Rating: 
Summary: A MUST read
Review: To everyone who is sick of the usual trite fantasy drivel that has been coming out lately, you ought to check out this book. It's written in the first person which gives you a whole new outlook on the characters. It's hilarious and sad, I can't wait for the next book! (Although the second and third are already out in the UK.) Action, adventure, a little romance, all packed into a great book written with a great deal of background. I stayed up all night finishing it when I bought it. It's a great book. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent ideas, horrible writing
Review: McKenna is quite creative and deserves recognition for developing an interesting world populated by interesting characters. That said, her grammar is so atrocious that I couldn't read more than four or five pages at a time without developing a headache. I find it hard to believe that this book was actually edited. If she can find a good editor for her next novel, I think McKenna will be an author to keep tabs on.
Rating: 
Summary: Certainly Worth A Read
Review: As a reader who is generally turned off by a genre that lends itself to dragging epic series and poor writing, I have to confess that this is some of the most interesting fantasy I've read. Ever. The novel is pleasingly free of exotic rings that enable the bearer to fly or swords that allow even the village idiot to decimate an opposing army. That said, this novel spent far too much time setting up sequels and not nearly enough time supporting itself. The story is often told from the perspective of the main character, a selfish but likeable thief, who finds herself working against her will with a wizard and his accomplices. Interspersed with this are tidbits of the world's history, frequently irrelevant to the tale, and the occasional jarring third-person perspective switch for scenes that don't involve the lead. The lead "hero" wizard spends much of his time incapacitated, which keeps actual earth-shattering magic to a minimum, while the forces of the enemy in their entirety have an endless supply of forgotten and far more powerful magic on their side. Luckily for our roving band of protagonists, they obey the novel's unspoken rule that magic must never be used to do something practical when it actually *matters*. When all's said and done, the "good guys" are as morally ambiguous as the average reader, while the "bad guys" are textbook evil. As they're ultimately two sides in a rather reasonable power struggle, I found that a little disappointing and hard to swallow. While I admit that I would recommend this book, I would have enjoyed it far better as a full, standalone novel rather than a watered-down introduction to yet another fantasy series. I certainly won't bother to pick up the next, but will keep an eye out for something more to my liking by McKenna further on down the line.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderfully realistic fantasy novel !
Review: I thought this was a great book, with lots of interesting characters. Livak, is perhaps the most interesting fantasy heroine Ive read about in a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Good ideas, but shoot the editor
Review: McKenna's world is quite interesting, and the story itself was good. Her writing was simply awful, though. I couldn't read it for more than 15-20 minutes at a time -- I got a headache trying to muddle through it. I'm amazed this book was published in the shape it's in. I don't believe there was actually an editor assigned to it.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Overall
Review: A good read, if one has nothing better available. Excellent handling of nasty, dirty, gritty aspects of her world. I was put off by the awkwardness of her writing, whole book could have really used re-writing.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but slow at times.
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. I have not picked up a book for pleasure reading in several months. This book was very entertaining and easy to read though slow at times. It had just the right amount of intrigue to keep me interested.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: I've read a lot of fantasy novels, but few as unique as this one. What's unique about it? For one, it's written from the perspective of a thief. There aren't too many of those out there, and unlike many fantasy novels, the character isn't a do-gooder - she simply get swept into the grand plot mistakenly as she pursues her own opportunistic goals. Secondly, it's written from the perspective of a woman. But not your typical fantasy novel heroine. This one is not just strong and independent, cunning and intelligent. She also doesn't harbor any silly ideas about the one true love that's going to save her. The book was very exciting, and I can't wait for the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshingly excellent fantasy book
Review: I used to really enjoy fantasy books, but increasingly I found that the vast majority were very poorly written, very predictable and very shallow, both in terms of the characters and the storylines. For quite a long time I didn't read them at all, moving on to better-written genres. Then recently, having run out of books to read, I noticed the Thief's Gamble, which I had bought a few months previously and never read. Once I started it, I was immediately hooked. It is SO well written. Both the first- and third-person sections work really well, and the characters have true human depth. You really feel that you know them after a while. In addition, you find yourself understanding all the details of the world - the gods, the seasons, the countries, the political situations - without any cumbersome appendices or boring sections of unnecessarily deep explanations, like you get in many fantasy books. Anyway, the extremely high quality and enjoyability of this book has set me back onto fantasy, and I can't wait for a sequel. Highly recommended. Go buy it now.
Rating:
Summary: Great First Book
Review: When I found this book I was on vacation and looking for something to kill some time. I wanted something kind of new as I'd been doing a lot of dragon stories, so of course the title caught my eye right off. I was really suprized to discover that this is Juliet McKenna's first work. I enjoyed the first person work and Livak grabed me from the start. I can't wait for Sept. 2000 to enjoy the sequal. Great work by an up and comming author.
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