Thief's Covenant
Author: Ari Marmell
Series: A Widdershins Adventure
Publisher: Pyr
How Received: ARC
Release Date: 14 February 2012
Once she was Adrienne Satti. An orphan of Davillon, she had somehow escaped destitution and climbed to the ranks of the city's aristocracy in a rags-to-riches story straight from an ancient fairy tale. Until one horrid night, when a conspiracy of forces - human and other - stole it all away in a flurry of blood and murder.
Today she is Widdershins, a thief making her way through Davillon's underbelly with a sharp blade, a sharper wit, and the mystical aid of Olgun, a foreign god with no other worshippers but Widdershins herself. It's not a great life, certainly nothing compared to the once she once had, but it's hers.
But now, in the midst of Davillon's political turmoil, an array of hands are once again rising up against her, prepared to tear down all that she's built. The City Guard wants her in prison. Members of her own Guild want her dead. And something horrid, something dark, something ancient is reaching out for her, a past that refuses to let her go. Widdershins and Olgun are going to find answers, and justice, for what happened to her - but only if those who almost destroyed her in those years gone by don't finish the job first.
Buy | Borrow | Brush Off
I've been keeping an eye on Pyr's new YA division since they first showcased their new titles at BookExpo America - hello, a fantasy publishing company with an entire YA division? Of course I'd keep an eye on it. Nothing surpasses my love of high fantasy except, perhaps, my love of ice cream.
This is a great taste of what their new division could have to offer. With brilliant characters and a fantastic world, Thief's Covenant is a story that'll keep you hanging on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last.
The fantastical elements of the story, when it comes to the god(s) involved, are absolutely fantastic; there's one moment where another fantastical creature comes into play that I didn't really buy. I'd have loved to see it maybe handled another way? But it all came together at the end in an understandable way; it just seemed a little out of place in the story.
Besides that, though, I loved it - and that's saying something, considering how high I rank my fantasy. Even with its tendency to flip back and forth in the timeline to show more about Widdershin's past ("8 Years Ago," "Now," "Still Now," "2 Years Ago", etc.) I was kept hanging on the edge of my seat, excited to see if she'd survive the next roof-to-roof jump, or the next encounter with one of the Guild, or one of the Guards.
Maybe it's because I'm on a video game kick lately, but the book read like an RPG game, which made me love it all the more. It had the excellent character development and world building and whatnot that you would see in a regular book, but the action just jumped off the page and came to life around you. Definitely don't start this if you only have a few minutes or so to read - you won't want to put it down!
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 10/10. Like I said: "With brilliant characters and a fantastic world, Thief's Covenant is a story that'll keep you hanging on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last." And I'll definitely end up rereading it again.
Are you guys looking forward to reading it? (You fantasy lovers aught to be!)