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arberry 's review for:
The Magic Thief
by Sarah Prineas
As I was perusing the shelves in my local library, I came upon this book, looking deceptively innocent with its nice blue and gold cover. Since I like fantasy, I decided I'd give it a go. Little did I know what horrors awaited me. The plot, (if you can call it that), centers around a young thief oh so appropriately named Conn, who attempts to steal a locus magilawhatsit from the wizard Nevery, which should have killed him. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen. Instead, Nevery decides to take Conn home with him and make him his apprentice. Because really, when a grubby little thief tries to steal your powerful magical stone from you and doesn't die from it, you would obviously take him in, feed him, clothe him, train him in magic, and send him to an expensive school where he receives an education that most orphans can only dream of.
He then begins the search to find his own special magic stone thingy, which he does for most of the book. The plot drags on and on without anything interesting happening besides the numerous boring subplots (except for the biscuit recipe). Conn eventually finds out that 'his' stone is currently in the hands of the queen. Naturally, he decides to sneak into the palace and take it. I mean, it's not like the ruler of the land owns it or anything. Oh wait, she does. But that doesn't matter because it's HIS stone after all. And after he finds his locus magicachoo, he (spoiler) promptly loses it when fighting the bad guy. The magic stone concept strongly resembles the wand one from the Harry Potter series in that the wand/stone chooses the wizard. Except in HP, you feel Harry's emotional connection with his wand, and his devastation when it breaks. Here, you only feel that the whole 'find your magic stone' subplot was a complete and utter waste of time (and paper).
'Well,' you ask, 'if the plot isn't the most memorable, surely the characters are original and complex? Or at least likable?' No. Not in the slightest. They are all unpleasant stereotypes you can't connect to. Gary St-err, Conn is your average, badly written fictional thief with a heart of gold. He's 'mischievous', 'quick-witted', 'charming', and has the personality of a doormat. Which is an insult to doormats everywhere. He is such a bland, boring character that I literally forgot his name while reading this book. No joke. If you can't remember what the main character's name is in the middle of the book, you know the author is doing something wrong.
Our villain, (whose name I can't remember), is a generic baddie who hates Conn, tries to kill him on various occasions, and has no character whatsoever. The other bad guy (of sorts) is a bully at Conn's school who (surprise, surprise) hates his little pickpocketing guts. He also has no character outside of his stereotyped category. But these are just the antagonists. Doesn't Conn, dull and bland as he is, have any friends? Of course he does. And they also are unoriginal cardboard cut outs. Yay!
Nevery is an irascible old codger who, for all his snapping threats at Conn and making him work for his keep (which seems to be a bad thing in Conn's eyes), puts up with his obnoxiousness thinking that he might be useful someday for saving the kingdom or something like that. He is not the best authority figure, particularly when it comes to the way he interacts with others. If handled well, a bad mentor might make for some interesting reading. However, it is not handled well here.
You may begin to ask yourself, 'Well, where are all the girl characters? There must be at least one strong female protagonist who helps the hero, right?' Um...if you mean the smart girl who does well in school, and despite being kind of stuck up (spoiler:she's a princess), manages to befriend the hero, then yes, she would probably count as one. Yet another used to death stereotype, Rowan is an intelligent princess who attends Conn's school and helps tutor him, since he can't read or write well, if at all. And is it just me, or is Rowan being set up as Conn's future love interest? Of course, I wouldn't know anything about that considering I haven't read the other two books.
Overall impressions? If you couldn't tell from my review, I really don't like this book. The plot (more like a mishmash of subplots) drags in all the wrong places, I've seen all of these characters before, only done better, the writing is nothing great, there aren't any good role models, the world isn't that creative, and all in all it's just very forgettable. There's nothing in this book that makes it worth reading instead of other fantasies. If you do want to read it, I'd advise getting it from the library, so you can see for yourself whether you'd want to buy it or not. There's not a lot that I found morally offensive, but as a fantasy lover I was offended by the number of clichés and recycled ideas that were used here. I have not read the next two books in this series, nor do I plan to. I would only recommend this book to my worst enemies. If you're looking for books about young boys and magic, I suggest you try the Septimus Heap series or reread Harry Potter for the thousandth time.
