A desperate thief. A magical book. A heist for the ages.
Lyta is a notorious thief; sneaking into noblemen parties and stealing precious jewellery is business as usual for the crook with her wily and brazen ways. But as much as she loves stealing, she loves her brother Kit more.
Kit is in trouble. As the head of a printing press, he’s been publishing incriminating pamphlets which the royalty of Amberes is none too pleased about. To save her brother’s life, Lyta struck a deal with the king. For her brother, she agreed to steal the most magical book ever known – The Book of Gold.
This book has everything I like. Magic, heists, action, adventure, and some nice plots twists thrown in. The characters are varied and engaging, including the gods, and it’s easy to get sucked in.
I loved how intertwined Lyta is with her favoured god, Eninn, the trickster god. Despite their thieving ways, there is honour among each of them, loyalty being a virtue which they both demonstrate throughout the book.
There is also the second chance love story between Lyta and Captain Sylvian Chant, an ex-thief of Lyta’s gang and Lyta’s ex, now one of the king’s most trusted guards. The history of how they broke up, how he cared for both her and Kit in the past, like Kit was a brother of his own, and how they ended up going their separate ways enriches the story which ran alongside the heist plot.
Where would we be without a good villain? And this story has plenty, each with their own political agenda and each out to get our favourite thief and her crew.
Outside of the characters, the worldbuilding is engaging and immersive. Based on the city of 16th century Antwerp and Long’s love of history, old books, the writing advice “write what you know” really plays to Long’s strengths. Through Kit, Long portrays her love of the art of book creation in a way that enhances both the plot and Kit’s character.
I really liked this book. Engaging characters, high-stakes adventure, and character driven plotlines, I highly recommend picking up a copy and adding this to your fantasy to-read list.
Find out more about Ruth Frances Long: https://www.rflong.com/
This book review is part of a new #Octobooks series. #Octobooks are books associated with authors/guests/members (past and present) of #Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention. Find out more about Octocon on their website and their socials: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, BlueSky, and Mastodon.
MARK KIELTY 