I've got a double review for you today! I was lucky enough to be sent the first book so I could review the second book aaaannnd so I'm reviewing both! This should have been up a while ago, but I didn't have the time to write reviews, but it's here now!
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, unearths a sentient book called Vella. Once a young sorcerer-bookbinder, Vella was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been collecting information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen's world faces.
Elsewhere, in an land ruled by the priests, Rielle the dyer's daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows she has a talent for it, and that there is a corrupter in the city willing to teach her how to use it -- should she dare to risk the Angels' wrath.
But not everything is as Tyen and Rielle have been raised to believe. Not the nature of magic, nor the laws of their lands... and not even the people they trust.
First thing's first, I totally want to be a sorcerer-archaeologist!? Hello dream job! Imagine how awesome that would be? Like without what happens to Tyen though! I think that may just be the coolest job ever to be in a fantasy book so far, at least for me! I really do love a Trudi Canavan book, and I loved the synopsis for this and the premise!
Thief's Magic is fast paced, original and imaginative. I loved the world/s that have been created in this book. There's two different stories and narratives going on as you're reading, and I liked how they where interspersed with each other. I think it worked a lot better doing it a few chapters at a time than every other chapter like most multi-pov's do! I was waiting for the two to meet and cross over but that's book two! Anyway, because we have two different stories going on, we get two different worlds. I will admit, Tyen's was my favourite because it had a steampunk vibe going on with Beetle and a few other things, and it seemed a little Victorian-y to me, so it was obviously my favourite because I am a sucker for that stuff! Rielle's world was more of a regular fantasy world and it's less chill about magic than Tyen's world is.
I have to say, I really liked the magic system and the whole thing with the soot, and especially liked the contrast between the two worlds and the two different views and beliefs on magic. I think they worked really well and you ended up with two different characters with different experiences and who are vastly different from each other. Rielle is used to hiding her talent and being scared of magic so she won't use it, whereas Tyen is used to using magic for his studies it's not illegal like it is in Rielle's world, and he just uses it whenever he needs to.
I felt like the worlds of the book really came to life and where built up, I could vividly picture the settings in my minds eye! There's so much going on in this book, so many plot threads and so many twists to keep you on your toes. I was a bit unsure at first about keeping both stories straight but it was actually quite easy, and I got used to it! I love Canavan's storytelling, it drew me in and kept me intrigued throughout and the ending was just brilliant! If you read this, make sure you have the second book handy because you'll NEED to read it straight after!
Character-wise, I really liked Tyen and his narrative ended up being my favourite throughout the book, not just because of the whole steampunky/magical world he had going on, but because I found him more interesting. Tyen was relatable, he wanted to do the right thing, Rielle was also both of those things. But my problem with Rielle was that she started to bug me more than once, I don't know if it would have been different if her pov was first and then Tyen's after but after seeing Tyen and what was going on with him...Rielle just seemed a bit hard to warm up to. She struck me as naive, and a little bit of a fool more than once. She never asked questions, she just went along with everything and it started to annoy me more and more! However.....I do see a lot of potential character development for Rielle and while her attitude/behaviour bugged me...I could also see where she was coming from and why she acted like she did.
We had plenty of other characters to love or hate throughout the book! Vella was intriguing, Miko and Kilraker where....well...there's not a polite word. Sezee and Veroo where awesome and I was disappointed about what happened with them! Izare and Jonare I really liked, the bitchy temple girls not so much! I just loved the wide cast of characters, that all added to the story and helped the MCs throughout the plot. They helped to bring the world of the book to life and I'm hoping to see a couple of them again!
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Tyen is teaching mechanical magic at a school respected throughout the worlds. News arrives that the formidable ruler of all worlds, long believed to be dead, is back and enforcing his old laws - including the one forbidding schools of magic. As teachers and students flee, Tyen is left with no home and no purpose... except the promise he made to Vella, the sorcerer imprisoned in a book. Tyen must decide what he is willing to do to free her.
After five years among the tapestry weavers of Schpeta, Rielle's peaceful new life has been shattered by a local war. As defeat looms, the powerful Angel of Storms appears and invites Rielle to join the artisans of his celestial realm. But what will he require in return for this extraordinary offer?
After five years among the tapestry weavers of Schpeta, Rielle's peaceful new life has been shattered by a local war. As defeat looms, the powerful Angel of Storms appears and invites Rielle to join the artisans of his celestial realm. But what will he require in return for this extraordinary offer?
In Angel of Storms, we're now 5 years on from the events of Thief's Magic and I was quite delighted with the time jump! I was looking forward to seeing how our characters had changed, particularly Rielle and seeing what they where up to after that ending!
I loved getting to see more of the world and the magic in this book, we get to see the characters taking full advantage of the world travelling and I was loving it! Canavan has created such a brilliant world, with endless opportunities to show us even more imaginative worlds within the main one..if that makes sense! I love that each of the worlds is created differently, so you never see the same world twice, each has something different about it and each has different views on magic and using it depending on how much magic that world has! The world and the plot are so rich, you can't help but be sucked in by them, and I'm so excited to see what's going to happen in the third book after the plot twists from this one!
I thought that Tyen and Rielle's struggles with their actions and the morality of them was fascinating to watch as well as believable and helped you to connect with the characters and what they where going through. I admired both characters for just wanting to help people and do the right thing.
I was pleased to see that Rielle had changed and developed more and continued to do so over the course of the book, don't get me wrong she was still kind of naive at points, but I enjoyed watching her develop over the course of this book. She didn't bug me as much as in the first! I really, really respected her decision at the end of the book and was cheering for her, but I'm really itching for her to team up with Tyen! Our two stories converged as the two met up in this book but I'm so ready for the team up!
I admire Tyen's dedication to helping Vella, and his struggle with doing so was, like I said, fascinating to read about. I think we can all empathise with him, he's trying to help the rebels without helping them too much. He doesn't want them to get hurt. He's not doing it because he's a bad person, he's just trying to keep the promise he made to Vella about getting her body back. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see as much of Vella in this book as the other but I'm hoping we might actually get to see the real Vella in book three!
The secondary characters in this book where tricky. There where a lot and I did like a lot of them, Baluka's family for instance. But Baluka himself...I mean I should have known where he'd go, but I couldn't quite decide if I liked him or not. I don't think I got to know him enough to decide if I'm honest! Although seeing as how I'm fond of Tyen when he first showed up I wasn't very charitable towards him! I really, really liked Yira and I'm so gutted we didn't get to see more of her because she was looking to be such a brilliant character! Dahli was a debatable character much like.....
The Raen. First I liked how we're presented with two different people and Canavan slowly made it apparent that they are in fact the same person, and I loved the idea of the Raen. I wasn't too sure about the Raen for most of the book, much like Tyen. I feel like his character isn't black and white, he's neither good nor evil. He's trying to balance the worlds and keep everything in order. He's helped people and he's also hurt people. His Allies did a lot of the hurting and he never reigned them in but he needed them on his side. I understood him but I couldn't decide until the end. I was very much of the same opinion as Rielle about all of that and I'm intrigued to see how that's going to play out.
I'm so intrigued to see what's going to happen in the third and final book in this trilogy! This one was a bit slow to start, but I enjoyed seeing even more of the world and seeing the two pov's/stories merge together more. I'm so ready for the inevitable team up! I have to say, I was a bit worried after reading the first book and being so annoyed by Rielle, but Canavan really develops her more in this book and I found myself enjoying her narrative a lot more this time around than last time! I loved the struggle with the characters morality and their actions, and I continue to love Canavan's storytelling!
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