The Smoke Thief, by Shana Abé
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy
292 pages (hardcover)
I don't think I've ever read a book that broke so many rules and still managed to not annoy me. This novel has a prologue AND an epilogue, but they are actually necessary (to signify the movement from omniscient to third person limited multiple) and not just another chapter. It also begins with a very pretty description--not too heavy or elaborate, just setting in a storyteller voice. The romance is a classic bickering Misunderstanding, but somehow, again, it works for me. I love Rue/Kit, even though I really shouldn't because Kit is a chauvinistic bastard and Rue's reason for leaving is too much of a plot coincidence. Antagonist-wise, Grady is a great villain--I shivered at the capture scene where he taunts Rue. But he was defeated way too easily; Abé could have spent another 100 pages developing the Rue's-escape plot arc and I wouldn't have complained. There wasn't enough conflict from the council, so in the end I felt like Rue and Kit got off too easy. Despite all this, I accepted the romance completely. Hrm.
But I still don't get how Christoff got shortened to Kit. And there's a few inconsistencies, like the newspaper saying Rue was 18 when she drowned but it was actually her 17th birthday. Weird.
292 pages (hardcover)
I don't think I've ever read a book that broke so many rules and still managed to not annoy me. This novel has a prologue AND an epilogue, but they are actually necessary (to signify the movement from omniscient to third person limited multiple) and not just another chapter. It also begins with a very pretty description--not too heavy or elaborate, just setting in a storyteller voice. The romance is a classic bickering Misunderstanding, but somehow, again, it works for me. I love Rue/Kit, even though I really shouldn't because Kit is a chauvinistic bastard and Rue's reason for leaving is too much of a plot coincidence. Antagonist-wise, Grady is a great villain--I shivered at the capture scene where he taunts Rue. But he was defeated way too easily; Abé could have spent another 100 pages developing the Rue's-escape plot arc and I wouldn't have complained. There wasn't enough conflict from the council, so in the end I felt like Rue and Kit got off too easy. Despite all this, I accepted the romance completely. Hrm.
But I still don't get how Christoff got shortened to Kit. And there's a few inconsistencies, like the newspaper saying Rue was 18 when she drowned but it was actually her 17th birthday. Weird.