The Spirit Thief

An EXCELLENT fantasy debut. I tore through this book in two nights, even while sick, and really couldn't put the book down once I'd gotten halfway.The plot is, frankly, pretty formulaic - I found myself musing at several points that the author had clearly watched a lot of Trigun and had a thing for "mysterious gunslinger/swordsman face-offs," in addition to including plenty of standard fantasy elements like the Band of Misfits Causing Mischief and the various escalating Boss Fights - and certain elements that were supposed to be witty and cute grated on me (Marion the Librarian? REALLY?), but all in all, the book managed to be highly engaging and even fresh despite all that.The voices of the characters were really this book's redeeming show more factor - the plot may have been hackneyed, but the characters were fresh and new and captivating. Eli Monpress is, in essence, a wizardly Moist Von Lipwig (Terry Pratchett's Going Postal) - he's a confidence man, a thief, and a charming rogue who happens to be able to con spirits. And spirits are everywhere in this world - rather than working magic through spells, wizards here are animists, shamans almost, who either enslave spirits (that would be the bad guys) or bargain with them for service (the Spiritualists). There's a bit of discourse on ethics and morals regarding the use of spirits that I suspect is going to be fleshed out in the later installments...it's all certainly leading somewhere, this rhetoric about duty and ethical responsibility to spirits. But that's tangential to the fabulousness that is con-man Eli and tempestuous, powerful Miranda - both are very well-developed characters, with distinct personalities and foibles, and both are fascinating.Eli was a bit less developed than I would've liked, especially for a book ostensibly about him, but Miranda was wonderful - a hot-tempered, but icy-calm woman in complete control of herself and the rapidly devolving situation around her, completely confident and completely in charge. She's powerful and makes no apologies for that power, or for using it. You don't see that often in fantasy, and I loved it.All in all, Rachel Aaron has set up an intriguing world here, and I want to see what she does with it and the characters... show less

I’m not sure there are words to describe how much this book delighted me. I’ll try very hard, however.

The Spirit Thief is the first in a planned series about the adventures of ne’er-do-well Eli Monpress and his ragtag band of merry thieves. Well, less merry and more dour ridiculously powerful thieves, but nonetheless his little band. Eli has, at least as far as this book suggests, one goal in life–to raise the bounty on his head to 1 million gold standards. Which, as one character helpfully points out, is more than all the money in the entire world.

What starts out as a simple heist quickly became a tangled web of long held grudges, deceitfulness, and murderous intentions. I would accuse Eli of having bad timing, but I’m not show more sure even that is enough to cover just how horribly wrong everything almost turned out. I’ll give him credit, however; he is unfailingly optimistic that he can turn things around given enough time.

Eli is, regardless of anything else, a very special person. He defies all conventions of being a wizard (or “Spiritualist”) as a thief and kidnapper. When the kidnapped King Henrith awakens, one of Eli’s first conversations with him is to ask how King Henrith is enjoying the kidnapping so far and whether there was anything he thinks could change.

Eli’s companions, Josef and Nico, are equally complicated people. Josef is a master swordsman who won’t consider drawing his magical sword for reasons of pride (“How will I become stronger if I rely on you to win my battles?” Josef says to his sword’s spirit). He does, however, have such an impressive amount of pointy weaponry that I was swooning, half in love with him just for that. Nico, meanwhile, looks like a starving waif of a child, swathed in an enormous black cloak that feels alive to the touch. She’s actually just the human shell for a “demonseed,” or an unawakened demon. Her powers are equally devastating, though her presence alone is enough to terrify spirits into a bloodlust rage.

And then there’s Eli. Eli who communes with spirits as if they are no different than any other being. Who whispers and croons to them, seducing them into doing what he wants enthusiastically. Miranda, a high level Spiritualist sent to capture Eli (or at least thwart his plans), observes as he does the impossible. Over and over and over again.

This isn’t to say any of them are immune to failure or get everything right all the time–their failures are pretty spectacular and involve a lot of collateral damage, but the three of them could easily do much worse than try to raise the bounty on Eli’s head through harmless kidnappings and “impossible” thievery.

