The Smoke Thieves (Smoke Thieves, #1)

by Sally Green

**The first book in the new fantasy series from the author of Half Bad**

This is the perfect story for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Laini Taylor.

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A princess, a traitor, a soldier, a hunter and a thief.

Five teenagers with the fate of the world in their hands.
Five nations destined for conflict.

In Brigant, Princess Catherine prepares for a political marriage arranged by her brutal and ambitious father, while her true love, Ambrose, faces the executioner's block.

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 five 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?

******

If you couldn't get enough of The Children of Blood and Bone or The Red Queen, then you need to dive into the world of Brigant.

• ISBN10: 0141375396
• ISBN13: 9780141375397
• Publish Date: 3 May 2018 (first published 1 May 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

This is definitely a simpler YA version of Game of Thrones. But I didn't mind it, it was such an easy read, had interesting storylines, and I enjoyed how everything came together in the end.
I especially liked Catherine, who is similar to Sansa in almost every single way. I do think that Ambrose was the most annoying character ever. His only personality trait seemed to be to love Catherine, which I did not care for. There is a love triangle (which might upset a lot of people), but luckily it wasn't the main focus of this book. It was an intersting concept with demons and a lot of political intrigues.
However, I do feel like the ending could have been so much better. It's a battle scene and we are wondering what happened to our beloved characters. Except, we're not. Battle scenes as endings almost never seem to work for me, and I would have preferred a good plot twist instead of 'oh who is going to die?'. It's too bad, but I will still read book two.

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: Given the title, I expected more smoke thieves and less court politics. Out of the five points-of-view, only Tash was fully involved with demon smoke. At least Catherine was consumed with learning its significance. Edyon and March got involved by accident, though smoke only mattered peripherally. To Ambrose, whether or not this smoke existed was no matter. So yeah, all in all, demons, smoke and demon smoke just wasn't as integral to the book, which was a bit a let-down. It seems it'll be more central to the sequel but I'm not sure if I'm wholly interested in what I know will happen.

I also thought that the perspectives were spread so thin across the book that the depth of individual characters suffered. Their lives didn't intertwine all too much. Instead, The Smoke Thieves was a lead-up to their meetings to set up a common conflict. Edyon's storyline could've easily been summarised upon meeting the rest, in favour of greater exploration of Catherine and Tash's lives. I don't even know why Ambrose and March needed their own perspectives to tell the bigger story beyond demonstrating how vast their medieval world was with all these kingdoms, towns and villages.

While it seems like I've had a lot of grief with The Smoke Thieves, I didn't hate it. I liked the setting, Catherine and Tash, and also Gravell intrigued me. The premise with the demon smoke was engaging too. I just didn't get the angle and approach taken to actually convey the story, especially since three out of five characters could've easily taken on minor roles without detracting from the overarching plot.

[littleread1]

Took me a bit to really get into it, with 5 POVs the character building was slow, but by the last third I was very invested in them and their stories. I liked it!

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Initial Thoughts: Interesting plot and unique world building. I also liked most of the characters, but for some reason I never actually cared about most of them. People were dying left and right, and I felt no emotional impact.

[Ashley]

Second attempt (3 stars)

I gave this book another shot and acutally finished it this time. It was only okay though. Mostly I felt really detached from everyone and everything. I wasn't super invested. It almost felt like the book was keeping me at arm's length.

My favourite part was Catherine's chapters. I love the whole journeying to a new kingdom to meet this guy I'm supposed to marry for the first time trope.

Things did pick up in the last 100 pages though and I was actually quite interested. But I won't be continuing with the series.

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Original read (DNF):

Crap crap crap!

I only got like 4% through but I might DNF. I'm not sure if I want to even push myself to keep trying.

I read the first chapter, which has Tash's point of view (demon hunting) and I didn't connect with it AT ALL. I just didn't click with the writing and how it flowed. I had zero interest.

Then I read a bit of the next chapter which was Catherine's point of view. Maybe I liked it a tiny bit more but I still felt disjointed.

I won't say it's a bad book because there was nothing I objectively didn't like. It was just a feeling I had and lack of connection on my part. Maybe Sally Green's writing just isn't my style?

Maybe I'll try reading a few more chapters just to be sure, but I'm HUGELY disappointed! On paper this book sounds wonderful.