Rating: 
Summary: better than the recent dreck
Review: The last few of Lackey's books that I've read have been nigh onto incoherent, seemingly "churned out" to match high reader demand.Take A Thief is a definite improvement over them. It's nice to learn a bit more about Skif, a background character in several other Valdemar novels. While Lackey's standard "abused and/or neglected child finds a safe haven with a group of 'good guys' but cannot bring him/herself to trust them" plot is in evidence, it is not played to the extremes that she often takes it. Skif is an appealing character, with more spunk and backbone than many of the waifs Lackey creates. Detractions: Lackey can't keep the speech patterns straight. If one is going to write dialect, one should be able to write consistent dialect. Plot is thin, but reasonably engaging. For fans of Valdemar, I'd say go for it. Even if you are not familiar with the realm, it's a pleasant read. If you don't like mass-market fantasy, you might want to pass it by.
Rating: 
Summary: What an interesting character!
Review: Having been a fan of Merceds Lackey for over a decade, I've gotten to the point where I can't wait for her books to come out in paperback. Her new books about individuals in Valdemar fit my impatience very well. Each book is tied into things I've already read about, but it doesn't leave me waiting for the rest of the story. I think it's an excellent way to fill in some of the colorful bits that might otherwise be overlooked in more sweeping epics. I enjoyed learning about Skif and the things that made him who he is. I particularly enjoyed her depiction of the life of a good-natured thief. There were parts of the story that could have used some more detail, but they did not significantly detract from the adventure. All things considered, it was a pleasant weekend diversion and a nice change of pace from the wars between nations. If only she could write as quickly as I want to read!
Rating: 
Summary: Good...
Review: It's a good book but It's sort of Slow. Or in other words It started slow but got better in the end. Skif's a funny charecter and i think that Lackey could have done it a little better, but all in all it was great!!! What I really like about her book's are the fact that they have Sword play and all types of fencing. If anyone else likes book's that have fighting in it and Action you should really try KARIN LOWACHEE's books. WARCHILD and BURNDIVE...and coming up in 2005 is the book CAGEBIRD...must read these...
Rating:
Summary: Finally, the story of Skif!
Review: I'm surprised to find that not many here found this a good read. On the contrary, I found Skif's story very compelling-it was interesting and actually refreshing to see that even Valdemar isn't perfect-that there is a seedy underbelly in Haven. I also enjoyed seeing Alberich (one of my favorites!) again. His "Yoda" speech didn't bother me. First, I'm a huge SW fan and so that was a thrill. Second, if you read the Arrows trilogy, you'll see he occassionally lapses into it from time to time. It makes sense that Alberich's speech progresses the more time he spends in Valdemar. Also, he didn't ALWAYS speak like Yoda here. And unlike others, I enjoy the relationship between Alberich and Myste. Myste, unlike most "author characters", is NOT a Mary Sue-gorgeous, spunky, everyone loves her. Instead, she's something of a geek, wears glasses, and sort of sits on the sidelines. It's nice to see Alberich with a love interest! I wouldn't mind finding out what happens with little Dolly, Skif's school friend. And can Orthallen be anymore evil? The ONLY complaint was the last line of the book (no spoilers): "We were right to take a thief." GROAN. Repeating the title of the book like that was corny, and the line sounded cheesy. Otherwise, great job, Misty!
Rating:
Summary: Oliver Twist in Valdemar
Review: I have to own that as a Lackey fan since "Arrows of the Queen" I was rather disappointed in "Take a Theif". The book's central character Skif has peppered many of Lackey's earlier works of Valdemar with his presence and has become something of a favorite to her readers. I felt he deserved better treatment than to be recast as Dicken's Oliver Twist. It's all in there, poor orphaned boy in an abusive environment where he is little better than a slave moves on up the social ladder to become the theiving fingers for a Fagan like character named Bazie. After that he climbs further up the social ladder to a place of wealth and comfort where he will mingle with the social elite of Valdemar's nobility and even royalty.
Not only is the plot very Dickensian, but the setting is much like a grimy recasting of Victorian London. The characters populating the city of Haven even speak in a terrible cockney cant reminiscent of England's lower class. Anyone who has read Dickens will also recognise a tiresome over attention to the most minute details. Dickens could drone on for pages about the description of a single chair and one finds depressing echos of that writing style evident in this novel.
I also feel the need to speculate why at this late a date, Ms. Lackey chose to make the character Alberich, also known from her earlier works, speak in Yoda like broken english. Just a little further down the timeline of Valdemar, Alberich has a much better grasp of the language and it's hard to reconcile the difference in speech with so short a lapse of Valdemaran time.
All that said, the story was still enjoyable to a degree and despite it's rather slow moving action it is an easy read. Not a total loss, but also not what this Lackey fan has come to expect from her favorite author.
