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Stealing from Wizards #2
Stealing From Wizards Volume 2: Burglary
Returning for his second year at the Avalon Academy school of magic, all Kuro wants is to leave his past behind and be like any other young wizard. But life as a thief was poor preparation for the trials of friendship and schoolwork, and his hopes are frustrated by a deluge of inconvenient mysteries, unprovoked attacks, and unexplained burglaries.
Aided only by his fellow Autumn Lodge misfits, who are as much hindrance as help, can Kuro avoid expulsion and arrest long enough to prove his innocence, protect his friends, and maybe even pass some classes?
Aided only by his fellow Autumn Lodge misfits, who are as much hindrance as help, can Kuro avoid expulsion and arrest long enough to prove his innocence, protect his friends, and maybe even pass some classes?
318 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2021
20 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
R.A. Consell
6 books66 followersR. A. Consell is a Canadian author living and in Ontario. He is a writer of fantasy fiction, a nerd culture critic, science consultant, costumer, prop builder, and engineering instructor.
He has been featured in Game Developer Magazine, Kotaku, The Mary Sue, and Bully Pulpit Games. He also consulted on The Science of Game of Thrones by Hellen Keen.
He has been featured in Game Developer Magazine, Kotaku, The Mary Sue, and Bully Pulpit Games. He also consulted on The Science of Game of Thrones by Hellen Keen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 6, 2021
Fun and joyful
This book is so much fun and fills me with good and happy feelings at regular intervals while still having an interesting, always moving plot. Magical school, chosen family, underdogs solving their problems creatively, it’s got all my favourite things. Loved it and can’t wait for the next year at Avalon.
This book is so much fun and fills me with good and happy feelings at regular intervals while still having an interesting, always moving plot. Magical school, chosen family, underdogs solving their problems creatively, it’s got all my favourite things. Loved it and can’t wait for the next year at Avalon.
November 11, 2024
The saga ended and now I must move forward
I feel like the reviews I leave for this saga seem very dramatic/emotional, but I cannot write them any other way. This saga made me feel such a wide range of emotions ( at times even weeping at some events), that I just want to say to the author: Thank you this journey was worth it.
I feel like the reviews I leave for this saga seem very dramatic/emotional, but I cannot write them any other way. This saga made me feel such a wide range of emotions ( at times even weeping at some events), that I just want to say to the author: Thank you this journey was worth it.
July 22, 2021
Kuro remains an awesome protagonist, and I love that his responses to situations seem true to his background. While the main story wraps up nearly there are still so many intriguing things left to be expanded on. A little slower than the first book, through the middle, but overall loved it and can't wait for the next one.
July 22, 2021
I love the world building and the creativity in the development of each of the characters. My blandland language doesn't do justice to the magic of this series. I look forward to the mischief Kuro and his friends will get up to in the next installment!
January 17, 2023
I feel like second books are often dicey in series. You have the expectations of the first book and sometimes it’s hard to live up to that. However I found this to be just as delightful and charming as the first! …but now I really want the third and it’ll probably be at least a year. Sigh!
January 3, 2022
I enjoyed this sequel even more than the first book as the characters and world have now been established and the plot really gets going. I hope there will be plenty more to come and I can't wait to read whatever comes next!
May 22, 2024
Another fascinating read! I hope another book in the series will come out soon!
September 24, 2024
Really enjoyable audiobook narration
July 17, 2021
Love this series. Can't wait to read the next one.
March 3, 2025
2025: 4.75/5⭐️
Creo que me gustó más esta vez que la primera que lo leí, le tengo demasiado cariño a Kuro (y a todos sus amigos en vrd), y solo quiero que le pasen cosas buenas.
Esta vez fui más lento y eso me ayudó a fijarme en más detalles del plot, y ya estoy formando algunas teorías sobre los siguientes libros.
Ahora sí, por fin a leer el tercero 🤩
2023: 4.5/5⭐️
Yo de verdad AMO esta saga. El mundo creado por el autor es increíble, tiene la complejidad del mundo real, pero sin ser difícil de entender; y ni hablar de los personajes.
