Unforgiveable betrayals, devious motives, and forbidden love collide in the first installment of internationally bestselling author Sally Green’s epic new fantasy series, perfect for Game of Thrones fans. In a land tinged with magic and a bustling trade in an illicit supernatural substance, destiny will intertwine the fates of five players: A visionary princess determined to forge her own … determined to forge her own path.
An idealistic solider whose heart is at odds with his duty.
A streetwise hunter tracking the most dangerous prey.
A charming thief with a powerful hidden identity.
A loyal servant on a quest to avenge his kingdom.
Their lives intersect with a stolen bottle of demon smoke. As war approaches, they must navigate a tangled web of political intrigue, shifting alliances, and forbidden love in order to uncover the dangerous truth about the strangely powerful smoke that interwines their fates.
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Sally Green attempted to a difficult task when she decided to tell multiple stories in one book and then connect them all together. If you do this it is imperative that all the stories are equally captivating. Unfortunately I found some of the stories quite boring and unnecessary:( But the others happened to be intense. Thus it left me wanting to skip some of them and go to the ones I like. But I wanted to know the full story so I had to read the other stories that I had no interest at all. Also the plot was very UNCLEAR and there were far to many subplots.
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
The plot struggled. I could tell you most of the subplots, but the main one? Not too clear. It didn’t have much depth to it and meandered along in all the different perspectives. Speaking of the perspectives, there were simply too many. I couldn’t connect with the characters very well because every chapter was somehow both too short and spread too thin. The “villains” were caricatures that were easy to spot three miles away while blindfolded. I was also kind of disappointed with how little the demon smoke meant to the plot until near the end. There was some nice foreshadowing, but it didn’t play a huge role.
To be honest, I actively disliked Ambrose, one of the most BORING characters I’ve read about so far. Talk about two-dimensional. Tash was stabby, obsessed with fashion, and memorable, and Catherine experienced awesome development. March was a bit clichéd, considering the whole “I-must-avenge-my-country” thing; Edyon probably has the worst luck known to man and is pretty soft and endearing, but he felt a bit shallow to me.
So yeah, I’ll probably buy the next book, but I won’t be actively seeking it out.
Love, Love this book. It’s a two book series, and unfortunately I have to wait until August, 2019 for the second one.
The Smoke Thieves is almost nothing like Green’s critically acclaimed best-selling Half Bad series. In some ways, that is great, but in others, it falls short as it navigates through an entirely different terrain of fantasy storytelling that fans would not expect from her.
The story takes five characters from different ways of life and countries, and as any fantasy reader can guess, their lives are going to converge at some point. It is predictable. As the paperback blurb states “a hunter, a princess, a thief, a soldier, a hunter,” as their lives and past have taken them on a journey that puts them all on the same continent, trying to figure out the same mystery of Demon smoke. There’s no way these characters are not going to converge; the real question is the how and when, and more importantly, the why. These three questions eventually become answered pretty much in the last quarter of the book.
A slow beginning, Green makes sure to focus her novel on not only world building, but character building. Green makes sure that she give’s the characters the vibrancy they need to make sure the reader can connect with the characters. Moreover, in a novel that is almost dreadfully too long, the focus on the characters, their development and journey keep the reader from forgetting how long the novel is, and instead keeps them eager to read on to the convergence point of these characters. They are all so different, so when they do finally come together, it is as if an explosion of light and energy has overtaken the novel.
The first three-fourths of the novel is not exactly slow, but it is not fast either. The pace works for the telling of the story, making sure each character has enough time to grow through the story. The dynamics shift, and internal narrative allows for the story to progress. So the pacing of the novel works for what it is delivering. It does not feel slow, and the intense moments, hose fly by so quickly, leaving the reader to gasp, enthralled by the storytelling.
The length of the story might feel a little intimidating to the reader, and the predictability of these five characters may be a deterrent, it is, after all, a typical trope that readers are familiar with, but the adventure, the mystery, and intrigue in the novel is well worth the read. The added element of demon smoke is also something else entirely. It is magical, and yet the scope in which it is created makes the idea of this “drug” so believable in this realm. It is captivating to read about learn about because, alongside the characters, the reader is learning about the magical properties of this smoke.
It is a journey for the reader as any good book should be, it just doesn’t have the same magic as the Half Bad series, it does not move as fast as it purposefully shifts between characters and focuses on world building and character building. Nevertheless, this novel has its own kind of magic that it weaves over the reader, and that is the best part.