Monday, April 30, 2018

My Thoughts: The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green

The Smoke Thieves
(The Smoke Thieves #1)
by Sally Green
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Publication Date: May 1st 2018
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Pages: 532
ISBN: 9780425290217
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy
Source: First To Read

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A princess, a traitor, a hunter and a thief. Four 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? (Goodreads)


The first thing that drew to The Smoke Thieves was the interesting book cover. If you don't already know, I kind of can't resist a good looking cover, and the cover for this book was definitely interesting. The next thing that had me interested was the author. I have quite a few books by Sally Green on my TBR, but I have yet to read any of them, and I was really excited to finally read something by her.

Let me get started by say The Smoke Thieves was not at all what I expected. This was totally my fault, as in my excitement to start the book, I didn't pay enough attention to the summary, and I really wasn't prepared at all for the story. Not that the story was bad in any way, but it was BRUTAL in so many ways. (I'm a BIG chicken about brutal stuff.) I had to stop at one point a few chapters in to look up what exactly I was reading, and, of course, it has similarities to Game of Thrones. (I have avoided that book and TV series JUST because of its brutality, but I imagine what I read in this book was really close to what's in it.) So, fans of GOT, you're most likely going to LOVE this story. That being said, the book was interesting, and I did make it through to the end, even though I did have to walk away from it a few times to let my stomach settle again. Haha!

The book was full of intriguing characters, and I like that the story is told from each characters different viewpoints. Each of the characters are completely different and unique in their own way, and it was interesting to see how each of them narrated the same events in different ways. (I'm not sure I'm explaining that very well, but I hope you get the point.)  There is a bit of romance included in the story which was nice, though one relationship felt a little rushed, and I had a hard time buying it. (I'm not going to say who, so if you want to know, read the story for yourself.) And while there are a lot of interesting characters in the story to like, there are EVEN MORE that you're going to dislike. I mean seriously dislike. (Boris. Ugh.)

Overall; The Smoke Thieves was an interesting read, and I'm really glad I can finally mark a book by Sally Green of my list to read! I'm not sure if I have the stomach to continue this series with the next book, though I am kind of curious to see what will happen next. (We shall see, I suppose.) I'm also still really curious to check out Sally's Half Bad trilogy as well, and having read this book, I may have to work the that series onto my TBR soon. Game of Thrones and other fantasy book fans, do check out The Smoke Thieves! I think you will really like it.

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