Katherine Villyard reviewed Illusion of Thieves by Cate Glass
Review of 'Illusion of Thieves' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Eh? I expected to love this book, because I love magic and love (fictional) thieves, but... not so much.
The setting was cool, but I quickly got tired of the heroine’s pining over the wonderful Prince Charming who bought her as a teen prostitute from a forced brothel situation to be his mistress (but didn’t lay a hand on her until she was of age and it was consensual, of course) and then dropped her like a bad habit after he found out her brother (and maybe she herself) was “demon tainted”—in other words, has magic. I was also annoyed by Prince Charming’s tween wife (whom he won’t lay a hand in until she’s of age, of course!) and her determination to destroy her rival, our disgraced courtesan turned scribe.
I think this is a pacing problem; there’s not enough reason for us to relate to (or not be actively …
Eh? I expected to love this book, because I love magic and love (fictional) thieves, but... not so much.
The setting was cool, but I quickly got tired of the heroine’s pining over the wonderful Prince Charming who bought her as a teen prostitute from a forced brothel situation to be his mistress (but didn’t lay a hand on her until she was of age and it was consensual, of course) and then dropped her like a bad habit after he found out her brother (and maybe she herself) was “demon tainted”—in other words, has magic. I was also annoyed by Prince Charming’s tween wife (whom he won’t lay a hand in until she’s of age, of course!) and her determination to destroy her rival, our disgraced courtesan turned scribe.
I think this is a pacing problem; there’s not enough reason for us to relate to (or not be actively annoyed by) our heroine’s pining, and then there’s too much pining and alcoholism and not enough action.
The actual crime bits were enjoyable. Sadly, that wasn’t enough to save the book for me, which ended up feeling like a set up for book two.
