Alok's Reviews > The Thief

3.5 Stars.

I was going to rate this higher but after starting the second book in the series (Queen of Attolia) which is much superior to this in every way and simply brilliant, I'm taking a star away.

I found the initial chapters to be too boring and full of useless information described in too much detail. Like the protagonist bathing and eating and climbing a horse, all of which stifle the plot instead of moving it forward. And the protagonist complained too much all the time. (view spoiler)[ And was shown to be such a weakling initially that I felt like punching him. Though some of it was redeemed towards the end and made sense. (hide spoiler)]

The first 7 chapters are largely uneventful and dull, which is disappointing because there are only 12 chapters. Things start to get interesting only towards the end.

I couldn't predict the end correctly which was surprising and I really liked that. (view spoiler)[ Though I think there could be more build up and hints for the twists in the end. (hide spoiler)] Also this had some beautiful description of nature describing sound, smell and colors in detail, which I loved. If you're going to go in detail, at least describe something worth reading.

Overall, this was incredibly slow and devoid of adventure for the most part for an adventurous book. A lame Skyrim side quest is much more thrilling. The second book has more adventure, more emotional effect and higher stakes in first three chapters than all of the chapters of this book combined.

I liked this one more in this sense because some of the characters and settings are used later and they don't need to be developed and described in detail anymore. So as a standalone it's okayish but as a part of series, it's a good book that serves as the foundation for the world building and character building of the series.

In short, this is worth reading quickly, even skipping some parts like dude's bathing and eating, in order to enjoy the second part of the series.