“Once upon a time, on the coldest night of midwinter, in the darkest heart of the forest, Death and Fortune came to a crossroads.”
Have you ever heard the Goose Girl Tale? Little Thieves is a beautifully atmospheric reimagining of this not-so-known German tale. Vanja is the antihero orphaned as a child to the lower gods, Death and Fortune. She’s also the wicked girl who steals the identity of Princess Gisele with the help of an enchanted necklace. In the past year she has come to know a life of luxury and thievery, taking from the rich and noble she meets in her secondary guise. I’ll let you find out what that is though. Her thieving misdeeds end up going too far and she takes from too many of the wrong individuals. As her enemy’s mount, enchanted deadlines approach and a curse slowly turns her to a statue of precious gems, we get to experience Owen expertly craft a web of plot lines and back story. When I say there is a lot going on, there is a LOT going on. Don’t worry though; the flow is well-crafted. I personally would have preferred a faster paced read but the way the story is laid out makes it easy to see why things unfold the way they do. So I can’t complain too much.
I do not have enough adjectives to describe how much I enjoyed the cast of characters in this book. The growth was spectacular. There is something to be said about characters you know you should probably dislike but end up highly loving by the end. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of moving parts existing in this one and that applies to the characters as well. Owen not only brings you character background that molds the persona of their current day devilishness, but she molds their character growth step by step. By the end you realize your initial feelings are probably no longer valid. I loved it.
So I don’t write a novel myself, I’ll quickly mention that the world building, lore and magic were wonderful. This is a tale that has not been done ad nauseam. The original has the deliciously dark ending many of us love from the Grimm Tales. Owen embraces that atmosphere and creeps it into the pages perfectly. Obviously, you can tell that I adored this novel. It is a lengthy read and like I mentioned, some areas may be longer than some may like. The ending was a bit abrupt for my liking with the buildup so exquisitely put together. Even with the slow pace and ending I found myself drawn and unable to put it down for the majority of my read. Next, I plan to hunt down the audio. It has to be just as wonderful.
Thank you, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Bookishfirst and Fierce Reads for the gifted digital copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. True rating 4.5/5.
Have you ever heard the Goose Girl Tale? Little Thieves is a beautifully atmospheric reimagining of this not-so-known German tale. Vanja is the antihero orphaned as a child to the lower gods, Death and Fortune. She’s also the wicked girl who steals the identity of Princess Gisele with the help of an enchanted necklace. In the past year she has come to know a life of luxury and thievery, taking from the rich and noble she meets in her secondary guise. I’ll let you find out what that is though. Her thieving misdeeds end up going too far and she takes from too many of the wrong individuals. As her enemy’s mount, enchanted deadlines approach and a curse slowly turns her to a statue of precious gems, we get to experience Owen expertly craft a web of plot lines and back story. When I say there is a lot going on, there is a LOT going on. Don’t worry though; the flow is well-crafted. I personally would have preferred a faster paced read but the way the story is laid out makes it easy to see why things unfold the way they do. So I can’t complain too much.
I do not have enough adjectives to describe how much I enjoyed the cast of characters in this book. The growth was spectacular. There is something to be said about characters you know you should probably dislike but end up highly loving by the end. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of moving parts existing in this one and that applies to the characters as well. Owen not only brings you character background that molds the persona of their current day devilishness, but she molds their character growth step by step. By the end you realize your initial feelings are probably no longer valid. I loved it.
So I don’t write a novel myself, I’ll quickly mention that the world building, lore and magic were wonderful. This is a tale that has not been done ad nauseam. The original has the deliciously dark ending many of us love from the Grimm Tales. Owen embraces that atmosphere and creeps it into the pages perfectly. Obviously, you can tell that I adored this novel. It is a lengthy read and like I mentioned, some areas may be longer than some may like. The ending was a bit abrupt for my liking with the buildup so exquisitely put together. Even with the slow pace and ending I found myself drawn and unable to put it down for the majority of my read. Next, I plan to hunt down the audio. It has to be just as wonderful.
Thank you, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Bookishfirst and Fierce Reads for the gifted digital copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. True rating 4.5/5.