Me gustó muchísimo como este libro trató el tema de las dificultades de aprendizaje, no desde la perspectiva de que el estudiante tiene que compensar sus deficiencias, sino que eran los profesores quienes necesitaban adaptarse a él y sus habilidades únicas. Todo iba de la mano con la idea de que muchas cosas son consideradas imposibles solo porque nadie ha averiguado cómo hacerlas, y eso tiene mucha influencia en el plot de este libro.
De nuevo me quedo con todas las ganas de seguir leyendo la historia de Kuro 🫶🏼
Creo que me gustó más esta vez que la primera que lo leí, le tengo demasiado cariño a Kuro (y a todos sus amigos en vrd), y solo quiero que le pasen cosas buenas.
Esta vez fui más lento y eso me ayudó a fijarme en más detalles del plot, y ya estoy formando algunas teorías sobre los siguientes libros.
Ahora sí, por fin a leer el tercero 🤩
2023: 4.5/5⭐️
Yo de verdad AMO esta saga. El mundo creado por el autor es increíble, tiene la complejidad del mundo real, pero sin ser difícil de entender; y ni hablar de los personajes.
Me gustó muchísimo como este libro trató el tema de las dificultades de aprendizaje, no desde la perspectiva de que el estudiante tiene que compensar sus deficiencias, sino que eran los profesores quienes necesitaban adaptarse a él y sus habilidades únicas. Todo iba de la mano con la idea de que muchas cosas son consideradas imposibles solo porque nadie ha averiguado cómo hacerlas, y eso tiene mucha influencia en el plot de este libro.
De nuevo me quedo con todas las ganas de seguir leyendo la historia de Kuro 🫶🏼
December 19, 2021
Delightful!
So many fun twists and turns from the characters I fell in love with in the first book. Loved it!
So many fun twists and turns from the characters I fell in love with in the first book. Loved it!
December 14, 2021
If you liked the first, you will like this one.
September 25, 2021
I binged this whole series in about a day and a half, lots of fun whilst also dealing with heavier topics that a lot of fantasy really struggles to get right. It never gets too heavy and it never gives gratuitous or unnecessary detail about the things its young characters go through. Instead it focuses on how people move on and recover from these experiences and treats them with a great deal of care.
I loved how, for the most part, the adults are kind and capable, and seem to have the protagonists best interests at heart. Often characters in these kinds of stories are unnecessary cruel and punitive, even those who are supposed to be good guys. That isn't the case here, instead we get legitimate reasons for the difficulties the characters get into with authority. This feels more realistic and gives the characters more agency, which is something middle grade characters can lack. As an adult reader, the solutions seem obvious, but the psychology of the characters is carefully thought out and portrayed in a way that means it's easy to understand why characters make the choices they do and it's never brushed off as just 'kids make bad choices', an explanation that always feels patronising at best, and lazy at worst. The child characters here are instead all well thought out, and are as complex and unique as any adult character, which is always refreshing to find.
Something else that I really loved was how it seemed to take all the pretend diversity that JKR tried to put into Harry Potter on Twitter and *actually* added it as part of what is clearly intended to be a loving homage, whilst also a gentle rebuke of the flaws in that series. The character who aligns most closely with Hermione is *actually* Black as opposed to JKR's 'I never said she wasn't' line. The headmistress is *actually* implied to be queer (and in the sweetest way possible) instead of us being told so after the fact. It also includes more representation on the whole. The disability representation especially is fantastic. Many fantasy series use the approach of magic being an excuse to not include disabled people, but that isn't the case here. Magic never erases disability in this series, but it is used in creative ways to make the world more accessible for disabled characters whilst also never taking away the inherent difficulties of that experience. In addition, it really explores how learning magic might bring its own set of difficulties to students whose minds work differently to the norm, or who have additional struggles to those faced by their fellow students - something I've only ever seen adressed in one other series (John Bierce's Mage Errant).
Overall, this is a really fantastic series with loveable characters and a fun, escapist magic school plot. It really shines in its ability to pay homage to old fantasy favourites, whilst also brushing the cobwebs off some of the more outdated middle grade and fantasy tropes.
