Jason Dorough

Well written fantasy with a pleasing complexity that came nicely together. With multiple points of view, we follow theatre folk, others from town and various of the antagonistic Red Kites (some more sympathetic than others). As you might expect from the title, this is predominantly a heist story, and it was a lot of fun seeing in how many ways the group’s plans could go awry, forcing them to scramble to keep up.

The prose was tidy, and I didn’t particularly notice any typos. There was a show more bit of skipping back and forth in the timeline as one character had something unexpected happen, with the next scene being another character going through whatever led up to the unusual event. This style of retrospective explanation took a bit of getting used to, although I can understand why the author used it.

Highly recommended. show less

Teshovar is a gritty urban fantasy world. Pria, a teenage thief and gangster, is on her way up. For those who like strong female characters and hate the sort of girl-power fantasy where teenyboppers are automatically granted powers, this is a refreshing change. We see Pria doing the hard work and facing the danger that prepare her for her roles in the longer books that come later in the series.