At first The Spirit Thief is something of a farce. Alerted to the danger of Eli’s escape from his prison, King Henrith is rushed around for his safety. Giving Eli a perfectly good chance to enact his plan. For several chapters the book is full of banter as everyone tries to adjust to the kidnapping of the King. And then the meat of the plot is unleashed in the form of an enemy of the throne with a very deeply seated hatred for Henrith, Mellinor, and quite possibly everything else. Almost justified, really, if, you know, Renaud wasn’t loonbird crazy.

I would have loved to know more about what it was like for Renaud growing up in the castle, his mother basically sheltering him so no one knew about his magic (which is forbidden in Mellinor, even in the royal family). Did that help to make him the sociopath he is? If Mellinor had been more receptive to Spiritualists, and given Renaud the training he needed, would he be a better person? I enjoyed Renaud; he was the extreme opposite of Eli (with Miranda in the middle), but he had a very one-track mind. Single focus–complete and utter dominion over all spirits–and I wasn’t quite sure why. I assumed it was because he was a crackpot, however.

The lay of the land changed continually throughout the story. One plot was hatched, foiled (or interrupted), so a new one began, which then changed as new variables presented themselves, and so forth. Aaron’s ability to juggle all the changes that happened, often quickly and in the span of a page, without confusing me (the reader) did not go unappreciated. There never seemed to be a moment when the plot stopped so that Aaron had a character “catch the reader up” on what was going on. Everything just flowed, the ripples barely more than that. The one hitch was when Miranda was detailing the differences between a “wizard” and a “Spiritualist,” or at least the differences in how the people of Mellinor viewed those with magic. It was interesting, but a huge block of information just sitting in the middle of a plot point, and it distracted me.

From the way this book ended, and the sample chapter given about the next book, The Spirit Rebellion (due out in November), I’m eagerly waiting to find out what happens. We meet, and learn, about an enigmatic character called Benehime who favors Eli and apparently gave him something. I’d love to know more about her, and the group she more or less is the patron of (The League of Storms). show less

I have to admit that the very first line made me laugh. "In the prison under the castle Allaze, in the dark mouldy cells where the greatest criminals in Mellinor spent the remainder of their lives counting rocks to stave off madness, Eli Monpress was trying to wake up a door." The author had my attention with that. The idea that things are imbued with spirits that certain people can hear and with training can get them to do things. Eli is a charmer, what would happen if a con man could use his voice to not only charm people but also spirits to do what he wants. He doesn't just talk to them but befriends them.
Miranda Lyonette also works with spirits but she's more assertive with them, the schools of magic in this world suggest that this show more is the way to deal with spirits and Eli is making her ask questions about this. The fact that she's chasing him to stop him is slightly twarted when a man who doesn't coherce but enslaves spirits and causes them pain, gets involved in Eli's plan to kidnap and ransom a king (in a further complicated plan to make himself the most valuable wanted man in the world).

I really enjoyed this, I chuckled my way through the ways in which Eli kept tripping people up with their own thoughts. He also has two companions that left me wondering about them and their plans and their future, the swordsman Josef (who has a sword he's reluctant to use) and Nico, who is harbouring a demon-seed, that Josef and his sword seems to be able to control.

It's not without it's flaws and Eli could get annoying but it was a fun read, he appears to have depths that have only been glanced at and a background that I want to know more about. I liked it enough that when I realised that book 2 was in the library above where I worked I rushed up to nab it and pressed a copy into the hands of a person working in that branch that I know likes fantasy. show less

Eli Monpress is the world's greatest thief and also a wizard. With the help of his partners, a dangerous swordsman and a demonseed with strange magic of her own, Eli plans to grow the bounty on his head by pulling off his greatest heist yet: he's going to steal a King.

The Spirit Thief is the first book in Rachel Aaron's The Legend of Eli Monpress series. This was a fun, light read. I got definite Heartstriker vibes while reading. I'm glad I read that series first as I can see where she's grown as an author.

The magic in this world centers around spirits. Everyone and everything has a spirit. For example, that door you just used has part of the original tree spirit in the wood it was made out of. Wizards perform their magic by getting show more spirits to do things. This concept has great potential and there's a lot of room for Aaron to play with this idea.

