Review: "Midnight Thief" by Livia Blackburne

One of the things I wanted to do to boost my blogging this year was start posting every book review I write and not just my favorites. I figure it will give me more reason to write reviews, and also to post on my blog more. I hope you all like it! Also, I'm going to be re-doing my blog soon as well, giving it a makeover for the new year, so it might look different when you come back!

Title/Author: Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 4/5 stars
Synopsis: Growing up on Forge’s streets has taught Kyra how to stretch a coin. And when that’s not enough, her uncanny ability to scale walls and bypass guards helps her take what she needs.

But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she’s not sure she wants to play by his rules. But he’s persistent—and darkly attractive—and Kyra can’t quite resist his pull.

Tristam of Brancel is a young Palace knight on a mission. After his best friend is brutally murdered by Demon Riders, a clan of vicious warriors who ride bloodthirsty wildcats, Tristam vows to take them down. But as his investigation deepens, he finds his efforts thwarted by a talented thief, one who sneaks past Palace defenses with uncanny ease.

When a fateful raid throws Kyra and Tristam together, the two enemies realize that their best chance at survival—and vengeance—might be to join forces. And as their loyalties are tested to the breaking point, they learn a startling secret about Kyra’s past that threatens to reshape both their lives.

In her arresting debut novel, Livia Blackburne creates a captivating world where intrigue prowls around every corner—and danger is a way of life.

Review: 

Thoughts on the Overall Book: I've been looking forward to reading this book since it came out and was not disappointed when I finally got around to doing so. It was a bit different than I thought it would be, but I had no complaints.

Cover--Yea or Nay: I actually love the cover, it's simple, yet cool, and definitely looks like a historical fantasy.

Characters: I really liked Kyra, she was an awesome heroine. I'm not always fond of female thief characters, but I really liked her. She didn't have an attitude, acted human, and actually acted like a real thief would. I liked the fact she was not originally a good fighter, thieves rarely are, they usually run, so she was an understandable character, and her sisterly relationship with Flick was awesome, as well as the fact she looked after the orphan children on the streets. I gotta love a character who looks after the orphans! Likewise, Tristam was a very likable character as well. He was an honorable gentleman, but he did what he had to do, and was smart, and simply an enjoyable character to read about. James was a nasty piece of work, I loved to hate him, and that's always a good thing, it means the author did the job right. The demon riders were cool characters and I thought an interesting concept. I won't say more about them, but I liked them.

The Romance: There is a little bit of romance, as is probably obvious, between Kyra and Tristam. But I didn't mind it, and while I'm not entirely sure yet whether I felt it was a little too soon for them to realize their feelings for each other by the end of this book, it definitely isn't insta-love, so I didn't hate it, and I do like them together. They didn't let it cloud their judgement too badly.

Writing Style: The writing style is really good. It's fast paced, and has good descriptions, I was easily able to picture the settings and characters, very vividly. I liked how it's told from a third person prospected but alternates between Krya and Tristam. I also liked the world, kind of maybe 17th century Europe feel to it, and it works.

Accuracy/ Believability: While this is a fantasy, I think that as far as story structure went, the believability worked out well. Kyra fought believably as a female, she had trouble going up against men larger than her which isn't saying anything against her abilities, it's just a fact of life. The politics of this world with the different classes of people was believable and also the fact that women weren't running things made it seem historically accurate, unlike most stories of this nature. I was very impressed with it over all.

Problems/What bothered me: No real problems here. It was an enjoyable book.

Conclusion: 4 stars. I really enjoyed this and I look forward to seeing what the author comes up with in the future. I would love to read more about Kyra and Tristam. Very good for a debut novel!

Recommended Audience: Girl read, ages 14 and up, I would say that even though it's not exactly like it, that Rangers Apprentice fans would probably enjoy this.