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A review by dame_samara
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
3.0
This was a book was one of my most excited releases last year, and honestly I found it lacking.
For a book that's selling point is it being a "heist" book, I never got any rush from any of the heists, and by the end it felt formulaic. I could predict the chapters, and it left me feeling like there was no skin in the game. At no point did I find myself on the edge of my seat for as if I was sitting outside with Lily waiting in the get away car, or like I was victorious with Alex when she accomplished something she thought she couldn't.
At the beginning I found the literary style of Li's writing really nice and was enjoying it, but by the end it felt often repetitive. Not even in a systematic way, just in a we could really use a thesaurus type of way.
Similarly by the end I felt like the characters lacked a lot of diversity in thought. It felt like they could have been fleshed out into more people like people, because outside of their rolls it often felt like that I could describe everyone in a sentence maybe two.
I did really enjoy how Alex and Irene's relationship developed, it was a cute enemies to lovers romance. With the fact that Alex never pressured Irene to be anything other then her icy self, it was nice to see them slowly accepting each other for who they are.
I also found myself really moved by the evolution of Daniel and his father's relationship, as someone who has a strained relationship with my parents. It was really heartwarming.
Content Warning: racism, colonization, (mentioned) death of parent, cultural appropriation, grief, xenophobia, terminal illness,
For a book that's selling point is it being a "heist" book, I never got any rush from any of the heists, and by the end it felt formulaic. I could predict the chapters, and it left me feeling like there was no skin in the game. At no point did I find myself on the edge of my seat for as if I was sitting outside with Lily waiting in the get away car, or like I was victorious with Alex when she accomplished something she thought she couldn't.
At the beginning I found the literary style of Li's writing really nice and was enjoying it, but by the end it felt often repetitive. Not even in a systematic way, just in a we could really use a thesaurus type of way.
Similarly by the end I felt like the characters lacked a lot of diversity in thought. It felt like they could have been fleshed out into more people like people, because outside of their rolls it often felt like that I could describe everyone in a sentence maybe two.
I did really enjoy how Alex and Irene's relationship developed, it was a cute enemies to lovers romance. With the fact that Alex never pressured Irene to be anything other then her icy self, it was nice to see them slowly accepting each other for who they are.
I also found myself really moved by the evolution of Daniel and his father's relationship, as someone who has a strained relationship with my parents. It was really heartwarming.
Content Warning: racism, colonization, (mentioned) death of parent, cultural appropriation, grief, xenophobia, terminal illness,