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bookfessional 's review for:
Midnight Thief
by Livia Blackburne
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads
Before I read MIDNIGHT THIEF, I took the advice of various and sundry others, and read the prequel, POISON DANCE, and I really liked it. Having since read the book, I'm going to hazard a guess that the point of the prequel was to, if not make a sympathetic character out of MIDNIGHT THIEF's villain, then to at least explain why he was the way he was.
But it didn't quite work that way for me.
I feel like I've said this recently, so if I'm repeating myself, I apologize, but in real life, we make allowances for people based on their life experiences: what they've been through, how they've suffered, etc.
In a book . . . maybe it's all the same for you, but I'm not much interested in the characters who have turned into meek, little mouse-things, b/c they can't handle what life has dealt them, or in this case, the character who has turned into a bitter and manipulative, cold bastard, b/c someone from the upper classes did him wrong.
For a character to be redeemable, he has to show that he possesses (<------present tense) the tiniest shred of humanity. Who cares that he used to be an okay guy, but then life happened, so here we are?
Not me. #sorrynotsorry *shrugs*
Kyra is a thief. She's a thief who gets recruited by the Master of the Assassins' Guild (James) to . . . well, she doesn't need to worry her pretty, little head about that. He'll tell her when she needs to know.
*frowns*
Initially, I didn't think it was strange for the Assassins' Guild to headhunt a thief--they're all criminals, right?--but by the end . . . I felt I should have been more suspicious. I can't decide if I should fault Kyra for making the same mistake, BUT you'd expect someone who grew up on the streets to be a bit more savvy.
And she is reluctant.
Ultimately the decision to join the Guild is made after a series of events, that even as they were happening, I couldn't help but wonder, if James had set the whole thing up. Or at the very least, laid in wait until an opportunity presented itself. I still don't know, but it was carefully orchestrated by someone--James or Blackburne, take your pick.
In fact, the entire story felt carefully orchestrated.
Kyra is an orphan and doesn't have much in the way of even an adopted family: Bella is a mother figure who lost her only child at sea, and Flick, the several-years-older-than-her bastard son of a nobleman, who inexplicably took an interest in her when she was child. There are also two street children she's bonded with, b/c they remind her of herself at that age.
But there is no gang of rough and tumble we-grew-up-on-the-streets-together friends for life.
And that's not really surprising, b/c Kyra is the most noble of thieves . . . so noble that it's hard to imagine her having any friends at all. I can't see her moral high ground being a crowd favorite when they're all hanging out in their street rat clubhouse.
She's also painstakingly crafted to be a victim of circumstance: Kyra is only a thief, b/c 1. she was starving and had to do something to feed herself, and 2. her almost unbelievable cat-like reflexes, balance, fearlessness, etc. It's almost like thievery was her only option, so who could possibly blame her?
Carefully. Orchestrated.
I had to keep reminding myself that Kyra was a thief, not an assassin, when her adamant refusals to expand her criminal repertoire started making my eyes twitch. Don't misunderstand, it's not that I wanted her to go on a killing spree or something, but her protests were so . . . self-righteous: "I don't mind hanging out and working with assassins, and I desperately want their respect and acceptance, but don't you dare ask me to be one, b/c I'm better than that,"
I don't care if she's still half human as well, how do you expect me to believe that she got ALL of the physical perks: agility, balance, enhanced hearing and vision, etc., but none of the bloodlust?
And not just an absence of bloodlust, but an abhorrence of it.
Really? *frowns and squints*
The further I got into the book, the more it felt like it was following a predetermined formula. Kyra, who I initially liked, became more and more two-dimensional. She was like one of Nimue's paintings that lacked life from Hunting Ground, Alpha and Omega #2 by Patricia Briggs. The other characters were the same.
I saw every plot twist a mile away, and the ending was laughably maudlin.
I really wanted to like this book, and for the first 150-200 pages, I thought that I did. But the world-building was superficial--I still have no idea why the Demon Riders migrated to Forge beyond a vague reference to humans poisoning their land. I know that the Head of the Counsel is a stock Noble of the bad variety, but is there a King or a Queen? And the characters . . . I couldn't connect with them. The end.
However, I have been increasingly unimpressed with YA fantasy's recent offerings, and MANY respected friends and bloggers have had a decidedly different take on MIDNIGHT THIEF. Check out Marcela's review at The Bookaholic Cat or Tabitha's review at Not Yet Read for compelling reasons to try this book. Just b/c I didn't like it, doesn't mean you won't. I have been known to be a crankypants.<------true story.