The story is a classic heist gone wrong, with enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. The pace moves along nicely and has a lot of humor without feeling obnoxious. The action scenes, both magical and mundane, are engaging and a lot of fun to read.

I do have a couple complaints. First are the characters. We are given general introductions to everyone and they all are interesting enough but lack the depth needed to make them feel fully formed. Hopefully this is something that Aaron works on in the next book as I think it could be easily fixed. Second, there is a lot of telling and not enough showing, especially in the early chapters when the magic system is being explained.

The book has a lot going for it and a ton of potential. I'm looking forward to continuing on Eli's journey. show less

When Eli Monpress, the self-proclaimed “greatest thief in the world,” is suddenly discovered within the borders of the small and prosperous kingdom of Mellinor, officials promptly clap him in irons and prepare to collect the enormous bounty on his head. However, Eli is also a wizard, and a combination of magic and human cunning allows him to turn the tables on them – by kidnapping their king. Now Eli is demanding a ransom, the king’s absence has left a power vacuum in Mellinor, and a wizard from the nearby Spirit Court is after Eli for reasons of her own. Yet before this wizard, a ghost-hound-riding magician named Miranda, can capture Eli, they suddenly find themselves on the same side, as an unsuspected magical danger threatens show more the entire kingdom.

This book, quite simply, is rollicking good fun. If you like fantasy of the cunning-roguish-hero-and-nifty-system-of-magic variety, you’ll almost certainly enjoy this book. The book’s individual elements, such as the thief-hero and the evil wizard out to steal a throne, aren’t particularly original; but as a whole, the plot felt original and exciting to me. The first scene is especially delightful and serves to establish the tone of the book:

“In the prison under the castle Allaze, in the dark, moldy cells where the greatest criminals in Mellinor spent the remainder of their lives counting rocks to stave off madness, Eli Monpress was trying to wake up a door.”

Another interesting thing about this book is that, while Eli is supposedly the central character, we don’t get a lot of firsthand insight into his thoughts and feelings. Rather, the bulk of the third-person narrative focuses on Miranda’s point of view as she is exposed to a totally different perspective on the world. There are several plotlines woven throughout the book, and I was interested in all of them, as well as being eager to learn more about the various characters. There are two more books in the series right now, with another to be released this summer, and I can’t wait to track them down and read them! show less

Delightful fantasy with excellent novelty.

Eli Monpress is a rogue, well, he calls himself a thief. He wants to increase the bounty on his head. Why? Still unknown even at the end of the book.

So he does something outrageous, he steals a king for ransom, but the plan backfires spectacularly.

Aaron's book is distinctive because she
a) creates her own system of magic, using spirits, with levels of light, dark, and gray magic
b)unlikely reluctant hero with peculiar allies
c) solid plot, with a few twists

Call it three and a half stars, because this really is very good. Savvy and snappy (and brief - egad!), the writing practically oozes confidence, which makes it delightfully easy to slip into this romp. I thought I was well on my way to a new authorial crush.

But then it got decidedly less rompy and a lot more... well, there was an enormous swordsman with six feet of magical sword fighting a mouthy braggart with another magical sword (and things were being split asunder by cataclysmic sword blows) while our beautiful blond lunatic of a villain unleashed amazing special effects. I realised I'd walked into a narrative rendition of anime. And I was a little disappointed. Now the characters were interacting more, but their banter was of the show more anime school that sidebars or footnotes the story, rather than advancing it (which particularly bothers me when said story should be going on while they're quipping, but gets paused). And when, later on, things got a bit goopy, I was having some unpleasant flashbacks to the more disturbing moments in my anime-watching career.

Which is entirely my problem, I admit, but I will say this: possibly your level of enjoyment of this book may be linked to how much you like anime. There are elements that leapt out at me as being common in that form of media, and they weren't particularly things I enjoy. (Why I don't like anime, or because I don't like anime? Chicken? Egg?)

That completely aside, I think there's good and bad here. Eli's an enjoyable character (though maybe a little glib?) who grabbed me immediately, and the first third of the book is pretty much solid splendid. But I found things sagged a little in the middle, and the finale felt somewhat stilted. I really would have liked a little more complexity.

But I - it has been noted - am a picky bitch. It's a good book. show less