Reviews with content warning for Rape - Muerte y fortuna

I love Vanja. I love Emeric. I love Giselle (even though I didn't expect to). I love Ragne. I just loved this book, okay? Vanja is terrible and I love her. Emeric is awkward and cunning and I love him. The end.

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mattyb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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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vivavia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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cardanrry's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

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whenjessreads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is loose retelling of the Grimm fairy tale ‘The Goose Girl’, in which a greedy chambermaid undermines her princess, forcing them to switch places so that the chambermaid can live a life of status and luxury, while the princess is relegated to the servant’s quarters and the geese. As expected from the Brothers Grimm, it ends in a particularly gruesome way, and hammers home the dangers of deception and greed.

This book was SO, SO much more than that. Little Thieves is narrated by Vanja, the maid who has conned her way into the place of the princess - and it IS a con, because Vanja is a liar and a thief, with no illusions about who she is. Not only has she taken the place of Princezzin (princess) Gisele while Gisele herself scrabbles for survival in a nearby orphanage, but she is also systematically robbing the elite of their jewels and gold under the pseudonym of the Pfennigeist - the penny phantom… until something happens to stop her in her tracks. Pursued by the law, the aristocracy, and even the gods, things start to get messy for Vanja.

I know I don’t usually write a summary of the plot before I get into reviewing, but this book was just so fascinating. It was witty, irreverent, deeply emotional, and hilarious, all at once. Somehow Owen has taken a literal conwoman, spoken at length about her greed and selfishness, and yet made her into an incredibly sympathetic character. I love a morally grey MC, and I ADORE a damaged one, so by the end I was pretty much ready to bow at her feet. Not only was Vanja a well developed, three-dimensional character, but all the central characters were. WHICH IS A DAMN HARD THING TO DO.

So many boxes were ticked here without them FEELING like boxes were being ticked. There was queer rep, the discussion of trauma without it being the entire plot, magic as a subtlety rather than a focus, slight commentary on the social ideals of beauty and gender-acceptable behaviours.

And it was just so, so funny.

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