Rating:
Summary: A good background book
Review: Mercedes Lackey is in fine form in this "prequil" to the Heralds of Valdemar" trilogy. Skif, Talia's best friend and confidante, finally has his story is told, how it came to pass that he tried to "steal" his Companion, and found himself stolen away instead. This is one of the faster of the Valdemar books to read, I finished it in 3 hours of actual reading time, it is a comfortable book to read, flowing nicely. Misty did have one problem with continuity, since she previously protrayed Haven as a place where all people, no matter how poor, were equally protected, but in this book child abuse, slavery and even child prostitution is common in the poor parts of the city where the City Guard ignores most crime and the Heralds never bother to go.
Rating:
Summary: Oh well
Review: It's rather fortunate that I read Mercedes Lackey's other books first.
It's not a bad story. It's actually a nice story...told in a choppy manner. Things in the book just happened. One minute, he's doing this, then that, and back and forth.
Overall, a lot more detail could have been included to develop the characters better so that the reader can sympathize with early Skif, grieve with him, be just as frustrated with him, and be happy for him. These feelings were not as deep with his cousin being unsanitary and stingy about food, his new "family" having only taken up a small portion of the story (during most of which was spent with Skif explaining his actions), and more.
Still, it made for a nice story to read in about 2 hours.
2 things that irked me:
1. Yoda's homeland = Karse? yeah, I know it's been griped about and a lot of people don't care but it kind of seems unoriginal because Yoda is so well known as a Star Wars character. Besides that, it's hard not to hear Yoda when reading Alberich's words because Yoda's been around so long. It disrupts the flow of the book (at least it did for me) by doing that.
2. In the beginning, why must Skif "talk" the way he does? Sometimes, it's really hard to tell what he's trying to say...It's a wonder he knows what HE'S saying.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD!!!!!!!
Review: I'm a huge Misty fan, and this book was great. The intro was a bit drawn out, and it bore striking resemblance to Oliver Twist, but it was still a great book.
Rating:
Summary: 3 and 3/4 stars; a good, fun read.
Review: I have to say I throughly enjoyed this book. It isn't perfect but I'll point that out later.
I was sceptical when I first read reviews that maybe this wouldn't be as good as her earlier books; so I waited patiently and finally bought it when it was out in paperback. To be blunt I have never consider Mercedes Lackey's book worth buying in hardback unless on sale, her books are simple with classic hero plot tales and lack any really strong depth or character devlopment. That having been said, her books are still some of my favorites and this book is added to the list. I don't buy her books and expect Tolkien, Wurts, Kay or Rawn, I buy her for the fun of classic escapism with good characters that have fun adventures and don't over think or potificate too much. When I want that kind of reading I choose from the list above of excellent writers.
Skif's tale is good one, it was fun to read how he became a thief to read of his friends and aquaintences before becoming a Herald. It is a worthy addition to my large Valdemar Collection and is even above some of the earlier books in the series in its enjoyment.
Here is why it isn't perfect....language usage.
A writer should NEVER write a book using accents that can halt the flow of the story and force the reader out of the world of the novel in order to reread a diffcult sentance of two. And sadly that is what happens quite a few times in this book.
In her efforts to display, in writing, the difference in speech between the Exile's Gate community and the Herald/Upper city folks she resorts to bad abbreviations and odd slang that doesn't read at all smoothly for the average English reader. This is an absoulute taboo according to all my writing professors from college, and I must agree.
You can, with proper narrative and some small bits of slang writing convey the same feeling but not draw the reader out of the novel and force them to reread portions to get the meaning of the conversation.
My last quibble was with the backward speak of another of ML's older Valdemar characters, Alberich, he sounded like Yoda. I do not recall him ever speaking this way before, certainly not to the degree he does in this book. And since we know her very first Valdemar book Arrows of the Queen happens not too long after this book ends it makes no sense and ends up just being another silly language trick of the author that is unneccessary.
Other than these two faults I found the book quite good, I'm not sure what Hearld rules another reveiwer say were played with, there isn't much in the way of Hearld work in this book as much as in other books as it deals mostly with Skif BEFORE he is Chosen. I think some folks are confused by the comment that is made near the end about Skifs status with the Hearlds, I did not as a reader take this as literal but a mater of how he was accepted, not that he was actually elevated up in ranks....each reader can see it differently.
Rating: 
Summary: Definatly one of the worst
Review: Generally, I find Mercedes Lackey's novels to be slightly strained as far as the plot is concerned, but the characters and major events of the stories are always vivid and memorable. This book, however, annoyed me no end. The plot is, for lack of a better word, terrible. The characters and events are not believeable. Also, many of the rules and laws of Heralds so well-known by all faithful readers are rewritten, and in a rather unsettling manner. In short, I would not recommend this book to anyone. Not even a devoted Lackey fan. It's hardly worth it.
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