The hero of this novel is Ethan Kaille, who uses his magical talents to solve robberies but never murder - at least until this time. The unexplained death of a beautiful young woman from a wealthy family draws him into a murder case at the parents' request. When he examines the body he finds no physical cause of death. At this point he realizes she died of a killing spell, used only by those seeking the strongest of powers - that of evil. At the same time, he has competition that doesn't appreciate his working for a wealthy family. She has her gang give him a beating more than once to emphasize the point and robs him of all his coin. Dodging her ire, he encounters increasingly strong spells manifested by a small girl.
Ethan's own magic is facilitated by a ghost who appears as a knight. In addition, he uses grass, herbs and blood to fuel spells. This is well written story climaxes as Ethan duels with a conjurer whose powers are much greater than his own. The encounter almost leads to his death. The enemy conjurer is an unexpected individual working for England while posing as a supporter of the new country's tea party. His power manifested through this small girl is wielded so skillfully it usually nullifies Ethan's spells.
Most of the characters seem like people I know - some timid, some bold and some manipulative. The rarer characters seem just as real. Personalities are much like those in any societal group. Some major characters such as Samuel Adams are familiar to most readers.
Thieftaker is defined by the author as historical fantasy which made it very good in my estimation. There were no thieftakers in Boston in 1765 although they were emerging in England. This story flows quickly and the plot thickens in unexpected ways. And, one must not the wonderful writing.
Ethan's own magic is facilitated by a ghost who appears as a knight. In addition, he uses grass, herbs and blood to fuel spells. This is well written story climaxes as Ethan duels with a conjurer whose powers are much greater than his own. The encounter almost leads to his death. The enemy conjurer is an unexpected individual working for England while posing as a supporter of the new country's tea party. His power manifested through this small girl is wielded so skillfully it usually nullifies Ethan's spells.
Most of the characters seem like people I know - some timid, some bold and some manipulative. The rarer characters seem just as real. Personalities are much like those in any societal group. Some major characters such as Samuel Adams are familiar to most readers.
Thieftaker is defined by the author as historical fantasy which made it very good in my estimation. There were no thieftakers in Boston in 1765 although they were emerging in England. This story flows quickly and the plot thickens in unexpected ways. And, one must not the wonderful writing.
Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed Thieftaker (Thieftaker Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 2527 more book reviews
I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did an awesome job. He really distinguished between character voices and conveyed emotion well.
I ended up finding this book kind of boring. I almost stopped listening to it a couple times. I think the problem was that the plot got repetitious. Basically Ethan finds a clue, gets the stuffing beat out of him, heals, finds a clue, gets the stuffing beat out of him....repeat over and over. At times Ethan reminds a bit of a 1700's Harry Dresden...but nearly as exciting.
The writing style is decent with some good description. The pace is a bit deliberate and slow and the plot repetitious.
The characters were okay. Ethan comes across as stoically noble to the point where he does some pretty stupid things; while I admired his determination I thought he should have been smarter about things.
There is magic and conjuring in the story, but the story is more of a straight-up murder mystery than anything. The 1760's historical America setting is interesting and I enjoyed reading about the issues of this era and how they were reimagined with magic involved.
Overall this was an okay story but kind of boring. I enjoyed the historical setting and the descriptive writing, but thought the plot was repetitive and paced too slowly. The characters were okay but also a bit bland. I guess I would recommend if you are into historical murder mysteries and don't mind some magic in your stories. Personally I think there are a lot better urban/historical fantasies out there and I won't be reading any more of this series.
I ended up finding this book kind of boring. I almost stopped listening to it a couple times. I think the problem was that the plot got repetitious. Basically Ethan finds a clue, gets the stuffing beat out of him, heals, finds a clue, gets the stuffing beat out of him....repeat over and over. At times Ethan reminds a bit of a 1700's Harry Dresden...but nearly as exciting.
The writing style is decent with some good description. The pace is a bit deliberate and slow and the plot repetitious.
The characters were okay. Ethan comes across as stoically noble to the point where he does some pretty stupid things; while I admired his determination I thought he should have been smarter about things.
There is magic and conjuring in the story, but the story is more of a straight-up murder mystery than anything. The 1760's historical America setting is interesting and I enjoyed reading about the issues of this era and how they were reimagined with magic involved.
Overall this was an okay story but kind of boring. I enjoyed the historical setting and the descriptive writing, but thought the plot was repetitive and paced too slowly. The characters were okay but also a bit bland. I guess I would recommend if you are into historical murder mysteries and don't mind some magic in your stories. Personally I think there are a lot better urban/historical fantasies out there and I won't be reading any more of this series.
