ashreads10k's review
5.0
Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell
Pages: 240
Publisher: PYR
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: February 14th, 2012
Buy it (Pre-Order): Hardcover
She is Widdershins, a thief making her way through Davillon's underbelly looking to find answers, and justice with a sharp blade, a sharper wit, and the mystical aid of Olgun, a foreign god with no other worshipers but Widdershins herself.
I started just casually reading Thief's Covenant one evening, but from the very first line, I was hooked. Ari Marmell spares us no detail when it comes to the gritty and the gory, but he also can convey a deep sense of friendship and emotion with the flip of a page. Thief's Covenant is an expertly crafted, epic high fantasy adventure that kept me reading for hours. It's nothing like what you'll expect--I promise, it's a thousand times better.
This novel was a breath of fresh air, because not only was it built on an intriguing mythology, but the writing style itself was something unique. Ari Marmell wrote with a tongue-in-cheek tone, quite often making little jokes about his own characters in the narrative that always made me crack a smile, or sometimes outright laugh. This gave the book a bit of charisma, since it felt like some of Ari's personality shown through his words. I also liked how some of the story is told in backwards chronological order. The novel started at a critical point in time, throwing us in without any context, and then slowly backing up and showing us the events that led to it. It alternates between 'Now' and a certain amount of years in the past, which I thought was a great way of telling the story without information overload.
Widdershins was one of those female main characters that I so love--the kind that can fend for herself and give a good ass-kicking if the need should arise. And in Thief's Covenant, the need arise quite frequently. She had the help of her invisible yet always present companion, Olgun, a god whose following has died out, leaving only Widdershins. Their interaction with each other was cute and funny, and provided a lot of the comic relief in suspenseful moments. I give Widdershins a solid 9 on the Bad-Ass Meter. It wasn't all about kicking butt with her, it was also about protecting those she loved, which I really like in a character.
Overall, I really loved Thief's Covenant! I'm extremely eager for the sequel. I can't wait to know what happens to Widdershins and Olgun. Ari Marmell has absolutely secured himself as one of my favorite high fantasy authors. PYR, Prometheus Books' new YA division, has been coming out with some definite winners, so it'd be a good idea to keep tabs on their new releases, including this one. 5 out of 5 stars!
Original review posted on What's Your Story?
kaitmc552's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
azarath's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
zoeelizabethk's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I think Thief’s Covenant does exactly what it needs to do. I think I have a bit of nostalgia for it and this won’t necessarily hold up for adult readers reading this for the first time but this is a great YA series for those who like Mistborn and like thieving and fantasy gods. The dialogue is great and it is nice and fast paced. I think the worldbuilding and characters lack a little bit in this and I did not love the flashbacks, but these things improve over the next books. There’s kinda a lot going on and Marmell manages to get you acquainted and set up for the next books in under 300 pages. I’ll also add a note that I hated the Graphic Audio recording. I think GA is not for me so your mileage may vary, but I found it challenging to keep up and separate out voices and thoughts so I do not recommend the audio unfortunately. I tried to disregard that in this review but it may have still affected it.
aomernik's review
3.0
Actual rating: Between 3.25 and 3.5 stars
Eh...I don't know really what to think of this book. I expected something more stellar than what I received. It was more violent than I expected, enough so that at times I winced a bit (and was a little freaked out when I was reading it in bed). There were some excellent fighting sequences, which I appreciated. But the execution of the storyline, which held much potential, was much too sloppy for my liking. At points, the author jumped around with the POV, and he mixed around with the time period (whether that was a personal choice or not, it got to be irritating when people were going around in period-style gowns saying things like "Yeah, we need to pummel that guy into a pulp" and stuff like that). Those elements, combined with some iffy religious aspects, are what dragged down the star rating for me.
Altogether, I moderately enjoyed reading this, but I didn't find it to be brilliant or in any way special.
Eh...I don't know really what to think of this book. I expected something more stellar than what I received. It was more violent than I expected, enough so that at times I winced a bit (and was a little freaked out when I was reading it in bed). There were some excellent fighting sequences, which I appreciated. But the execution of the storyline, which held much potential, was much too sloppy for my liking. At points, the author jumped around with the POV, and he mixed around with the time period (whether that was a personal choice or not, it got to be irritating when people were going around in period-style gowns saying things like "Yeah, we need to pummel that guy into a pulp" and stuff like that). Those elements, combined with some iffy religious aspects, are what dragged down the star rating for me.
Altogether, I moderately enjoyed reading this, but I didn't find it to be brilliant or in any way special.
theteamsreader's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
ecsun345's review
4.0
Funny narrative voice and intruiging plot...made me think of Tortall and their many gods...like their god of thieves...hahaha George
daisymama's review
2.0
Adrienne’s unique relationship with the god Olgun, the overall system of gods and religion, and the relationships between the church, the thieves (“Finders”) guild, and the guard were the best/most interesting parts of this book. Outside of those… I was not captivated. Adrienne/Widerrshins’ story is a little confusing because of the nonlinear timeline, and the whole thing is just generally gory and unhappy throughout. Not my jam.
hali_n_lam's review
4.0
"She's extremely resourceful, a ghost when she wants to be, and absolutely unencumbered by the weight of common sense."
Thief's Covenant is a wild ride.It is a well-rounded story that jumps about from past to present to shed light on who our main character is, and how she came to be the thief known as Widdershins.It is also a gripping story of depravity, darkness, the paranormal, and religious fanaticism. So much of this book worked for me, and the few things that didn't are mostly small, petty things.
For instance, a lot of the words are italicized to really emphasize the tone of voice, I guess.
There is nothing wrong with this, but a few times it occurred so often on one page that it actually distracted me from what I was reading.Quite a bit of death is portrayed, and another of the small things that didn't exactly do it for me was the author's fondness for describing the expression that was eternally frozen on any given person's face as they died. I get it, people's faces don't generally move post-mortem, thanks. On the subject of death and my petty grievances with this book, sometimes when a character dies I get the impression that I am supposed to be sad about it, but a lot of the characters aren't sold to me as well as I would like them to be, and I didn't feel much at all when they were gone. I think the driving emotions behind these characters could certainly be improved upon a little.
There are a lot of moving parts and plots happening all throughout this book, and plenty of different points of view to experience events through. There are also lots of unique characters, major and minor, and a rather interesting plot twist that made me genuinely curious as to how it will impact the rest of the books, which I will definitely be reading.
It's dark and it's gory, and maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed this first installment in Widdershins Adventures and I think it's absolutely worth a read.