I wish I could give this book a negative 5. I hated it. I've read my share of fantasy, from excellent to mind-bogglingly awful. And while this one doesn't rank so high up on the list of "fantasy I'd rather burn and use as tinder", it certainly belongs there. It's a really, really badly written book, so bad that the author should be questioned on two things: the writing level and the level of the author's maturity.The prose is choppy and juvenile. Considering that the narrator is a teenager, I suppose that's one technique. It's written in 1st person, which is an excellent POV to provide insights to the main character's mind, but unfortunately the author takes no advantage whatsoever of this, instead leaving us with "I did this, I did that, I sang knicknack on my drum" tune that we quickly get bored of. But what infuriated me - and will permanently inhibit me from reading book 2, 3, 4, 5, or any of the future releases - is just amazingly horrible the protagonist is. Okay, she's a teenager. But I was a teenager as well, and never - I repeat, never - had I been this awful to anyone, this spiteful, and this wishy-washy, whilst believing myself to be the epitome of "epic toughness", as modern-day boys would call it. She really embodies Hamlet's "frailty, thy name is woman".Point number 1. The boy she grows up with is really a kind-hearted boy; refuses violence, refuses to lie, teaches her how to read. She constantly mocks and belittles him, thinking that would make her tougher. Do note that not once does she feel she is inferior to any of the bandits for anything, so this belittling isn't to make up for some inferiority complex, it's just meanness. She calls him a coward, calls him names, tells him just how inept he is and then proceeds to order him about. Now, my question is, if he really is inept, why let him do anything? He's bound to fail the task anyway. Which leaves the conclusion - she really is just mocking him for the sake of it. But that doesn't preclude her from checking out his abs. And in the end, she betrays him to the enemy, and goes, "well, he's dumb anyway". Is the author someone like her to be able to write her like this? Because I felt irritated just reading about her, so I'd be raging if I had to WRITE about her.Point number 2. Her father-figure is a kind man. A man with mistakes, but nevertheless kind. At one point she hits his weak point - his almost fatally weak point - and she feels the trust is gone. So what does she do? Belittle him at every chance. Mock him at any given opportunity, despite his continued kindness. She then cries over all the mocking she's done when he's dead, yells at the aforementioned boy when he points out that her father-figure was a brigand, and that those who killed him was just doing the job (as he was killed by the law enforcers). Right. The enforcers are bad guys for killing someone who has robbed innocent travellers of all their livelihoods and killed them as well.Point number 3. Throughout 80% of the book, the protagonist fawns over the bandit leader. The bandit leader is quite possibly yours truly generic stock bandit leader character - no morals, abusive and aggressive, and probably a sociopath - and she constantly looks to him, so much so that one of the bandits casually comments that she licks his boots. So when this much-admired bandit leader forbids anyone to go chasing after the law enforcers who raided and killed his men - he knew they were dead anyway, and the camp was in danger - what does she do? GO CHASE AFTER THEM. Oh, and then she packs up and leaves the camp, never mind that the camp has fed her and clothed her all these years. She apparently hasn't thought anything about leaving the boy behind to face the fallout.She is selfishness and thoughtlessness and cruelty and idiocy personified. I'm amazed anyone would WANT to read about her after this. She can't even bootlick properly. I would have ripped the book apart in my fury, but alas it was on Kindle. I've been plenty angry at characters before but this one takes the cake. Seriously, I have never hoped for the main character to die some gruesome, miserable death in the middle of the book... until this one. I was hoping she'd fall in the ditch and break her neck. I hate this girl that much. That's saying something. I even wanted Richard Rahl to find happiness. I'm generally not a violent person, but I want to bash the main character's head repeatedly over the head with this excuse of a book. Of course, considering that she seems to have little else than ego between her ears, the book would probably bounce off. I regret ever reading the first page of it. so much potential yet it was lacking. it left me asking why didnt the author do more with such an interesting character? why let this young girl flounder around with these thieves to learn nothing for 10 yrs? I kept expecting her to learn about her magic but her magic was barely mentioned. sure the book ends with her now determined to learn about it but is it worth finding out? not sure I will jump into the rest of the series
What do You think about Magic Of Thieves (2012)?
A quick read, but it felt like the book should be the couple of opening chapters of a proper novel
—Abbiemedina1028
This book was a free download. It started of good, then about half way it just lost me.
—Temisotire
Started out thinking that this could be a good read, ended disappointed.
—Kirsten
found this book interesting and want to read more.
—draggon
