An amazing cast of characters comninated with epic fantasy and with even more epic world building gives us this phenomenal novel!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved finding out about the world this was set in – well, except for one of the countries, for the thoroughly ridiculous way the women were treated there. But I feel change is afoot and hopefully that will get sorted out by the end of the series.

This book is told from 4 points of view (pov) to start and a 5th is added a little further in, when it becomes relevant. I really liked watching this one meet that one and the other one come along and totally miss them and how they all converge – because you know they were going to, that’s not a spoiler...right?
I liked it when some of them were together and we saw the same event from multiple angles because that's my favourite thing ever.

I liked the character development of Catherine and March. I look forward to seeing more of it in book 2. They're the most different from the start of the book than any others. I’m not an Ambrose fan, because I like who Catherine is becoming without him and I want her to marry the prince! Because they never do.
I hope March follows through on his promise quickly and I hope it goes down the better way (these things always go the bad way, it's frustrating) – a throwaway line will hopefully be remembered and is possibly highly important!!! So hopefully that will impact the promise too. Is that vague enough to make sure you have no idea what's going on?
I hope so.

I’d like the POV of the prince in the next book too!
I mean, obviously these are the important folk, the ones who are going to change the world or save it or rule the ashes or whatever, but I’d like a POV from him.
And, while I don’t really want one from Catherine’s family at the same time I do because I’d feel anxious about what they are getting up to...

How long do I have to wait for book 2?!
It's not even mentioned as 'untitled' on Goodreads!!

I enjoyed this a lot more than Half Bad, not that Half Bad wasn't a good book, but I found out that the voice put me off it a lot so I couldn't really get into it. With The Smoke Thieves though, it was in Third person and so much easier to get into.

I loved the characters so much. Each character was so strong and it was great to see them coming from such different places and coming together in various ways. I think though I might have been more interested in hearing from the Prince that Catherine was engaged to though, because I would love to know his side of things, though it might have made for too many character's viewpoints because it was already quite a lot to follow.

The story was so engrossing and I can't wait for the next book to come out. I want to see how everything works out and which side of things everyone ends up on. There's deception and allegiances and doubt and it really feels as though everything could change at any point.

The next book is going to be very interesting to read.

The Smoke Thieves is the first book I've read by Sally Green and I'm sorry to say that I was left underwhelmed by it.
It wasn't bad but I feel that it has been over hyped. This has probably contributed a lot to my disappointment. Maybe if I hadn't gone in expecting a YA Game of Thrones, I would have enjoyed the story, and the characters, more.

I enjoyed this book soooo much!
The world was so realistic but also complex and the perfect setting for this type of YA book. There are honestly my favorite books to read (SJM fan here).
I really liked the multiple POV's. It took me a little bit of time to get who's doing what and so on, which was a bit confusing. That being said, I really enjoyed it once I got into it as it made it so much easier for me to actually connect with each character. The confusion is why I took a star away, because it did take a while.
There was betrayal and also a lot of fighting scenes to keep you on your toes and I would love to continue reading the series.

Rating 4.5/5

I was so looking forward to reading this book, I love fantasy books but I was also intrigued as to how each of the characters would be brought together and for what cause. I'm happy to say that I loved it.

The story is told through five points of view we have Catherine the Princess being forced into a political marriage by her father and brother, Tash a young demon hunter, March a servant who decides to seek justice for his people, Edyon a thief who finds himself at the centre of something he would never have imagined and Ambrose one of Catherine's guards who wants to protect her at any cost.

I have to say out of all of these I found Catherine and Tash's chapters the most interesting. I loved how fiery Catherine could be and how even though she was so restricted that she was still defiant in small ways and often managed to outwit those that thought of her as a lesser person. I liked Tash for her rebellious nature and her spirit, I loved the banter between her and Gravell and that you could tell they had each other's backs.

I felt like March and Edyon's part in the story wasn't quite as strong as the rest, since this book is the start of a series I know that they will probably become more central to the story but I didn't feel as gripped through their storylines. I did enjoy witnessing the burgeoning relationship between them but felt like this was the only thing I was really interested in rather than the roles they were playing in the unfolding narrative.

The flirtation between Ambrose and Catherine was something that I was definitely hoping would develop. I loved Ambrose's sense of honour and that he tries to protect the Princess no matter what the cost, but I admit that I was exceptionally intrigued by Catherine's betrothed Prince Tzsayn and I am certainly looking forward to seeing more of him. I have to say the one thing I did admire about this book was that there was no outrageous falling head over heels for someone with one glance, there were the glimmers of forming relationships but this wasn't the main concern for the characters involved.

The pace of the story was almost perfect, I liked that we got time to get to know that characters in the beginning and then as the storylines converge the pace starts to pick up as the action starts to set in. It only lagged a little for me around the middle when we were hearing more from March and Edyon but luckily not for too long and not in a way that really affected my reading experience.

