A review by jasperdotpdf
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"I cannot tell you how many principles of knife safety you are violating right now.""Where's your sense of adventure?"
"When it comes to stab wounds? On indefinite sabbatical."

I don't know what it is about the year of our lord 2023 but I keep reading books that completely rip my heart out with how seen they make me feel.

Little Thieves was so incredibly good and it had me hooked from the very first page. This book truly delivered on everything I could wish for. It had a compelling, slightly unhinged main character acompannied by a delightful cast (I would like it to be known that I would die for Ragne), an incredible romance, so many absolutely hilarious lines as well as moments that absolutely broke my heart.

“For all my schemes and façades and artifice, I am not prepared in the slightest for the simple, devastating intimacy of being believed.”


This book has one of the best depictions of trauma I have ever read about, and I cried real tears at multiple times throughout reading this because it struck such a chord in me. Vanja is such an amazing protagonist, she's witty and competent, and it's just so fun to read about her. But she's also traumatized, and it is just as organically woven into her characterization as any other part of her. The way hear fears bubbled up, the way her internal monologue is so clearly influenced by her trauma and not what she actually wants to be thinking, the fact that she can't help but listen sometimes and self-sabotages, the way people keep showing up for her regardles... No one talk to me I'm not okay.

"There's something bitter about parting with someone who had a hand in who you are now; it's even bitterer when that hand left scars."

I also thought her relationship with Giselle was incredibly compelling. Their relationship is so complicated in so many ways. They grew up together, they were friends, they were also servant and lady and they failed and betrayed each other. Seeing these two characters whose wounds are so intrinsically tied to each other learn how to get close again, to try and forgive each other was so interesting. Yes, they both hurt each other so much, but that's not the end of their story. It was just really nice to see characters who are linked through trauma and pain attempt to heal a part of that together, because it is rarely that simple.


“I want him to stay like this. Close to me, touching my face feather-light, like I am something precious, I am worth taking care. Like I deserve to live without wounds, not despite them. I want this moment trapped in amber, so I can hold it tight when I need it most.“

Onto more cheery matters, I'm absolutely obsessed with Emeric and his dynamic with Vanja. He is such a nerd and they are so stupid for each other and I adore them. I love how their relationship develops from Vanja severely underestimating Emeric, to them becoming adversaries, to them being in love. Vanja's love language being pickpocketing Emeric is probably one of my favourite parts of the novel, as well as her very endearing descriptions of him.


"All in all, he gives the impression of a collection of billiard cues that unionized to solve crimes."

In conclusion, this has quickly become one of my new favourite books. I fell in love with the characters, the humour, the magic and the heartbreak in Little Thieves, and the time it'll take for me to get over how good this was should probably be measured on a geological scale. 
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