Before I read MIDNIGHT THIEF, I took the advice of various and sundry others, and read the prequel, POISON DANCE, and I really liked it. Having since read the book, I'm going to hazard a guess that the point of the prequel was to, if not make a sympathetic character out of MIDNIGHT THIEF's villain, then to at least explain why he was the way he was.
But it didn't quite work that way for me.
I feel like I've said this recently, so if I'm repeating myself, I apologize, but in real life, we make allowances for people based on their life experiences: what they've been through, how they've suffered, etc.
In a book . . . maybe it's all the same for you, but I'm not much interested in the characters who have turned into meek, little mouse-things, b/c they can't handle what life has dealt them, or in this case, the character who has turned into a bitter and manipulative, cold bastard, b/c someone from the upper classes did him wrong.
For a character to be redeemable, he has to show that he possesses (<------present tense) the tiniest shred of humanity. Who cares that he used to be an okay guy, but then life happened, so here we are?
Not me. #sorrynotsorry *shrugs*
Kyra is a thief. She's a thief who gets recruited by the Master of the Assassins' Guild (James) to . . . well, she doesn't need to worry her pretty, little head about that. He'll tell her when she needs to know.
*frowns*
Initially, I didn't think it was strange for the Assassins' Guild to headhunt a thief--they're all criminals, right?--but by the end . . . I felt I should have been more suspicious. I can't decide if I should fault Kyra for making the same mistake, BUT you'd expect someone who grew up on the streets to be a bit more savvy.
And she is reluctant.
Ultimately the decision to join the Guild is made after a series of events, that even as they were happening, I couldn't help but wonder, if James had set the whole thing up. Or at the very least, laid in wait until an opportunity presented itself. I still don't know, but it was carefully orchestrated by someone--James or Blackburne, take your pick.
In fact, the entire story felt carefully orchestrated.
Kyra is an orphan and doesn't have much in the way of even an adopted family: Bella is a mother figure who lost her only child at sea, and Flick, the several-years-older-than-her bastard son of a nobleman, who inexplicably took an interest in her when she was child. There are also two street children she's bonded with, b/c they remind her of herself at that age.
But there is no gang of rough and tumble we-grew-up-on-the-streets-together friends for life.
And that's not really surprising, b/c Kyra is the most noble of thieves . . . so noble that it's hard to imagine her having any friends at all. I can't see her moral high ground being a crowd favorite when they're all hanging out in their street rat clubhouse.
She's also painstakingly crafted to be a victim of circumstance: Kyra is only a thief, b/c 1. she was starving and had to do something to feed herself, and 2. her almost unbelievable cat-like reflexes, balance, fearlessness, etc. It's almost like thievery was her only option, so who could possibly blame her?
Carefully. Orchestrated.
I had to keep reminding myself that Kyra was a thief, not an assassin, when her adamant refusals to expand her criminal repertoire started making my eyes twitch. Don't misunderstand, it's not that I wanted her to go on a killing spree or something, but her protests were so . . . self-righteous: "I don't mind hanging out and working with assassins, and I desperately want their respect and acceptance, but don't you dare ask me to be one, b/c I'm better than that,"
Spoiler
but when it was FINALLY revealed that she was one of those cat shifters, I just couldn't excuse it anymore.I don't care if she's still half human as well, how do you expect me to believe that she got ALL of the physical perks: agility, balance, enhanced hearing and vision, etc., but none of the bloodlust?
And not just an absence of bloodlust, but an abhorrence of it.
Really? *frowns and squints*
The further I got into the book, the more it felt like it was following a predetermined formula. Kyra, who I initially liked, became more and more two-dimensional. She was like one of Nimue's paintings that lacked life from Hunting Ground, Alpha and Omega #2 by Patricia Briggs. The other characters were the same.
I saw every plot twist a mile away, and the ending was laughably maudlin.
I really wanted to like this book, and for the first 150-200 pages, I thought that I did. But the world-building was superficial--I still have no idea why the Demon Riders migrated to Forge beyond a vague reference to humans poisoning their land. I know that the Head of the Counsel is a stock Noble of the bad variety, but is there a King or a Queen? And the characters . . . I couldn't connect with them. The end.
However, I have been increasingly unimpressed with YA fantasy's recent offerings, and MANY respected friends and bloggers have had a decidedly different take on MIDNIGHT THIEF. Check out Marcela's review at The Bookaholic Cat or Tabitha's review at Not Yet Read for compelling reasons to try this book. Just b/c I didn't like it, doesn't mean you won't. I have been known to be a crankypants.<------true story.