Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

58 reviews

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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

4.5

To read my original review of this book (a different edition to this one), go to the following link https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/7aec891b-d918-40c4-b380-27dd080dbbcc

For this reread,  my original opinion of this book still largely stands - this is an incredibly good read chock-full of excellent character development, diversity, plotting, and worldbuilding. And Vanja's snarky, irreverent narration is just GOLD.

I did pick up on a couple of things that I appear to have missed the first time I read this.  The theme of privilege, more specifically around the privilege enabled by wealth, influence, and good looks. What choices do you have to make if you don't possess these things?

The other thing that niggled at me  (and caused me to drop my rating by 0.5 for this reread)was that

Spoiler

no one picked up Vanja's ruse/disguises earlier.

But that was only a minor irritation and did not affect my overall enjoyment.

Onto Painted Devils!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Abandonment, Violence, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Classism, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

Minor: Cursing and War

theunwelcometagalongs's review

adventurous inspiring sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Classism

Minor: Rape

bumblebree1903's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

This boon was absolutely AMAZING! I had such a blast reading and while their was a small lull at the beginning it very quickly pulled me in once it picked back up.

The characters were easily the most interesting part for me. Each one felt so well-rounded and alive, I could so easily fall into their point of view and understand their choices. Even when they were doing stupid things, it completely made sense to their perspective and character that I wasn’t frustrated or felt like it was a contrivance.

This depth of character also benefitted the romances in the book well. Having characters that feel so rounded and play off each other so well really invested me in their love stories. Every time there was a development in the romance I was giggling and freaking out because I was so invested.

The plot itself was also riveting. Once it started to pick back up I was pulled into the story and didn’t want to put it down. Every twist felt properly built up to and the mystery had me trying to solve it with the main characters without knowing all the answers myself. The book itself was on a tight timeline with only two weeks for our protagonist Vanya to live, which added a sense of urgency to things. The only thing the two week timeline weakened was the romances, as it felt like things were moving rather quickly and unrealistically. Especially with the implied asexuality of one of the characters.

Overall it was an amazing book and I can’t wait to see what comes next in the series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Violence, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror and Eating disorder

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

aytac's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Violence, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Genocide, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Violence, Animal cruelty, Sexism, and Drug abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Rape, and Animal death

tasig's review

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

cookiecat73's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I finished this book in 3 days, which considering the amount I've been reading on average per day so far this year, is fast. The writing style is one that I flew through, and the plot had me hooked from chapter one, which isn't common. Despite the constant threat of death, the trauma, and dark topics, this is the funniest book I've read in a while. It doesn't make light of the heavy stuff, but the narration and dialogue contain a lot of jokes which so happened to be exactly my sense of humour, and I laughed a lot. I also cried a little bit.

I adore so many of the characters, especially Ragne. The world was good, though nothing incredible. The Gods were amazing, probably my favourite Gods that I've ever read in a story, though to be fair I'm not normally a big fan of Gods in stories so there's not much competition. The description of Eiswald was incredible.

Unfortunately, this book isn't 5 stars for me. So many parts of it were, and I wish it had been 5 stars, but there were certain things in it that I just didn't like as much. Nothing it did wrong really, just things that brought my enjoyment of it down.

I can't believe they called this Untitled Goose Girl when it was being written, reading that in the acknowlegments cracked me up.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Child abuse, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Outing, Addiction, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Medical content, Acephobia/Arophobia, Cannibalism, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, and Vomit

quill88's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Physical abuse

r_a_bell's review

adventurous 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Classism, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Gaslighting, Blood, and Gore

meaghancook's review against another edition

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

4.5

MY ONLY CRITICISM is that it took me too long to get into this. After about 100 pages I was fully hooked, but the first bit really dragged. I think the MC starts out a bit too convoluted to stand on her own, but she really shines once the whole troupe is together. 

I love these little shits so much it hurts me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Child death