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The Magic Thief (2008)

by Sarah Prineas, Sarah Prineas

Other authors: Antonio Javier Caparo (Illustrator)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: The Magic Thief (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,3745313,445 (4.01)48
A young thief is drawn into a life of magic and adventure after picking the pocket of the powerful wizard Nevery Flinglas, who has returned from exile to attempt to reverse the troubling decline of magic in Wellmet City.
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» See also 48 mentions

English (52)  Spanish (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (54)
Showing 1-5 of 52 (next | show all)
Month of November 2022 - The Thief Books

“The Magic Thief: Take the Magic and Run” (Book 1 of 3) - Sarah Prineas (2008; 2009 ed.) 419 pages.

READING LEVEL: 4.5 AR POINTS: 9.0 (Middle grade level)

I’m not into “fantasy” reading, but this was actually a cute little story for middle schoolers, one I think my middle school granddaughter will really enjoy. It’s not outlandishly fantasized like the Harry Potter books and movies and much easier to follow and understand. Don’t let the large number of pages turn you off. The print is larger and there is more white space on the pages. It’s really a quick and easy read.

You don’t take the locus magicalicus from Wizard Nevery Flingas without it instantly killing you. So, when the young, orphaned thief, Connwaer, steals it and doesn’t die, Nevery was intrigued and sets forth to find out if he could be the next apprentice wizard in training.

The city of Wellmet is losing its magical powers, and Nevery has returned to find out why and try to stop it before the city falls into decay.

My interest was piqued wondering where Conn was going to find his own locus magicalicus, a special stone that all wizards must find on their own and is used to create magic. I loved Conn’s honest and meek personality, and I loved that he was the one to discover who and why all the magic was being sucked out of Wellmet.

It’s fun when small, bad characters turn good and end up strong heroes. ( )
  MissysBookshelf | Aug 27, 2023 |
An orphaned pickpocket steals a magic stone from a wizard and becomes his apprentice. The boy, truthful and fair, becomes apprentice to the once-banned wizard, who is called upon by the city magisters to determine why the city's magic is disappearing. Young Conn's inquisitiveness and resourcefulness solve the mystery, with support from wizard Nevery, the Dutchess, and thug, Benet. ( )
  skipstern | Jul 11, 2021 |
Book and Cookie Club selection, but a worthwhile read, and a Skype conversation with the author made it even more so. This fanciful tale of magic set in a fictional time and place (but reminiscent of Dickens' London) rode the wave of Harry Potter popularity for fans who wanted read-alikes. Not disappointing, but maybe for a bit younger crowd. Young Conn, a gutter boy, steals a magic object from a wizard and finds himself enmeshed in his own awakening magical skills with the backdrop of a power struggle in his society to control the magic. Very original, memorable characters to care about -- it's a series but not sure I will pursue it. ( )
  CarrieWuj | Oct 24, 2020 |
{First of 4 : The Magic Thief series. Children's, fantasy}

I borrowed this from my children's school library and apparently I also borrowed it three years ago as an e-book from the local library (when I noted that the e-format diminishes the impact of the pencil drawings).

Conn is a gutterboy thief who lives in the Twilight district of the city of Wellmet. One day he gets caught by the mage, Nevery, when he picks his pocket and steals his locus magicalicus - a wizard's magic stone, specific to him, which focuses power. Intrigued by the fact that Conn is unharmed, Nevery takes him home to be his apprentice, despite the fact that he isn't interested in maintaining a household and doesn’t really want an apprentice. Then they realise that Conn has magic and needs to be taught - but he hasn’t yet found his own locus magicalicus.

Nevery has returned to Wellmet, from which he was exiled twenty years before, drawn by the fact that the magic of the city has been inexplicably dwindling. He keeps busy investigating the cause of the reduction in magic and doesn't really have time for the boy. Conn feels deep in his bones that he is destined to be a wizard and help Nevery save the magic but he feels Nevery is on the wrong track - so he does some investigating of his own.

The chapters are punctuated by Nevery's diary notes; I'm not sure how much they advance the story, though they do show Nevery's point of view too - but they do have notes in an unknown script that I didn't manage to decode.

Light, solidly written, engaging, good use of language. I like Prineas's clever hyphenated alliterative and assonant vocabulary : 'Nevery swept-stepped from the room' or 'he gave me his keen-gleam glance' or 'musty-dusty'.

I'd like to continue reading this series of brave, earnest Conn, his grumpy master Nevery and their friends.

4 stars ( )
  humouress | Mar 3, 2019 |
This book is a small miracle, in a way. Despite the fact that almost every aspect of the plot, the settings, and most principal characters can be found in essentially unchanged form in other, earlier books, this novel manages to transcend what could seem like a pedestrian rehash to become a charming, worthy addition to the canon. And it's emphatically not a pleasant but mediocre generic fantasy novel--it's much, much better than that.

Most of the credit goes to the author's making the protagonist so very likable. I'm reminded of Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief who also managed to charm me completely. There's a passage where truth serum forces our hero to babble the truth, and it's a delight.

I imagine it must be more difficult to write a beautifully-crafted, engaging, surprising book from materials that are so well-trodden, so kudos given where kudos are due.

I see others have compared this to the Harry Potter series, or to The Lightning Thief, but the tone seems very dissimilar to me. I thought it more akin to the works of Diana Wynne Jones (not quite as good, nothing ever is--a little more straightforward than she would have written) or to the Flora Segunda.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )
  ashleytylerjohn | Sep 19, 2018 |
Showing 1-5 of 52 (next | show all)
Straatjongen Rafi (ik-figuur) steelt de locus magicalus, een steen met magische krachten, uit de jaszak van de oude tovenaar Nimmeral. Wie deze steen probeert te stelen zou ter plekke moeten sterven. Als Rafi blijft leven, neemt Nimmeral hem aan als zijn leerling. Daarvoor moet Rafi echter eerst zijn eigen locus magicalicus vinden. Ondertussen daalt het niveau van de magie steeds sneller in de stad Wellekom. Rafi weet het zeker: hij is voorbestemd om te voorkomen dat de magie zal verdwijnen. Een goedgeschreven, onderhoudend verteld verhaal dat zich door taalgebruik, humor en onverwachte wendingen onderscheidt van andere verhalen over tovenaarsleerlingen. De vele korte hoofdstukken over Rafi worden afgewisseld met fragmenten uit Nimmerals dagboek in een telegramstijl. Deze fragmenten lijken op een soort perkament geschreven te zijn. Af en toe staan onderaan runen die met behulp van het alfabet achterin ontcijferd kunnen worden. Het boek bevat voorin een landkaart van Wellekom en achterin lijstjes met de belangrijkste personages, plekken en enkele recepten. Ieder nieuw hoofdstuk wordt gesierd met een zwart-witillustratie. Een aanrader voor liefhebbers van de Harry Potter-reeks. Eerste deel in een serie. Vanaf ca. 10 jaar. - Eefje Buenen

 

» Add other authors (4 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Sarah Prineasprimary authorall editionscalculated
Prineas, Sarahmain authorall editionsconfirmed
Caparo, Antonio JavierIllustratorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Kattelus, KaisaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Steinbruner, GregNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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To Maud, who laughed in all the right places.
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A thief is a lot like a wizard.
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A young thief is drawn into a life of magic and adventure after picking the pocket of the powerful wizard Nevery Flinglas, who has returned from exile to attempt to reverse the troubling decline of magic in Wellmet City.

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