(No disrespect is intended toward the author in this review. I apologize if it seems that way.)
He then begins the search to find his own special magic stone thingy, which he does for most of the book. The plot drags on and on without anything interesting happening besides the numerous boring subplots (except for the biscuit recipe). Conn eventually finds out that 'his' stone is currently in the hands of the queen. Naturally, he decides to sneak into the palace and take it. I mean, it's not like the ruler of the land owns it or anything. Oh wait, she does. But that doesn't matter because it's HIS stone after all. And after he finds his locus magicachoo, he (spoiler) promptly loses it when fighting the bad guy. The magic stone concept strongly resembles the wand one from the Harry Potter series in that the wand/stone chooses the wizard. Except in HP, you feel Harry's emotional connection with his wand, and his devastation when it breaks. Here, you only feel that the whole 'find your magic stone' subplot was a complete and utter waste of time (and paper).
'Well,' you ask, 'if the plot isn't the most memorable, surely the characters are original and complex? Or at least likable?' No. Not in the slightest. They are all unpleasant stereotypes you can't connect to. Gary St-err, Conn is your average, badly written fictional thief with a heart of gold. He's 'mischievous', 'quick-witted', 'charming', and has the personality of a doormat. Which is an insult to doormats everywhere. He is such a bland, boring character that I literally forgot his name while reading this book. No joke. If you can't remember what the main character's name is in the middle of the book, you know the author is doing something wrong.
Our villain, (whose name I can't remember), is a generic baddie who hates Conn, tries to kill him on various occasions, and has no character whatsoever. The other bad guy (of sorts) is a bully at Conn's school who (surprise, surprise) hates his little pickpocketing guts. He also has no character outside of his stereotyped category. But these are just the antagonists. Doesn't Conn, dull and bland as he is, have any friends? Of course he does. And they also are unoriginal cardboard cut outs. Yay!
Nevery is an irascible old codger who, for all his snapping threats at Conn and making him work for his keep (which seems to be a bad thing in Conn's eyes), puts up with his obnoxiousness thinking that he might be useful someday for saving the kingdom or something like that. He is not the best authority figure, particularly when it comes to the way he interacts with others. If handled well, a bad mentor might make for some interesting reading. However, it is not handled well here.
You may begin to ask yourself, 'Well, where are all the girl characters? There must be at least one strong female protagonist who helps the hero, right?' Um...if you mean the smart girl who does well in school, and despite being kind of stuck up (spoiler:she's a princess), manages to befriend the hero, then yes, she would probably count as one. Yet another used to death stereotype, Rowan is an intelligent princess who attends Conn's school and helps tutor him, since he can't read or write well, if at all. And is it just me, or is Rowan being set up as Conn's future love interest? Of course, I wouldn't know anything about that considering I haven't read the other two books.
Overall impressions? If you couldn't tell from my review, I really don't like this book. The plot (more like a mishmash of subplots) drags in all the wrong places, I've seen all of these characters before, only done better, the writing is nothing great, there aren't any good role models, the world isn't that creative, and all in all it's just very forgettable. There's nothing in this book that makes it worth reading instead of other fantasies. If you do want to read it, I'd advise getting it from the library, so you can see for yourself whether you'd want to buy it or not. There's not a lot that I found morally offensive, but as a fantasy lover I was offended by the number of clichés and recycled ideas that were used here. I have not read the next two books in this series, nor do I plan to. I would only recommend this book to my worst enemies. If you're looking for books about young boys and magic, I suggest you try the Septimus Heap series or reread Harry Potter for the thousandth time.
(No disrespect is intended toward the author in this review. I apologize if it seems that way.)