Gifted Thief
Helen Harper
Overall: 3/5
Plot and themes: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing style: 3/5
Attention-grabbing: 3/5
I'm on a Helen Harper binge right now because her books are so insanely entertaining and easy to read. This book is about the Sidhe of the Scottish highlands. Gifted individuals who control the economy through the strength of their clans. Integrity was born as the heir to one such clan before her father decided to go off the rails and kill everyone. After a tumultuous childhood of slights by the Sidhe, she chose to leave them behind and build her own family. But the Sidhe need her now to unlock an ancient artifact that's the key to all of their magic and she always knew she couldn't hide forever.
Integrity is annoying. I almost DNFed just because she was making so many choices that annoyed me. Like okay, I understand that she had it rough and so yeah I probably wouldn't trust these Sidhe people either. But wouldn't having such a foundation of cruelty make her less likely to trust others? She practically passes her secrets out like candy and like it's so obvious that that's going to blow up in her face later on. She doesn't hit the right balance for that urban fantasy clumsiness combined with skill.
Maybe I'm being too hard on her and my standards are too high but I'm going to need her to do better in the sequel like grow a bit. It's another interesting world though, because Helen Harper has some great ideas and concepts. I like the twists she puts on normality, things that are fantastical and far-fetched but still with strong bases in reality. I don't know if this will be my favorite series, but I appreciate a lot of it.
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