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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Berren has lived in the city all his life. He has made his way as a thief, paying a little of what he earns to the master of their band, Hatchet. But there is a twist to this thief’s tale.
One day Berren goes to watch an execution of three thieves. He watches as the thief-taker takes his reward and decides to try and steal the prize. He fails. But the thief-taker spots something in Berren. And the boy reminds him of someone as well. Berren becomes his apprentice.
And is introduced to a world of shadows, deceit and corruption behind the streets he thought he knew. A city where he must learn to take not purses, but lives …
Full of richly observed life in a teeming fantasy city, a hectic progression of fights, flights and fancies and charting the fall of a boy into the dark world of political plotting and murder, this marks the beginning of a new series for all lovers of fantasy.
Berren’s only ever known a life of crime. An excellent thief, he makes his living cutting purses and paying a percentage to Hatchet in return for his protection. But when he tries to steal money from Sy, a thief-taker, he gets more than he bargained for. Master Sy tracks him down and buys him from Hatchet to train as his apprentice.
Berren longs to be taught how to fight with swords. Instead he’s forced to learn to read, write and basic manners. But there are some consolations, notably in Lilissa, the pretty seamstress who Berren protects. Soon though Sy and Berren find themselves caught up in an investigation into piracy, an investigation that plunges master and apprentice into a world of corruption that runs across all layers of society where everyone wants them dead …
Stephen Deas’s novel, the first in a new YA fantasy trilogy is a slow-burning but skilfully crafted affair.
Berren is a resourceful thief who comes to realise that there are other ways of living and who slowly decides that he wants to improve himself and his prospects. As far as he knows, he’s an abandoned orphan but Sy seems to think that he reminds him of an old friend. Sy himself has a mysterious background – a prince who was usurped from his throne and forced to flee, he carries an old grudge against an unknown enemy and is cynical about those in power. In truth, Sy interested me more than Berren and I thought the book missed something when he was absent purely because Berren’s story and character is such a staple in fantasy stories of this type. I particularly enjoyed the scenes where Sy introduces Berren to his old friends and also his cynical reaction to both them and his own history.
There’s a tentative romance between Berren and Lilissa, which is slow to develop and suffers from the fact that Lilissa doesn’t appear very often. In fact, my main criticism of the book is that there’s a dearth of female characters in this book other than prostitutes, which is a bit depressing.
There’s a lot of set-up in this book, which affects the pacing but where there are action scenes, Deas handles these well. There’s a relatively open ending, but I hope that the sequel will be a faster-moving affair and there was enough here to ensure that I’ll read on.
The Verdict:
Stephen Deas’s novel, the first in a YA trilogy, is a detailed and at times slow read, which contains a lot of set-up for the characters and the world they live in. However the thief-taker, Sy, is an interesting character with an intriguing past and there’s enough for me to care about both him and Berren, so I will be reading on.
Thanks to Gollancz for the free copy of this book.
Berren has lived in the city all his life. He has made his way as a thief, paying a little of what he earns to the master of their band, Hatchet. But there is a twist to this thief’s tale.
One day Berren goes to watch an execution of three thieves. He watches as the thief-taker takes his reward and decides to try and steal the prize. He fails. But the thief-taker spots something in Berren. And the boy reminds him of someone as well. Berren becomes his apprentice.
And is introduced to a world of shadows, deceit and corruption behind the streets he thought he knew. A city where he must learn to take not purses, but lives …
Full of richly observed life in a teeming fantasy city, a hectic progression of fights, flights and fancies and charting the fall of a boy into the dark world of political plotting and murder, this marks the beginning of a new series for all lovers of fantasy.
Berren’s only ever known a life of crime. An excellent thief, he makes his living cutting purses and paying a percentage to Hatchet in return for his protection. But when he tries to steal money from Sy, a thief-taker, he gets more than he bargained for. Master Sy tracks him down and buys him from Hatchet to train as his apprentice.
Berren longs to be taught how to fight with swords. Instead he’s forced to learn to read, write and basic manners. But there are some consolations, notably in Lilissa, the pretty seamstress who Berren protects. Soon though Sy and Berren find themselves caught up in an investigation into piracy, an investigation that plunges master and apprentice into a world of corruption that runs across all layers of society where everyone wants them dead …
Stephen Deas’s novel, the first in a new YA fantasy trilogy is a slow-burning but skilfully crafted affair.
Berren is a resourceful thief who comes to realise that there are other ways of living and who slowly decides that he wants to improve himself and his prospects. As far as he knows, he’s an abandoned orphan but Sy seems to think that he reminds him of an old friend. Sy himself has a mysterious background – a prince who was usurped from his throne and forced to flee, he carries an old grudge against an unknown enemy and is cynical about those in power. In truth, Sy interested me more than Berren and I thought the book missed something when he was absent purely because Berren’s story and character is such a staple in fantasy stories of this type. I particularly enjoyed the scenes where Sy introduces Berren to his old friends and also his cynical reaction to both them and his own history.
There’s a tentative romance between Berren and Lilissa, which is slow to develop and suffers from the fact that Lilissa doesn’t appear very often. In fact, my main criticism of the book is that there’s a dearth of female characters in this book other than prostitutes, which is a bit depressing.
There’s a lot of set-up in this book, which affects the pacing but where there are action scenes, Deas handles these well. There’s a relatively open ending, but I hope that the sequel will be a faster-moving affair and there was enough here to ensure that I’ll read on.
The Verdict:
Stephen Deas’s novel, the first in a YA trilogy, is a detailed and at times slow read, which contains a lot of set-up for the characters and the world they live in. However the thief-taker, Sy, is an interesting character with an intriguing past and there’s enough for me to care about both him and Berren, so I will be reading on.
Thanks to Gollancz for the free copy of this book.