I loved how, for the most part, the adults are kind and capable, and seem to have the protagonists best interests at heart. Often characters in these kinds of stories are unnecessary cruel and punitive, even those who are supposed to be good guys. That isn't the case here, instead we get legitimate reasons for the difficulties the characters get into with authority. This feels more realistic and gives the characters more agency, which is something middle grade characters can lack. As an adult reader, the solutions seem obvious, but the psychology of the characters is carefully thought out and portrayed in a way that means it's easy to understand why characters make the choices they do and it's never brushed off as just 'kids make bad choices', an explanation that always feels patronising at best, and lazy at worst. The child characters here are instead all well thought out, and are as complex and unique as any adult character, which is always refreshing to find.
Something else that I really loved was how it seemed to take all the pretend diversity that JKR tried to put into Harry Potter on Twitter and *actually* added it as part of what is clearly intended to be a loving homage, whilst also a gentle rebuke of the flaws in that series. The character who aligns most closely with Hermione is *actually* Black as opposed to JKR's 'I never said she wasn't' line. The headmistress is *actually* implied to be queer (and in the sweetest way possible) instead of us being told so after the fact. It also includes more representation on the whole. The disability representation especially is fantastic. Many fantasy series use the approach of magic being an excuse to not include disabled people, but that isn't the case here. Magic never erases disability in this series, but it is used in creative ways to make the world more accessible for disabled characters whilst also never taking away the inherent difficulties of that experience. In addition, it really explores how learning magic might bring its own set of difficulties to students whose minds work differently to the norm, or who have additional struggles to those faced by their fellow students - something I've only ever seen adressed in one other series (John Bierce's Mage Errant).
Overall, this is a really fantastic series with loveable characters and a fun, escapist magic school plot. It really shines in its ability to pay homage to old fantasy favourites, whilst also brushing the cobwebs off some of the more outdated middle grade and fantasy tropes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2022
(mild spoilers in 2nd paragraph)
Like 4.3/5 maybe. The .3 is insignificant but 4 is too low, so. I bought the ebook of this, and it was a great read, I finished it in a day. I liked the first one more just generally in terms of its vibes, but the mystery was SO good in this one--captivating, wound tightly enough that it took pretty much the entire school year to unravel. Maybe missing something, honestly?
For some reason in hindsight (I've thought of this literally this second, take with a pinch of salt) it feels like the kids didn't really do much to find clues and progress. Or at least, as much as would've been interesting to see. I think like the majority of the mystery-solving was in Kuro's big 11th hour leap, which none of the other kids were involved in and therefore the excitement of which was shared with no one. Sometimes it felt like the most involvement Kuro had in the mystery was that he kept getting blamed for the burglaries. Ik he proved the innocence of one of their suspects, too, but it's less exciting to uncover that a promising lead is completely ordinary than it is to find a thrilling new rung on the ladder
Personally I think my qualms with the mystery were made up for in the rest of the more academia-centered content. I love the familiars!! So exciting! And honestly, the mystery was made up for anyways with the final dash at the end, which was ENTHRALLING.
At this point, the only other problem that I have is that it's a little strange that the series is named after Kuro's thefts and the only way he's been associated with stealing in the last 500 pages is that he keeps falsely accused of it, over and over. It would've been cool if he used his sticky-fingered-ness to figure something out or help the proceedings along.
Marie stands firmly as my favorite character, and her struggles in this story were unique and delightful to read. Cried when Charlie ate the pie. Arthur - Kuro conflict was devastating, I loved it, more of it immediately. Azalea has a quickly growing place in my heart. 4.3/5 good book
Like 4.3/5 maybe. The .3 is insignificant but 4 is too low, so. I bought the ebook of this, and it was a great read, I finished it in a day. I liked the first one more just generally in terms of its vibes, but the mystery was SO good in this one--captivating, wound tightly enough that it took pretty much the entire school year to unravel. Maybe missing something, honestly?
