I've got kids that enjoy stealing. I've got kids that don't think about stealing one way or the
other, and I've got kids that just tolerate stealing because they know they've got nothing else to
do. But nobody--and I mean nobody--has ever been hungry for it like this boy. If he had a bloody
gash across his throat and a physiker was trying to sew it up, Lamora would steal the needle and
thread and die laughing. He...steals too much.

This has been one magnificent introduction of a new fantasy series. It is a bit of a "con game" setin fantasy land. By far the most enjoyable read I've had lately. Pace is just right, there's alwaysthings going on and it does not get overwhelming. Characters are built in jumps that give themenough background without lingering too much in the past. And what characters they are...One thought that came up again and again as I read the book - this was probably the first book whereI very much enjoyed little time-jumps forward-backward. They were done well, the past events settingup the "current time" events and explaining how/why. It did not feel forced and it was notconfusing. This in itself is an achievement based on my past experience with such attempts.In addition there are little overlapping storylines that are described from multipleperspectives. They are short enough to not cause boredom due to repetition and always add somethingnew. But they provide a fun little avenue to let you guess what really happened before it getsproperly explained. I loved that. After all - half the fun of reading a "con game" book is figuringout how you'd do it.Looking forward to next books in the series.