I really enjoyed all the different aspects of this book, the characters, the demons and their smoke, the different nations and their customs, the politics and the treachery, it really had everything I was after. Including an ending that has me desperate to get my hands on the next book.

The best way I can describe The Smoke Thieves is a YA Game of Thrones. There are interesting and interweaving multiple POV’s, different continents at war, betrayal and what could be seen as a form of historical fiction with the perfect dash of the fantastical. One marked difference I found with The Smoke Thieves however is that I didn’t find myself wanting to skip or skim certain chapters because I didn’t like or wasn’t interested in a character. Quite often in the GOT books I would often sigh when seeing Sansa’s or Catelyn’s name above the next chapter but with The Smoke Thieves I was excited to get back to each and everyone of our five main characters. Also thankfully Sally Green doesn’t find it necessary to describe a banquet over 10 pages so there’s that too.
The writing style in this feels spot on, there is the right amount of tension and the language used feels right. At 512 pages it’s a little longer than a lot of YA I’ve read recently but it certainly doesn’t feel it and although the story obviously does contribute to this I feel the writing does too in that it flows exceptionally well giving just the right amount of detail and it kept me guessing throughout which I found can be sorely lacking in a genre that can become easily saturated with very similar stories and troupes. The plot weaves together in such a great, natural way and even without the (awesome) map I found it very easy to keep track of where everyone was and how close they were to each other at most times which is a nice change for a fantasy book, I’m usually having to flip back and forth to said map but that isn’t the case here.
Thanks to all the different POV’s the story feels like it stays very fresh and interesting throughout because they are all very different. Our five main characters all fit the roles of the princess, the solider, the hunter, the traitor and the thief with instantly recognisable and eventually relevant headers signalling each of their chapters along with their names and where they were situated at the time was a really nice little touch with some beautiful little pieces of art. Even when in close proximity of each other and sharing the same events they all have different takes on these situations unique to them which gives the story this great extra dimension and honestly each one felt like it could have easily have been a story all of its own.
One aspect I particularly enjoyed seeing and think is worth mentioning is the use of sign language between the ladies of Brigtane, it made sense in the kind of environment they came from and how they were forced to live as well as adding an extra layer to the way their dialogue worked. I’d really like to see maybe a chart of a few of the common or important hand signals feature in the next book if it’s at all relevant because I really enjoyed learning some of the signs.
Overall this book was just a fantastic and interesting read. It was a great start to a new fantasy series without feeling like it was overloading me with too much information but everything making sense still. I was very pleased with the ending as well, the last hundred or so pages are quite emotional at times and tears were shed but although it was in essence a cliff hanger kind of ending and I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel it didn’t leave me pulling my hair out which a couple of books have done lately and it honestly just stresses me out. This was an easy XXXXX rating for me and is another book I’m very happy and eager to recommend! I picked up the paperback edition with purple stained pages but I have also been made aware there is a limited edtion purple hardback out in the UK too which I think I’m going to have to get my paws onto as well!

I really liked this book!
The world was so complex, but that also made it really interesting to read about!
I really liked the five different POV's, though it took me a while to get used to it. After the first 100 pages I was really confused about who was who and what they wanted etc., but after a while I got it again! :)
The story was full of betrayal, thievery and fighting which was cool! I am really curious about the rest of the series ! :D

This book is difficult to review. It's the kind of book that has all the makings of an excellent fantasy, but falls down on some of the finer execution.

The Smoke Thieves features five points of view, smoke captured in bottles from the mouths of dead demons and that very same bottle changing hands a number of times due to petty, opportunistic thieves and scallywags. Which I like - I mean, if that doesn't pull you in I don't really know what would. However, each of the characters has a "role", even the secondary ones. By this I mean, you could categorise them into a particular type of character. A thief, a princess, a guard, a wanted bastard child of the king, a servant, a child demon hunter and her boss - you name it, it's there, and each character is very specifically type-cast. Which is helpful in some ways because it allows you to keep track of their stories, which rarely overlap, and limits confusion. But it also limits how interesting you find them - they are each very one dimensional, never stretching out of their confined roles and as such never really developing or progressing interestingly.

Having said this, I did enjoy quite a lot of the dialogue between certain characters - I think the author really beautifully captured the friendship with Tash, the demon hunter, and her boss. They have a very whimsical, banter-filled relationship which had me chuckling. Equally, Edyon, the bastard thief, was a pretty hilarious character. But the others remained flat and the predictable romances were too obvious to be exciting.

And that's kind of the major problem. The story is actually quite a clever one, at it's foundations, but in reality it never takes off further than the first few explanatory/world building chapters. There is some problematic lack of depth and development going on here. In fact, I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that nothing really happens until 75% of the way into the book. And that's not because of some luscious world building, because that is quite simplified too, or because of fantastic character development as a standard, well-written fantasy might have. It is instead just plain slow. And I hate to say it, but I was bored.

