighborhood was laid out in detail. It wouldn’t have taken away from the story at all to tone down on all that minutiae a bit.
I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters.The plot was interesting and I wanted to see how it all turned out, whether Ethan would save his neck or not, how Sephira fit into it all, who was really dead and who wasn’t. But I wasn’t invested in any individuals’s story (except maybe Sephira’s). I think a lot of it had to do with the style of writing. It wasn’t ridiculously old timey but it had an historical air to it that lent a distance to how it read. It was all very . . . blah in its execution in telling the story. Yeah, I kept reading but I certainly wasn’t on the edge of my seat and I didn’t give a whit whether Ethan lived or died at the end; I just wanted to see how the story wrapped up.
If you’re a self-harmer then you need to avoid this book at all costs. The cover should have the word TRIGGER in big red letters on it. Ethan carries a knife on him and he cuts his arm in order to draw blood and conjure and a sign of a conjurer is scarring on a person’s arm from all the cutting. It is absolutely unavoidable and is really an integral part of the story. There’s just no way around it.
And in the end . . .
It was an interesting story. I’m intrigued enough by the time period so there was a hook. The magical aspect of it was another hook. But I didn’t love it. I pretty much only liked it, and nominally at that. I liked seeing how it wrapped itself up, how the episode ended itself without too much disruption to Ethan’s everyday life. But it also ended rather neatly as well regarding Ethan’s life. A bit too tidy little bow on top for my liking but that balanced out to how the premise ended. That was rather gruesome and a bit sad but sometimes naiveté can’t protect a person. Turning a blind eye doesn’t help in the end.
It was okay. It’s a good look into the past with a pretty good premise and decent writing. Really middle of the road for me. I’d need to read more novels from this time period to really know where to place it in the grand scheme but it was okay for now. I was entertained enough to keep reading through until the end but it may have been a bit more out of compulsion to finish it than because I really wanted to keep reading. Just barely but it was there. I’m not really pushed enough to read the first book at this point, if that gets my point across better. Maybe at some point and maybe it’ll give me the Sephira history I’m looking for. But that would be for a rainy day when I’ve cleared out my reading pile, really.
speljamr's review
4.0
This is another great book in this series. I love the way D.B. Jackson weaves his tail and fictional elements through the events of real colonial American history.
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