Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Little Thieves

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Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

16 reviews

mpbookreviews's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense 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

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tinysierra's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“To the gremlin girls,
I would like to tell you something inspiring, but the truth is, when life closes a door for us, it doesn’t always open a window. The good news is: That’s what bricks are for.”

Little Thieves is a work of art. From the gorgeous cover, to the illustrations inside, to the way the story is broken up into 7 tales, to the writing itself. I love how even the Author’s Note is written with care. Be sure to check the trigger warnings! Hanging is mentioned a lot as well as sexual assault/harassment.

This book was confusing to get into at first. In this aspect, it reminds me of how it felt starting Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology without knowing anything about the Grishaverse.

Little Thieves was hard to slug through in the beginning, but it did pick up and then I didn’t want to put the book down.

I loved the writing style with the way Vanja told the story like a fairy tale.

I love the humor and wit.

You get to really see Vanja’s insecurities and growth through her narrative. You can see how her trauma affects her perceptions of the situations she goes through.

I loved all the characters, even the side ones!

The romance was amazing, too.
I don’t think the word demisexual is said on page but both the main characters are demi <3

“I’ve read fairy tales, of course, and listened to plaintive love songs, but I never understood why anyone would wake up after a hundred years and marry the prince who broke into their bedroom for a kiss. Or dance with a stranger once and decide to spend the rest of their lives together.”

There’s also wlw and some other LGBTQ+ rep that’s normal in this world. There is lesbophobia but in more of a “the princess is supposed to produce an heir” kind of way.

I love Vanja and Emeric so much <333 a cat and mouse chase… yes please!!

Update ~ 07-14-2023

Reread before I get into Painted Devils. I definitely found it less confusing and easier to breeze through the second time around.

Update ~ 03-13-2024

If you’re a big fan of Vanja and Emeric’s relationship, read Painted Devils immediately!!! I swear it doesn’t suffer from “second book syndrome.” It’s so amazing.

And check out Margaret Owen’s instagram account (@what_eats_owls) for more art and memes of the characters!!

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hey_evelina's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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oddduck's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense 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 like stories that are assembled with the precision of a watchmaker. Every detail matters. Each tiny piece works together to move forward. If one thing is even slightly off, the story doesn’t work the way it should.

This is one of those stories.

500 pages is getting to be on the long side for me, so I was expecting a little bit of drag. There was none. Every single scene in this book is there for a reason and 500 pages practically flies by. Yet it also didn’t feel like we were moving too fast at any point.

The plot came at just the right pace and with just the right amount of detail that it all came together perfectly in my head, without me figuring out the end too soon/easily and without me feeling frustrated because I didn’t have enough information until the very last second. I figured out part of Adalbrecht’s plan shortly before Vanja and Emeric did, which was ideal timing for me. And everything I hadn’t figured out fell into place as it was spelled out. This plot was like a carefully conducted symphony and it went off without a hitch.

I also loved all the characters, even when some of them weren’t particularly likeable. There’s such a clear motive for their actions that though I may not agree with them, I understand and feel sympathetic for them (except Adalbrecht and Irmgard, they’re both just terrible – that’s a compliment though). They were all so beautifully written, but Vanja and Emeric were the standouts for me.

Vanja’s character arc was incredible. I, admittedly, have a soft spot for characters who have been so hurt they think the only way to protect themselves is to close themselves off and harden their heart, and Vanja is no exception. I love this type of character because it’s moving to see them learn to love and be loved again (even if they’re dragged into it kicking and screaming, like Vanja). The way she grows over the course of the story - going from hating/resenting Emeric, Ragne, and Gisele to calling them her friends and making peace with her past and wanting Emeric to catch her - is brilliantly done. It feels natural and inevitable.

I fell for Emeric in exactly the way Vanja did (er, that is his façade, not the kissing part). It was absolutely delightful to find out how wrong my impression of him was. Like, I actually laughed out loud at the reveal and I’m gleeful just thinking about it. I liked the façade, but the real Emeric was even better. He’s smart and flawed and eager to prove himself and he cares so deeply. He’s just such a great character and Vanja’s many descriptions of him are both correct and hilarious.

There’s also the obligatory shout out for the art, which was done by Margaret Owen as well. She’s talked about a lot of the symbolism and composition of each piece on her twitter, and it’s definitely worth a read through. The art on its own is beautiful, but her explanations of it make it even better.

There is so much else to talk about in the book - the structure, the fairy tale, the casual queer rep, the demi rep (!), the magic system, the rest of the world building, the creatures (Poldi!) - and it’s all so, so good. Honestly, I loved every single thing about this book and I could talk about it for hours. The highest praise I can give it is this: I want to take this book apart like it’s a clock to see how it works. What an absolutely phenomenal book.

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bluejayreads's review

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adventurous emotional tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This seems like a fairly straightforward plot, right? A thief steals the wrong thing, gets cursed, and has to return everything she’s stolen to get un-cursed. It sounds straightforward and doable, if personally difficult for our protagonist.

Except that there are so many complicating factors that this simple-sounding plot becomes a 14-hour audiobook of surprises, magic, unexpected friendships, and one of the most thoroughly evil antagonists I’ve encountered in a long time. The true purposes behind Vanja’s curse aren’t even revealed until the climax. The back cover leaves out the villain entirely, along with two of the three major characters helping Vanja.

