Rating: 
Summary: Take a Thief
Review: "Take a Thief" tells the story of Skif, who is known to many of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar fans as the former thief turned Herald. Heralds and their Companions (who take a horse form) are the eyes and ears and representatives of the Kings and Queens of Valdemar.
Ms. Lackey again produces a well-designed, well-rounded story. We learn how Skif began his career as a thief, and what his life was like both then and as a beginning Herald.
In this book, Ms. Lackey answers many questions that were hinted at in the other books and stories featuring Heralds. We also get another picture of life in the world of Valdemar outside the world of the Herald.
This book stands alone as a welcome introduction to any new, soon-to-be fans. It is also a welcome addition to the Valdemar stories.
Rating:
Summary: Great fantasy
Review: On Valdemar during the reign of Queen Selenay, his cold Uncle Londer Galko raises orphaned Skif as if the lad is a criminal. Though Skif laboriously works long hours at his uncle's Hollybush Tavern, his guardian sees the lad as a grudge earning his supper or dying.
Required to attend school due to the royal edict, Skif eats breakfast there and becomes efficient at hiding food to dine on later. His ability leads him to meet Deek, a pickpocket, and from that encounter, Bazie, an adult who cares what happens to his charges. Skif joins Bazie's family of young thieves and becomes one of the best at robbing from the wealthy as he could sneak in and out of a home like a ghost can walk through a wall. When Skif steals a horse left unattended, the "magical" steed abducts him instead. Now his adventures take a new spin especially when someone murders his beloved mentor and Skif must work with the Heralds and Alberich if he is to see justice is served.
For long time fans of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, TAKE A THIEF is quite a treat as Skif first appears in the mid 1980s Heralds of Valdemar trilogy. The story line is well written and fits quite nicely in the Valdemar Universe circa 1376 AF. Skif may be young, but is a survivor who given the opportunity heroically thrives. The support cast provides depth to the plot while insuring continuity to the main tales. Ms. Lackey's latest fantasy epic lacks nothing except many sub-genre fans will scramble for other books describing life during the reign of Queen Selenay. Harriet Klausner
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: very good but not great
Review: This book has the usual well crafted story which makes it better than many other authors' best works. However, I agree with other reviewers that this book is lacking that extra spark that made the "Arrows" and the "Magic" trilogies great. The books I enjoy the most are the ones that make me feel the most when I read them. This book doesn't do that as well as Mercedes Lackey's early books. For example, in the later part of the book Skif says that Cymry fills a void and that she is what he has been searching for. Skif did not appear to me to be lonely or searching for a life companion before he met Cymry; abused and angry, yes, but not lonely. I've heard it said that the young feel things more intensely and unfortunately it seems to be true for authors and their works. As with the Valdemar series, I find the later works of other series such as Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover books, and Piers Anthony's Xanth books lacking the emotional intensity of the early works.
Rating:
Summary: Take a Thief
Review: Skif was a thief, and a herald, the first thief-herald, But he wasn't always a thief-herald, Take a thief by Mercedes Lackey, is the story of how Skif became a thief-herald. I didn't find this to be one of Mercedes best books, However I enjoyed this book very much. on a scale of 1 to 5 I would give this book a 4
Rating:
Summary: Worthy addition to the Valdemar world.
Review: This book explores the early life of Herald Skif. The story, though written after Mercedes Lackey's Arrows series, is set before his debut in those books, and illustrates his earlier experiences as a thief in training.
Skif grows up under his Uncle's thumb, an orphan with a debt to pay to a cheap, conniving relative. After some dealings of his uncle goes wrong Skif takes the oppurtunity to escape to the street and to a gang who teaches him the intricasies of thievery. They soon become like the family he never had.
The story is sweet and endearing, as we follow Skif through the streets of the capital. It does lack a bit of substance though. The time he spends as an initial herald in training is not as flushed out as I normally like. And his quest for revenge, though deserved, felt rushed and awkward. It is still a great addition to the world of Valdemar though, one I would recommend reading in concert with the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy (Arrow's of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall.)
Rating:
Summary: More Unanswered Questions.
Review: This book answers a lot of questions about the main character that I had from books released earlier that were later in the time line. However it left me with a lot more questions about the character. Perhaps this is a good thing. It leaves me room to think about the book.
The book gives you more information about regular city life in the capital city than other books in the series. It shows the everyday life of the citizens. I read it quickly enough. It was not mind bending. Sometimes that is what you want in a book though.
Rating:
Summary: Take a Thief
Review: I've only read 5 of Lackey's novels - The Heralds of Valdemar trilogy, Winds of Fate, and Take a Thief, but I can say I didn't like TAT as much as the rest. While Skif is an orphan in Haven's slums, he gets off a lot easier than other children in his situation - he meets a member of a gang of "honorable" thieves, who take him in and teach him the art of pickpocketing and cat burglary. Towards the end half of the book, Skif is Chosen by Cymry and taken to the Collegium. The plot is slightly confusing and thin, and what is with Alberich's speech? He does not talk like that in the Arrows books. Stay consistent to your characters, please!
Anyway, this isn't the best of Lackey's novels, for sure. If you're a diehard Valdemar fan and like Skif, then read it, but don't start out with this one. Read one of the better ones, like the Arrow books or the Mage Winds.
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.
|
