I will admit that I didn’t know that this was a fairytale retelling. I’m not someone who knows all fairytales so it was interesting to learn that it was a retelling of The Goose Girl. I don’t know enough to know whether it is accurately related to the fairy tale, but other reviews seem to think it loosely fits.
Vanja makes for a very interesting main character. This is the second book I’ve read recently that had…unconventional protagonists. It’s not that Vanja is a horrendous person, but I’d definitely put her under the morally ambiguous category. She’s a thief, hence the title, but she also does have some reasoning behind her login (even if the reasoning is skewed). I really enjoyed her as a character. She’s quick-witted and sarcastic which are two things that I find appealing in a character. I also really enjoyed that throughout the story she began to soften a bit, but never quite loses her edge.
There were a couple of side characters including Emeric, Gisele, Ragne, and Adalbrecht. I will admit that this was kind of an issue with me, but it’s definitely a personal thing and has nothing to do with the book. I just have a hard time keeping characters separate in my head and that led to some annoyance for me. I did really enjoy Ragne. I thought she was just a great character, and she stole my heart.
Okay, now the story was really interesting. Vanja is a thief trying to raise money to escape her godmothers. She makes a mistake while attempting a larger heist and finds herself cursed. I loved the idea of it, but I did have a slight issue getting into the swing of the book. I think that’s because, as a fantasy book, things (and the world) have to be explained. Once Vanja was cursed I found that it picked up the pace a bit more and I found myself more interested in the story. Mind you, this was also when Ragne was introduced so I’m not really sure which one led to my interest. The ending did feel a bit light or out of place, but it wasn’t a bad way to end the book necessarily.
I just want to quickly mention my other two issues with this book. I thought at some points that it got overly descriptive, and it just always felt like it slowed the story down a bit. Considering I had a hard time originally getting into this story, the descriptions became a bit much after a while. My other issue is the words that weren’t in English. That sounds bad to say, but it mainly came down to the fact that I found myself having to search out what words meant, or else I had a hard time figuring out what was being talked about.
Altogether, this was a pretty good book. A bit more than I would have liked at some point, but I quite enjoyed the characters and the plotline. It was fun and felt controlled. At no point did it feel like things were just happening to happen or that the author had forgotten the plot of the book.
Vanja makes for a very interesting main character. This is the second book I’ve read recently that had…unconventional protagonists. It’s not that Vanja is a horrendous person, but I’d definitely put her under the morally ambiguous category. She’s a thief, hence the title, but she also does have some reasoning behind her login (even if the reasoning is skewed). I really enjoyed her as a character. She’s quick-witted and sarcastic which are two things that I find appealing in a character. I also really enjoyed that throughout the story she began to soften a bit, but never quite loses her edge.
There were a couple of side characters including Emeric, Gisele, Ragne, and Adalbrecht. I will admit that this was kind of an issue with me, but it’s definitely a personal thing and has nothing to do with the book. I just have a hard time keeping characters separate in my head and that led to some annoyance for me. I did really enjoy Ragne. I thought she was just a great character, and she stole my heart.
Okay, now the story was really interesting. Vanja is a thief trying to raise money to escape her godmothers. She makes a mistake while attempting a larger heist and finds herself cursed. I loved the idea of it, but I did have a slight issue getting into the swing of the book. I think that’s because, as a fantasy book, things (and the world) have to be explained. Once Vanja was cursed I found that it picked up the pace a bit more and I found myself more interested in the story. Mind you, this was also when Ragne was introduced so I’m not really sure which one led to my interest. The ending did feel a bit light or out of place, but it wasn’t a bad way to end the book necessarily.
I just want to quickly mention my other two issues with this book. I thought at some points that it got overly descriptive, and it just always felt like it slowed the story down a bit. Considering I had a hard time originally getting into this story, the descriptions became a bit much after a while. My other issue is the words that weren’t in English. That sounds bad to say, but it mainly came down to the fact that I found myself having to search out what words meant, or else I had a hard time figuring out what was being talked about.
Altogether, this was a pretty good book. A bit more than I would have liked at some point, but I quite enjoyed the characters and the plotline. It was fun and felt controlled. At no point did it feel like things were just happening to happen or that the author had forgotten the plot of the book.