There is a lot of plot in this story, but there are also very strong character arcs. Giselle got an obvious one of learning how the other 99% lives and how to not be a spoiled rich girl, and I wasn’t sure if I would like her but she turned out pretty decent in the end. Ragne, the half-human shapeshifter daughter of the goddess who cursed Vanja who is attempting to help Vanja undo her curse, learns how to act like a human and how to fall in love. Emeric, the investigator trying to find the culprit behind Vanja’s jewel thefts, learns to deal with loss and discovers some things about his sexuality.

I saved Vanja for last because, as the main protagonist, she has the most going on character-wise. She has a metric ton of trauma, and her character is one of the best-written descriptions of trauma I’ve ever seen. There’s no “saved by the power of love” or torture porn or anything, she just feels and reacts in a way that had me thinking, “Yeah, that’s just How Trauma Is.” Her path has some steps forward and some steps back (like dealing with trauma in real life), and she gets some stunning character growth as she learns to start trusting people again.

I love that everybody in this book is just allowed to feel things. These characters have suffered a lot of pain, Vanja especially, and there aren’t any easy answers but the story doesn’t try to give them any. There are a lot of big emotions but the book makes space for those and they’re handled with respect and care.

Since so much of the story is not mentioned in the back cover, I’m going to limit my discussion of it. That said, I did thoroughly enjoy it. It’s absolutely full of shenanigans, from delightful jewel heists to playacting as a ditzy princess to get out of trouble to the natural hilariousness that comes from pretending to be both the princess and her maid at the same time. This book doesn’t explore the world much, and in many ways it relies on “generic vaguely-18th-century-Europe fantasy” tropes, but it has a distinct German flavor and an interesting pantheon and religious system that elevated the setting far above pure trope for me.

I’m also going to mention the antagonist, who doesn’t even show up until a quarter of the way through the book but whose threat level rapidly increases as the story goes on. He is the worst, most hateable kind of enemy, the nobleman who sees everyone else as beneath him and those beneath him as less than human, and who thinks his feeling entitled to rule everything is exactly the same as Vanja feeling like she deserves to be treated like a human. He’s an abuser and a sexual predator and so very powerful and I can’t express how much I hate him but from a story perspective he did make a good antagonist.

I’m leaving a ton out of this review just for space considerations, but I could talk about this book for a long time. There’s so much in this book. Not only was it a stellar story, reading it was incredibly cathartic. I got to see some fantastic hijinks, solve a couple magical mysteries, encounter several gods, tell off some self-centered nobles, enjoy some hilarious one-liners, and fight a seemingly-unstoppable antagonist armed with little more than quick thinking and thievery skills, and I also got to wrestle with some complicated feelings about mothers, face lingering trauma, stand up to past abusers, seize control over my own destiny, and start learning to be happy.

If you want a fantasy adventure mystery that will make you laugh, this is your book; if you want a cathartic emotional read that might make you cry, this is also your book. Basically, just read this book.

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azrah786's review against another edition

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4.75

[This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

CW: abandonment/neglect, child abuse, violence, blood, whipping, mention of attempted sexual assault, death, vomit, drug abuse/addiction, body horror

Over the last year or so I have been left stunned by the ingenuity behind the reimagining and twisting of classic stories and this book is unquestionably amongst the cream of the crop.

Little Thieves is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm story The Goose Girl told from the perspective of the maid, but it isn’t just your usual “story from the eyes of the villain”.

The adopted daughter of Death and Fortune, Vanja Schmidt eluded servitude to her Godmothers by taking up a role as the maid to the princess of a noble house. When opportunity struck Vanja stole the princess’ identity and life, and has spent her time with her new status stealing from the aristocracy as a means to buy her way out of her fate. However, her carefully laid plans start to unravel when she steals something she shouldn’t have and lands herself a curse from Eiswald, another Low God.
To break the curse Vanja must make amends for her thievery or else turn into a pile of treasure herself. But with Eiswald’s shapeshifting daughter as guardian, the Princess’ shady fiancé pushing for marriage and a junior detective following the trail of robberies, the road to freedom isn’t going to be an easy one.

More than your standard retelling, Little Thieves has made my list of favourite reads of the year. I’m not going to give much away about the overall plot but you can expect heist vibes, lots of action, witty banter, intriguing magic and folklore all meticulously woven around a significant mystery with brilliant twists that will keep you hooked through and through.

There was SO MUCH that I enjoyed about this book but first and foremost I have to talk about Vanja. Our fiery, unapologetic protagonist kicks off the story by swindling the rich and I instantly fell in love with her. From her snarky narration, her quick-whited attitude and sassy quips with other characters, her journey throughout this book was nothing short of entertaining. She’s a character who keeps everything close to her chest but with each turn of the page more and more of her heart is uncovered and you can’t help but root for her.

Each and every single one of the side characters also made this book shine and their interactions and developing relationships with Vanja were especially gold – some of the dialogue had me outright cackling. There’s a slow burn enemies to lovers romance that’ll keep you on your toes and some wholesome friendships and found family content too!

I wasn’t too familiar with what The Goose Girl was about so I skimmed through a summary of it before picking up this book and thus really appreciated the nods to the original tale. I particularly loved that at the beginning of each section of the story there were snippets recounting the primary backstory, providing a link back to the fable as well as helping to add perspective to present circumstances.

Furthermore, Owen’s writing immerses you right into the rich, medieval German setting and the integration of German folklore into the worldbuilding really enhanced the story. I’ll admit the lore and vocabulary did throw me a little at first (the review copy was missing a glossary) but I found myself entranced by the atmosphere and all the magic.

This is a standalone fantasy with an endearing cast of characters that ticks all the boxes and you can bet if Owen ever decides to write other stories with any of these characters or set in this world I will come running.
Final Rating – 4.75/5 Stars

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