Star Rating:

Pages:

386

Where to buy:

Amazon | Kobo | Barnes and Noble

I picked this book looking for a sneaky assassin/thief/heist story. While it didn’t fit what I was looking for, it was still a fun read.

If you do want a heist or more detailed theft type of book, this isn’t going to fit the bill. It’s more focused on the organization of the thieve guilds, not the day-to-day thieving. It does have a nice pace to it. Lots of fighting—more so in the second book—and the scenes that were not focused on fighting went quickly to get us back to the action. It’s a quick read, and Dalglish’s prose was smooth and easily digested.

The world-building was just enough for me, maybe even a tad on the simpler side, but I had just come off reading The Way of Kings which is so heavily detailed in world-building that this book came in as a relief. I can’t say it’s politically focused, but it is definitely based on groups vying for power, and while that might be the focus of the plot, it didn’t feel bogged down as these plots can most often get. Again, it moves quickly.

The characters, while fleshed out to me, didn’t grab hold despite my character-driven reading preference. However, they were interesting and with the quick plot, great action scenes, and blood and guts, this was an incredibly fun read. 

We follow Aaron as he discovers who he is and what he’s going to do with his life. The poor kid (13 years old) has been through a lot. He’s one of the thieve guild’s heirs and he’s expected to take over the family business. His father treats him as a business venture, not a son. You do feel for him, and oddly with all he’s been through, I would have thought to connect to him more, but I just felt a bit outside of his world. Even so, his chapters were my favorite and continued to be my favorite through book 2.

Alyssa is our second main character. I didn’t really enjoy her character as much in the beginning, but halfway through I did start to see her come alive and into her own woman. By book 2, I did end up enjoying her chapters as much as Aaron. She’s the daughter of a Trifect (one faction at war with the thieve guilds) and is naive in the beginning but is a quick learner, which I appreciated. She grows from ignorance into a woman who can see those manipulating her. I enjoyed watching her come to be her own woman, her choices made as best she could in her situation.

There are some other minor character chapters, all of which moved the story along and allowed us to understand the world and motivations of some of the characters. Again, since the plot moves quickly, you really don’t have time to be annoyed that you’re not with your favorite character. 

So all that said, this is a fast-paced book not in the vein of heist and thievery but focused on factions and power. Lots of action, lots of slicing and dicing, and a decent amount of blood.

If you want to find out more about the author, here’s some places to find him: Goodreads | Author Website | Amazon

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