A review by a_chickletz
Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

5.0

Since reading ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’ I realized how much I enjoyed the thief genre. I eagerly pre-ordered, bought, or checked into other books that were recommended to me by GoodReads. This was one of them. The cover looked interesting, the ‘summary’ looked interesting and the author, well, the way he described the book to be akin to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was interesting! So when I was moseying around in a bookstore I was pleased to discover that all three of the newly printed volumes were available to buy. I bought the first one and took it home to read.

I have just finished this book and I now own the other two in the series (volumes, I mean).

I did read the reviews, which were mostly glowing with praise. Now, the previous book I read Among Thieves wasn’t my cup of tea even though most other reviewers enjoyed it. So I was afraid that, yet again, I was going to walk away from a genre I was being to enjoy with only Locke Lamora to account for. But this book, well, it comes in a pretty close second.

The reviews also said that the first story is a little slow. I will admit, it is but: READ THROUGH IT. When you find out who killed the king, things start picking up really fast and before you know it you’re sucked into the next story and you’re finished.

I really loved Royce and Hadrian. I guess in my head I pictured Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth. They both were written so you could tell them apart: Royce was the short, quiet, sneaky, sharp witted fellow while Hadrian was the tall, muscular, loud, strong, quick thinker who becomes the reluctant hero. I always enjoyed the way they seemed to take themselves out of whatever was going on at the moment to give a ‘funny’ commentary about the situation at hand, or that they were unafraid of telling someone off that was pissing them off. It didn’t come across ‘out-of-character’, or ‘forced’, because the author was able to give them the right and reason for using that form of dialogue.

The secondary characters were well written too. In my head, I was picturing who could play them if a movie was made. They all ranged from kind to downright disgusting! I quite pleased when a few of the bit the dust and sad when a few I liked did, too.

As I said, I now own the other two in the series and I can’t wait to start them. The second book (end of the first Volume) left me wanting more—especially on such a cliffhanger! So if you’re looking to start a book for the summer or you really like the thief genre, this book series is golden. I’m so happy that it started off as an indie series and was picked up by a publisher. YAY.