Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
Trigger warning: Provided by the author! Here’s a condensed down one: abuse, sexual assault, child neglect, trauma, abusive environment.
Age rating: 14+
Overall rating: 5 out of 5.
Gernes: Fantasy, mystery, retelling.
A spoiler free summary
Vanja Schmidt is the thirteenth daughter of a thirteenth daughter; from a young age her mother abandons her and leaves her with fortune and death who adopt her. She knows gifts aren’t given freely especially after never receiving love from her mother and godmothers. Vanja trudges her way through life and was a devoted servant to Princess Gisele, well until just a year ago. When Vanja’s demanding godmothers claim a payment because they have taken care of her, she decides to take control of her own life by steal Gisele’s.
With help from an enchanted pearl necklace Vanja transforms to look like Gisele, leaving the real princess to be a nobody. Now she lives a double life, one as Princess Gisele and the other as a jewel thief. Vanja charms the nobility and swipes riches from right under their noses to fund her escape, but when she’s one heist away from freedom, she crosses the wrong God who curses her to break out in jewels until she becomes them.
Now Vanja races against the clock having just two weeks to fight free of the curse or she will not only lose her freedom but her life too. But Vanja also has an uncontrollable half-god guardian, Gisele’s evil fiancé and a persistently overenthusiastic junior detective on her tail. With all odds against her, Vanja must statically think, or she will lose her life…
Review
Little thieves is a fantasy retelling of the goose girl. As it was s fantasy it took about a hundred pages to truly immerse myself and understand the world it was set in. There is a lot of German influence and many of the words are German, fortunately the author provides a glossary at the end of the novel but only three quarters of the words are there. The novel is written in one point of view from Vanja, who is a “villain,” while the writing is smooth, easy to understand yet not too simple. I enjoyed the author exploring and displaying Vanja’s complicated past and how trauma still affects her. This aspect of the story makes it to relatable to many people if they have gone through exactly what Vanja has gone through. The trauma responses used in this novel was very realistic and the combination of serious subject matter with a lovable storyline and characters was a harmonious union. The personification of fortune, death, truth and justice were not only unique to the story but made it easy to understand since they were things everyone widely knows about. The characters and storyline had so much depth. Each of the main characters had incredible character development that not only made sense to the character but the over arcing storyline. Throughout the novel there was a perfect amount of predictable plot points and completely unexpected ones, from expected connections to guest appearances and untold history. The chemistry was executed immaculately and the romances in the tale was not the main plot line but added significantly to the overall storyline. There were characters who were introduced so you might dislike them, like Gisele, but then you realise they are just damaged and broken as everyone else. I found all the main/semi main characters extremely likeable by the end of the novel, the few I enjoyed included Ragne, Gisele, Emeric. I enjoyed the lgbtqia+ representation even if it wasn’t the central plotline, they played an important role in the story and in the characters. I thought the author did a delightful job in writing the personalities of the lgbtqia+ without making it their only trait, which is unfortunately done quite often.
There may or may not be a queer relationship…
Overall, I enjoyed the novel and the way the author ended makes me believe there could be a second book, but if there isn’t it ends fine as a standalone as well. [I really hope there is a sequel though. 😉]
Quotes
“You’re what happens when an encyclopedia wishes on a star to be a real boy, if that encyclopedia was also an absolute prick.”
“Just because you can survive without someone doesn't mean they're unwanted.”
“In the world I knew, there were three reasons a person would be wanted: for profit, pleasure, or power. If you could satisfy only one, they used you. Two, they saw you. Three, they served you.”
Recommendations
A fantasy novel written from the perspective of the “villain” with an incredibly intriguing back story and realistic character development set in a wonderful descriptive world and exciting characters with juxtaposing personalities that go unexpected well.
Pros: explores trauma responses quite accurately, combines fantasy and mystery with the perfect selection of characters.
Cons: I wished the author had put the author’s note/trigger warning on the left side of the book since I missed it when I first read, it was on the right side.
Enna Mari 