Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society, #2)

by Ally Carter

[nitzan_schwarz]

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MY BLOG; AFTERWORDS

So, if you read my review of Heist Society, you probably didn't expect me to pick up book two. I didn't think I'd do that, either. But then, while looking through my local bookstore, I found a hardcover copy of Uncommon Criminals and I just... thought it was so damned pretty. #Shallow

I was hoping Uncommon Criminals might actually live to the potential of the awesome idea behind these books, but while it was a better read than the first, it was by no mean anything incredible.

Maybe Carter's writing is just not for me - a lot of people praise this book as an exciting and fast story. To me, the book was the complete opposite - it was a fast read, sure, but the content of the book felt slow and somewhat anticlimactic.

I did like Kat a whole lot more in this book. While she's always been likable, she's also been a flat character. In this installment, she's added more depth and felt a lot more rounded. She still lacked a past, but it wasn't as intolerable as in Heist Society.

Alongside Kat, Hale and Gabrielle get an upgrade in the depth department as well. Unfortunately, Simon and the brothers are left as the one dimensional decoration they were in Heist Society which sucks because I really like these characters. Far more than I like Gabrielle.

As for the romance - it was still such a small, undeveloped and unsatisfying part of the plot, but I am proud to say I'm Team Hale, and luckily (if I'm reading things correctly) he's also endgame, so yay for me! Though, I don't think my curiosity in that aspect is enough to make me read on with this series.

One thing that really bothered me and drove me nuts were the heists themselves. Lots of parts were just left out and made no sense at all! Like, the Interpol. For god's sake, how did they make all these things explode? Or the doves and the casino. Maybe those are actually robot doves and that's why they did exactly what they wanted them to.

I felt like Carter thought of all those interesting ideas for the heists, but had no idea how to explain them... so she didn't, believing the reader would just suck it up despite it. It may not bother everyone, but to me this was a major issue.

Maybe book three will be better. Maybe not. I'll probably never find out.

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Old Version
To read this review and more pop by my blog Drugs Called Books

(This only looks like a long review cause I'm a space freak...)

If you would've asked me two weeks ago if I thought I was going to read this book anytime soon, I would've told you no. Heist Society did not impress me, and was a bit of a disappointment to me.

But then the most unbelievable thing happened; I found the book in my bookstore. Don't laugh, that's a truly unimaginable occurrence. Our bookstores are small and porely stocked when it comes to books in English, and I've never once seen the first book in the series. But there it was, sitting there, staring at me, looking all... pretty.

I truly love that cover. I don't know what it is about it that makes me love it, but I do.

And if that's not enough, it was in hardcover. Not the massive and heavy hardcovers we know, like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows or Bitterblue (which I have), but a hardcover just the right size. The kind of hardcover that makes you happy looking at it, that promises protection to the book's precious pages when you stuff it into your backpack to read in school.

Combine the cover and the hardcover and you have me, buying the book, hoping against all hope that this one in the series will be phenomenal.

Let me tell you something first; Heist Society was not a bad book. It was a light, fast read. But for me it was also a flat read. Perhaps it was the state of mind I was in at the time, but I never enjoyed it as others did.

But still, I bought this one. Because I love the idea of these books; young thieves, a female thief as a leader. The way it's handled is the part I'm less fond of.

This was a better read for me than the first. The main characters got more rounded, the plot more interesting. It wasn’t an amazing read, but it was nice.

Still, I’ve got a feeling Mrs. Carter’s writing is just not for me. I mean, I’ve read a lot of reviews saying how exciting and fast this book is. It’s a fast read. It’s not a fast story. Does that make any sense? It only took me a day to read this book, but the content of the book felt slow and somewhat anticlimactic. None of the parts felt truly “exciting” . I think it’s just an issue with me and Mrs. Carter’s writing.

Don’t get me wrong, her writing is by no means bad. It’s good. It just doesn’t generate the desired response from me. It doesn’t excite me, and left me feeling things moved rather slowly.

It saddens me that I don’t get as in love with it as others have, but that’s just life, I guess.

I did like Kat a whole lot more this book. She was always likable, but she felt flat to me on the first book. Here she had more depth. I still felt she lacked a past, but I could overlook it.

I’m totally Team Hale. I don’t even know why Nick is there, but I was glad [he never really stood as a love interest]. I mean, Hale and Kat are made for one another :]

And despite that… The relationship between Hale and Kat drove me crazy. I read this book mostly to know if they get together and when. It took a lot of time for that to happen, and I felt really unsatisfied. They acted just like friends for the most of the book, and I could not figure out if they were or weren’t an item by the end. Which might force me to read the next book.

The characters more developed in this book are Kat, Hale and Gabrielle.
Simon, Nick and the brothers are still pretty one dimensional, which is kind of sad because I really like Simon and the brothers. I think they're better than Gabrielle or Uncle Eddie, anyway.
I’m kinda wondering if something can happen between Simon and Gabrielle?

One thing that really bothered me were the heists themselves. Lots of parts were just left out, and made no sense.

For example, the theft of the stone was just simply too easy. But okay, never mind that. The Interpol. For god’s sake, how did they made all those stuff explode? Wouldn’t you have to already be in the building to do it? It made no sense!

Or the doves at the casino. How the heck did they manage to make them all fly into the casino? They did not release them in the casino, so how did they direct them.

I felt like Mrs. Carter thought of all those interesting ideas for the heist, but had no idea how to explain them; so she didn’t, trusting the reader would just make something up. That would not bother everyone; but it bothered me. A lot.

Anyway, I liked Uncommon Criminals better than Heist Society. It’s not amazing, but it was nice.

3 stars.