The Thief of Hermes

Xena: Warrior Princess

by Ru Emerson

His name is Helarion, fleet of foot, full of charm, and a thief like no other. He claims to be the son of Hermes, the Sun god and divine trickster. When he frames Xena and Gabrielle for one of his crimes, they must plan a daring jailbreak - and suddenly they are living like true cutpurses.

Is Helarion good or evil? A god's child or a liar? Xena and Gabrielle don't have time to find out. For they're about to be drawn into an adventure only the son of Hermes could survive...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mythology, Adventure, Tv

232 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1997

About the author

aka Roberta Cray

Ru Emerson was born on December 15th, 1944 in Montana. She and her husband, Doug, live in Oregon with their only child, a silver mackerel tabby cat named Roberta. She likes to lift weights, run, bike, skate in-line, ski, play basketball, tennis, racquetball, garden, play guitar, scuba dive, and fly stunt kites. Her favorite reading material includes Megan Lindholm, science fiction by Larry Niven, murder mysteries by Patricia Cornwell, plus any other good historical non-fiction.

Reviews

[Scott Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sorry to say I didn’t enjoy this at all. I’ve committed to reading this series for the Hercules & Xena book club here on Goodreads but it’s been a real slog thus far. The next two books are by different authors so we’ll see how they go!

I’m all for breaking the rules of grammar to make a point or draw the reader’s attention to something but this book is just awash with sentence fragments and strange punctuation that make it difficult to read. The point is to represent colloquial speech and or thought but I found it distracting and sometimes difficult to parse.

I have missed Xena in these novels! They really focus on Gabrielle rather than giving a good balance to both characters and because they’re based on very early characterizations, Gabrielle is kind of annoying.

Like Timothy Boggs in the Hercules novels, Emerson has a tendency to overuse certain words and phrases. These books are just too short to use certain words more than once or twice. I’m thinking specifically of people falling “bonelessly” which happens at least three times, and the bizarre description of Xena giving “teeth-only” smiles which happens at least three times as well.

Anyway, I can’t really recommend this book but it is an interesting historical example of a licensed work gone slightly wrong.

[Greg Converse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sat last night compiling a list of books I've read over the last 12 months. It began in chronological order, The Anatomy Of Influence being first, and became, almost subconciously, alphabetical. (The Bicycle Diaries came next, then A Christmas Blizzard.) Now I think about it, The Anatomy Of Influence was not the first book I read, but it was the first title I wrote down. Forgive me for my misspeaking. It was late, and I was following the suggestion of my librarian.

[Troy Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interested in just reading some Xena. The author does alright with the material, though there are some obvious differences in continuity with the TV show. The scene with Gabrielle fighting side-by-side with the queen of Athens was interesting. But Xena was given precious little to do. The whole Hermes theme was a stretch too. I picked up a few other tie-in books in this series. I hope they're stronger. Still, it was fun to again read the exploits of the warrior princess.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Xena and Gabrielle must save the day along with the help of a young thief who claims to be the son of the mesenger god Hermes. Overall, a good book, strong storyline and great dialogue.

[Lisa Steinmetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Xena so naturally I thought this book is great!!!

[Thomas Watson III · Rating 2 out of 5]

quite good on dialog. Needs more action.