Queen of Thieves

A giant ebook omnibus of the Queen of Thieves series containing 3 novels and a novella!

Child of the Night Guild

This first book was brutal. If you are easily triggered, avoid this - child abuse, rape and child trafficking feature prominently. We are first introduced to Viola, whose moderately happy life is interrupted when her alcoholic father sells her to the Night Guild (the local thieves guild) to pay off some debts. What follows is a story of dehumanising trials and brainwashing as the guild molds the young ‘slaves' it has bought into beggars, thieves, bounty hunters and assassins. All trace of their old life is beaten out of them.

The world Andy has built is firmly in the grimdark end of the spectrum. We are following a guild of thieves, who whilst having their own code are populated by brutal and morally grey people. Viola becomes Illana and ends up specializing as a hawk, a housebreaker who specializes in entry from above the third story. We follow her from Tyro, to Apprentice and finally her trials to become a journeyman. She is the soul of the story and through her many trials we are given a thorough glimpse into the workings of the guild. This is also a found family type story - having been abandoned by her own, it is the relationships she builds with others going through a similar journey as her that is the key to the story.

This is a brutal and powerful story and a gripping start to the series

5/5

Thief of the Night Guild

Having become a Journeyman Illana is now trying to make enough money to buy her freedom. Already the highest earning Hawk she now has a plan to make millions with a single heist. Moving on from the coming of age story in the first book this is a pure heist story, plain and simple. Everything is around the machinations and plotting around this giant heist. This is a fantasy Oceans 11. Trying to break into one of the most closely guarded mansions in the city, break through an unbreakable door, and escape with an extremely heavy load. The intricate plotting, the utilization of the side characters and the feeling of growth with respect to all the characters is nicely done.

4.5/5

Queen of the Night Guild

Illana is angry. More than angry - she is furious. Whilst the first novel was coming of age and the second was a pure heist, this one is a revenge story.

The Bloody Hand have come to Praamis. A rival guild from a neighbouring city they are trying to push the Night Guild out. Illana has been recognised as a major threat to their aims so a Machiavellian plot has been hatched to frame her for a murder and embezzlement to take her out of the picture. This time Illana does not have the resources of the Night Guild and has to turn to unusual allies.

Angry Illana is somewhat illogical at times, which can make for a frustrating read. The prince is also an amazingly scummy person for someone who claims morals. These character tendencies can make things a little more frustrating to read at times. Nonetheless this is a very satisfying end to her story arc

4/5

Traitor's Fate

This is an odd one. Kind of two novellas stitched together into a longer one. The first half follows Illana going back to The Bloody Hand's city to try and track down a people trafficking ring. A nice little titbit bringing us back to some of the more fun characters from the original story. Their mission ends mostly in failure as they are forced to retreat so they buy in the services of the Hunter of Voramis. I have not yet read any Darkblade books, but I assume this story ties more closely into those ones now as we switch our main POV to the Hunter. I struggled to identify with him as a character in this story, and I do wonder if reading more of the Darkblade books first might help, but the second part of this novella definitely fell a bit flat for me.

3/5