For some reason in hindsight (I've thought of this literally this second, take with a pinch of salt) it feels like the kids didn't really do much to find clues and progress. Or at least, as much as would've been interesting to see. I think like the majority of the mystery-solving was in Kuro's big 11th hour leap, which none of the other kids were involved in and therefore the excitement of which was shared with no one. Sometimes it felt like the most involvement Kuro had in the mystery was that he kept getting blamed for the burglaries. Ik he proved the innocence of one of their suspects, too, but it's less exciting to uncover that a promising lead is completely ordinary than it is to find a thrilling new rung on the ladder
Personally I think my qualms with the mystery were made up for in the rest of the more academia-centered content. I love the familiars!! So exciting! And honestly, the mystery was made up for anyways with the final dash at the end, which was ENTHRALLING.
At this point, the only other problem that I have is that it's a little strange that the series is named after Kuro's thefts and the only way he's been associated with stealing in the last 500 pages is that he keeps falsely accused of it, over and over. It would've been cool if he used his sticky-fingered-ness to figure something out or help the proceedings along.
Marie stands firmly as my favorite character, and her struggles in this story were unique and delightful to read. Cried when Charlie ate the pie. Arthur - Kuro conflict was devastating, I loved it, more of it immediately. Azalea has a quickly growing place in my heart. 4.3/5 good book
March 6, 2023
Just as full of magic as the first book, Volume 2 had me laughing, crying, and sometimes shaking my head with frustration. It is a beautiful book for adult lovers of magical worlds and children as well.
I am beyond excited to introduce my children to the world of this book!
Again, the audio book version is truly an amazing accomplishment by the author: read with great expression, diction, and accents that bring an extra Maple-Syrupy element to the book.
Very excited for Book 3 slated for release this year!
I am beyond excited to introduce my children to the world of this book!
Again, the audio book version is truly an amazing accomplishment by the author: read with great expression, diction, and accents that bring an extra Maple-Syrupy element to the book.
Very excited for Book 3 slated for release this year!
July 13, 2023
Once again this is available in audiobook form as a free podcast on podcast things like Spotify.
This is more of the same with even more "let's wait for way too long to talk things out" tropes. If you liked the second half of the first book you will probably like this as well.
I was considering giving it 3 stars but I think is worth the 4 stars.
This is more of the same with even more "let's wait for way too long to talk things out" tropes. If you liked the second half of the first book you will probably like this as well.
I was considering giving it 3 stars but I think is worth the 4 stars.
August 25, 2025
Listened to the audiobook again to refamiliarise myself with the plot before reading the 3rd. As always highly enjoyable. Love the range of voices for the characters. Only issue was the content issue of side character gay couple and I think one of the side character kids turned bi which I hadn’t noticed in the last listening which kinda shows how not dealt on it was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2023
Perdí la cuenta de la cantidad de veces que se me puso la piel de gallina con las victorias de Kuro, toda la obra en general me pareció súper divertida y no puedo esperar más para leer el tercer libro
August 23, 2021
What a fantastic magic school story. Kuro is a great protagonist, his friends are fantastic, and the setting is a lot of fun.
August 25, 2021
This one was cuter, warmer and funnier than the first volume, which made it even more enjoyable.
November 9, 2021
A delightful follow-up to the first of the series as we follow Kuro and his new friends. If you enjoyed the first one, this is a must-read!
February 10, 2023
Noooooo i still don’t know who is the heir😭😭😭😭😭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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February 15, 2023Wow!A new villain!He was behind creating Kuro. Familiars for the group are cool and fun.
Hope there is another one and we do find out the summer heir.
Hope there is another one and we do find out the summer heir.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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December 30, 2023Fabulous series for kids and adults alike!
February 15, 2024
The fact that Kuro recognized the abuse signs on another child and spent so much time trying to help him has broken and mended my heart.
July 13, 2024
Such a fun series <3
August 1, 2022
This series is absolutely brilliant! I loved the first book, but the story is getting even better in book two. The world expands and gets richer: in both explanations about how the world works and in intrigue. I long to go back to the wizard world of Kuro!
April 29, 2024
Ryan has yet again done an AMAZING job with this book! Just purchased the 3rd volume.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews