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A review by jscarpa14
The Magic Thief: Home by Sarah Prineas
3.0
Not sure if I've got the date started right on this, but I've been listening to this over the course of a few night with nights I didn't get a chance to listen to it at all. The narrator is still amazing, and it's a good book but I was less hooked right off the bat because of immediate inconsistencies in the story.
If you've read any of my other comments on books inconsistencies in a series drive me crazy. They're a huge pet peeve for me. The biggest one here is from then end of book three and the beginning of Home. During the final parts of Found when Conn is first returned by the Magics - Arhionvar and Wellmet he didn't remember anything after being a gutter boy. And he didn't completely remember everything he'd known then, for example he thought his name might be boy, but he wasn't really sure. Benet helps to capture Conn the amnesiac and there's a scene prior to Conn remembering who he was again where he's at the palace with Rowan where she shows him the Ducal Magister's Suite and tells him that when he remembers again he'll take his place as his Ducal Magister and they will be his rooms. I don't remember the exact wording. So why then is Conn so shocked when she officially appoints him as such during the meeting at the beginning of the story? She's already told him this is coming in another book. Why is it that she could show him the rooms in one book and be surprised at what they look like in another book? Then there's the whole novella which is supposed to take place prior to this book, except that if Conn was helping kids do other spells that the other Magister's didn't like in the novella why then is he still an outcast among Magister and Apprentice alike in this book? I really don't see how the novella really fits at all other than shared characters and settings. Plot wise it just sort of confuses me as to how it makes sense with the overall series story arc. Then there's Keeston who just sort of disappeared after Book one after being around Heartsease constantly as Nevery's secretary and kind of fitting in like a sort of cousin in their makeshift family. (He's not actually related to any of them nor are that really related to each other but the residents of Heartsease are like a kind of cobbled together build your own family sort of unit.) In the Novella he was sort of in that role of being around all the time as he had been in the first book. In this book he appears for a tiny scene and seems more like an outsider than someone that fits there. There are a few other things that I remember having bugged me at the time I was hearing them that aren't coming to mind now, but parts of this book don't fit and follow right which bothered me.
Additionally I really can't seem to understand why the city of Wellmet allows the blind and moronic Wizards to be part of the government. In Found after the events of The Magic Thief even though it's pretty obvious what happened in the final conflict of book one they're like we didn't see that happen so how can we be sure it's true and because you have different believes and backgrounds than we do and no longer have a locas magicalicus you're no longer a wizard and everything gone wrong in the city is your fault Conn. In book two they were like well we didn't see you save the Duchess or defeat Arhionvar but we did catch you preforming pyrotechnics so you're still exiled, and everything wrong in the city is your fault Conn. In book three they were like yeah we know you flew in on a dragon and you've got one on your shoulder but Dragons are extinct and couldn't possibly have anything do with the natural resource of magic, and yeah the city is all falling apart because Arhionvar is here like you said he was, but you're still wrong and we're still right and you still blew things up so die Conn, die. In book four they're still blaming Conn for everything, they still don't believe him about dragons and even though they have evidence right in their laps of Conn being totally right they won't acknowledge it. AND their still involved in the running of the city sitting in council meetings. REALLY?! Rowan who's now supposed to be in charges even knows that they're all imbeciles and lets them help make decisions about how the city is run?! Chick it's glaringly obvious that this needs to change and instead of being in charge you're letting everyone else be in charge of you and leaving the idiots in power. No, I really don't have much patience for that.
What I did like was that the story finally offers as satisfying conclusions to the conflicts created in The Magic Thief between Crow and Conn and the conflicts in Found between Nimble and Conn. The book was exciting and fast paced with lots of action and magic and of course conflict. Insights are offered into a lot of my favorite characters via their letters and journals. It had all of the elements I loved about the previous novels but the main reason I can't rate this one as high is all of the inconsistencies in the series are so much more prevalent in this story. I'd love to see more from this series and plan to read more from Prineas. Despite my rants, I really would recommend this book and definitely recommend this series to anyone who loves stories of magic and adventure.
If you've read any of my other comments on books inconsistencies in a series drive me crazy. They're a huge pet peeve for me. The biggest one here is from then end of book three and the beginning of Home. During the final parts of Found when Conn is first returned by the Magics - Arhionvar and Wellmet he didn't remember anything after being a gutter boy. And he didn't completely remember everything he'd known then, for example he thought his name might be boy, but he wasn't really sure. Benet helps to capture Conn the amnesiac and there's a scene prior to Conn remembering who he was again where he's at the palace with Rowan where she shows him the Ducal Magister's Suite and tells him that when he remembers again he'll take his place as his Ducal Magister and they will be his rooms. I don't remember the exact wording. So why then is Conn so shocked when she officially appoints him as such during the meeting at the beginning of the story? She's already told him this is coming in another book. Why is it that she could show him the rooms in one book and be surprised at what they look like in another book? Then there's the whole novella which is supposed to take place prior to this book, except that if Conn was helping kids do other spells that the other Magister's didn't like in the novella why then is he still an outcast among Magister and Apprentice alike in this book? I really don't see how the novella really fits at all other than shared characters and settings. Plot wise it just sort of confuses me as to how it makes sense with the overall series story arc. Then there's Keeston who just sort of disappeared after Book one after being around Heartsease constantly as Nevery's secretary and kind of fitting in like a sort of cousin in their makeshift family. (He's not actually related to any of them nor are that really related to each other but the residents of Heartsease are like a kind of cobbled together build your own family sort of unit.) In the Novella he was sort of in that role of being around all the time as he had been in the first book. In this book he appears for a tiny scene and seems more like an outsider than someone that fits there. There are a few other things that I remember having bugged me at the time I was hearing them that aren't coming to mind now, but parts of this book don't fit and follow right which bothered me.
Additionally I really can't seem to understand why the city of Wellmet allows the blind and moronic Wizards to be part of the government. In Found after the events of The Magic Thief even though it's pretty obvious what happened in the final conflict of book one they're like we didn't see that happen so how can we be sure it's true and because you have different believes and backgrounds than we do and no longer have a locas magicalicus you're no longer a wizard and everything gone wrong in the city is your fault Conn. In book two they were like well we didn't see you save the Duchess or defeat Arhionvar but we did catch you preforming pyrotechnics so you're still exiled, and everything wrong in the city is your fault Conn. In book three they were like yeah we know you flew in on a dragon and you've got one on your shoulder but Dragons are extinct and couldn't possibly have anything do with the natural resource of magic, and yeah the city is all falling apart because Arhionvar is here like you said he was, but you're still wrong and we're still right and you still blew things up so die Conn, die. In book four they're still blaming Conn for everything, they still don't believe him about dragons and even though they have evidence right in their laps of Conn being totally right they won't acknowledge it. AND their still involved in the running of the city sitting in council meetings. REALLY?! Rowan who's now supposed to be in charges even knows that they're all imbeciles and lets them help make decisions about how the city is run?! Chick it's glaringly obvious that this needs to change and instead of being in charge you're letting everyone else be in charge of you and leaving the idiots in power. No, I really don't have much patience for that.
What I did like was that the story finally offers as satisfying conclusions to the conflicts created in The Magic Thief between Crow and Conn and the conflicts in Found between Nimble and Conn. The book was exciting and fast paced with lots of action and magic and of course conflict. Insights are offered into a lot of my favorite characters via their letters and journals. It had all of the elements I loved about the previous novels but the main reason I can't rate this one as high is all of the inconsistencies in the series are so much more prevalent in this story. I'd love to see more from this series and plan to read more from Prineas. Despite my rants, I really would recommend this book and definitely recommend this series to anyone who loves stories of magic and adventure.