Review of The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green



Series: The Smoke Thieves #1
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Pages: 512
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: 03/05/2018
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Find The Book: Book Depository/AbeBooks UK/US
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(Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

A princess, a soldier, a traitor, a hunter and a thief. Five teenagers with the fate of the world in their hands. Four nations destined for conflict. 

In Brigant, Princess Catherine prepares for a loveless political marriage arranged by her brutal and ambitious father. In Calidor, downtrodden servant March seeks revenge on the prince who betrayed his people. In Pitoria, feckless Edyon steals cheap baubles for cheaper thrills as he drifts from town to town. And in the barren northern territories, thirteen-year-old Tash is running for her life as she plays bait for the gruff demon hunter Gravell. 

As alliances shift and shatter, and old certainties are overturned, our four heroes find their past lives transformed and their futures inextricably linked by the unpredictable tides of magic and war. Who will rise and who will fall? And who will claim the ultimate prize? 

 
Whoops, I accidently read this in a day. I wasn't sure if having five points of view squeezed into one book would actually work but it did as every character was completely unique, even when I forgot to check whose chapter is was, I knew exactly who was speaking due to their tone of voice, which basically hardly ever happens. I did find myself wishing for more female POVs, as we only have 2 female compared to 3 male.

A Princess - Catherine is royalty, about to be basically sold off to another country to marry a man she doesn't know. She's my favourite, I was expecting the whole constant whining about how her life isn't fair thing but she's loyal to her family and does everything in her power to make sure that her family and country is seen in a good light. She's determined to adjust to her new country's customs but when she knows that something is wrong, she speaks her mind. Which also means we didn't have to suffer several chapters of "hmmm... should I mention this?".

A Soldier - Ambrose probably goes through the most turmoil during this book. It's in the first scenes that he loses a close relative (she's either a sister or a cousin or an aunt my memory is terrible) and then finds himself on the chopping block. Fleeing his position as the Princess's guard he accidentally stumbles on the King's biggest secret.

A Hunter - Tash is likely to be pretty much everyone's favourite character. I think she's the only chaarcter of colour in the book (descriptions were admittedly a little vague) and she's a tiny, 13 year old demon hunter who swears like a trucker and runs faster than Mo Farrah. She reminded me a lot of Arya Stark.

A Traitor - March seems to get the least amount of chapters in this book but I was still intrigued by him. One of the last of the Abask people, he's serving the ruler of the conquering nation when he finds someone like him and begs them to take him with them.

A Thief - Eidyon is probably my least favourite character. He's almost aggressively gay, coming on to March so much that it started to feel uncomfortable but he's also pretty weak, constantly thinking of himself and his needs and wants over others. He did get some character development when his feelings grew for March but I'm hoping in book 2 something happens to really toughen him up, Game Of Thrones style.

I thought this was a fantastic start to the series and I really can't wait to read the next one. The idea of demon smoke and demons was wonderfully unique and I'm hoping we explore it even further in future books. This book was basically a set up for something much bigger so I'm hoping relationships will be explored further too. The UK edition blurb of this is odd because it states four teenagers, not five and goes on to describe each one - omitting Ambrose entirely. I'm not sure the reasoning behind this.


Comments

  1. This was such a fun read wasn't it! I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the series :o)

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