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A review by kblincoln
Thieftaker by D.B. Jackson
4.0
Ethan Kaille is a Thieftaker in pre-Revolutionary war Boston. He is an ex-convict, having endured imprisonment and slavery in the West Indies, a broken engagement, and now walks a fine line between Boston's underside and gentility.
But more than that, Ethan is a witch. He uses blood, leaves, or wood to cast small spells--but tries very hard not to be discovered in the process. The Salem witch trials weren't so very long ago.
But when the daughter of a rich merchant is found dead in an unsavory place, and Ethan is hired to find the culprit, his secret isn't going to stay that way for long. There's another witch in town-- one that has no problem using death for his own gain.
So if you like Jim Butcher's Dresden novels-- you'll like this book. Most of the book is focused equally on Ethan running around to different unsavory places and being beat up or hunted by various characters. The other parts of the book focus on the actual nature of spell-casting in Jackson's Revolutionary Boston. With a fine glaze on top of this alternate-history of Sam Adams politics and Ethan's tragic past.
It was kind of fun. I'm not the biggest fan of books that focus so much on runnning to and fro on endless errands to talk to people, nor where the main character is constantly beat up and hunted by various factions that in the end turn out to never quite catch him at all. Alot of the simmering politics and bad-guy plots hyped during the book were just explained with a few sentences at the end. Like when Ethan says to himself "well I guess the Queen of East End who is super-powerful and beat me up in the beginning of the book and who I REALLY irritated and seems me as a rival to her power is just going to leave me alone now that the bad guy is dead"....and that's what happens.
On the other hand...Sam Adams! Color me history geek, but I get all excited about the appearance of historical figures in alternate histories.
But more than that, Ethan is a witch. He uses blood, leaves, or wood to cast small spells--but tries very hard not to be discovered in the process. The Salem witch trials weren't so very long ago.
But when the daughter of a rich merchant is found dead in an unsavory place, and Ethan is hired to find the culprit, his secret isn't going to stay that way for long. There's another witch in town-- one that has no problem using death for his own gain.
So if you like Jim Butcher's Dresden novels-- you'll like this book. Most of the book is focused equally on Ethan running around to different unsavory places and being beat up or hunted by various characters. The other parts of the book focus on the actual nature of spell-casting in Jackson's Revolutionary Boston. With a fine glaze on top of this alternate-history of Sam Adams politics and Ethan's tragic past.
It was kind of fun. I'm not the biggest fan of books that focus so much on runnning to and fro on endless errands to talk to people, nor where the main character is constantly beat up and hunted by various factions that in the end turn out to never quite catch him at all. Alot of the simmering politics and bad-guy plots hyped during the book were just explained with a few sentences at the end. Like when Ethan says to himself "well I guess the Queen of East End who is super-powerful and beat me up in the beginning of the book and who I REALLY irritated and seems me as a rival to her power is just going to leave me alone now that the bad guy is dead"....and that's what happens.
On the other hand...Sam Adams! Color me history geek, but I get all excited about the appearance of historical figures in alternate histories.