I really thought we would explore the concept of demons, the smoke, the theft of the smoke for an exciting purpose, but honestly I don't feel as though I know a great deal about what should have been the major part of the plot. And I'm not convinced enough that it will progress much further if I were to continue on with the series, as perhaps Game of Thrones has done (which this book has been compared to as a lighter version although I'm not convinced!) so I'll comfortably leave it here.

Unfortunately I was not a lover of this book. The plot is fascinating and I did love the settings. However I found the multiple perspectives too distant and they definitely made getting into the plot a lot harder.

THE SMOKE THIEVES was a cleverly crafted tale from the beginning and a little unusual in terms of having five teens as the lead main characters. Their journeys both figurative and actual don’t seem connected but do interweave and transect as the story progresses.

Each of these teen characters live in a fantasy somewhat historical world with fighting countries, demons, illegal substances, illegitimate children, royalty and criminals. It made for a real mix of lives, classes and was colourful in every way.

I favoured the stories of Tash, the demon catcher and Catherine, the princess sent off to an arranged marriage. I think I loved these two because they were strong young women but oh, so different from one another. The other characters were also interesting in the main. Ambrose, I liked but I felt that he was only Catherine’s young, immature crush and that Prince Tzsayn cut a much more inviting character.

This book ended well, leaving much unanswered but I didn’t feel unsettled. I really think there’s more to know about the demon initially captured and about their race in particular; I specifically want more about this element. This series has lots of potential with this starting gambit and I will definitely be continuing.

A voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

Reviewed for Jo&IsaLoveBooks Blog.

I ama Big Fan of Sally Green's and inhaled the Half bad trilogy. I was anxiously anticipating this, although high fantasy is not rwally my thing as such. This has veen compared to GOT, but not having read or seen it it means not much to me. I did enjoy the book, although I thought at times the characters indulged in too foolish behaviour for no apparent reason. Many decisions taken by the many protagonists - there are 5 POVs - are impulsive and perhaps less credible. I also found the language a bit too simple and the book did not grip me quite as much as I was hoping it would. However, the story it tells is an interesting one.
Set in a high fantasy world where demons exhale smoke when they die that acts as a form of opiate or uplifting drug, it is vaguely reminiscent of the setting of GOT and is medieval in feel. A princess, daughter of a cruel king, is about to be married. The man she loves is forced to escape. This is the same man whose sister has just been executed for treason. In the country of the princess's destiny we encounter smoke thieves, a boy who seeks revenge on the uncle of the princess, and his illegitimate son, who is also a cleptomaniac. The paths of all of these cross and while they have different aims and agendas they end up on the same side at the end of the book. It is a story of warfare, revenge, plotting and greed, as well as survival, and despite the weaknesses outlined above one cannot help but wonder where the characters will end up. I shall now wait for the second installment.

I haven’t read the Half Bad series by Sally Green but have heard lots of praise for the books so thought I’d give The Smoke Thieves a go after reading the synopsis.

The story is told from five different characters’ POV (Catherine, Ambrose, March, Edyon and Tash) and this allows the reader to get a well rounded perspective of the events taking place however it does take away from the character connection. I think potentially three characters’ POV would have been sufficient. The writing style is fluid and well paced and this helped move the story along as well as link all the characters together, however at times I felt there were some unnecessary descriptions or parts to the story that didn’t add a lot of value.

Although there isn’t a lot of time to get to know each character (because of the alternating POVs) I particularly like Catherine. She is a princess who lives in a male dominant world and where women are oppressed. She is betrothed to a prince she’s never met by her father and brother, so they can make a political alliance. However throughout the story she gains confidence and strength and becomes determined to change her fate. Although she knows that she will need to marry the prince she is determined to have a better life and marriage than that of her mother. Through this confidence she develops her own idea of how to lead and become a princess loved by her people.

There is some romance and sexual tension weaved throughout the story but this never really amounts to anything and may well be explored further during the rest of the series.

There is quite a lot of violence and criminal activity (murder, drug taking and stealing mostly) amongst the fantasy demon element and I think this was a good start to a series. The ending certainly left me wanting to know what would happen next and I’ll certainly be looking out for the second book.

Overall I would rate The Smoke Thieves as 3.5 stars. It wasn’t perfect but great for fantasy fans who like a story that has a fantasy element, a kingdom at war, some romance and intrigue.

Thank you to the NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.

This books gets off to a promising start, and not just because I can't resist a book with a map at the beginning. Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the five main characters, and this keeps the book moving along nicely, as the action moves around their very different environments. When books are written in this way, I often find that I am drawn more to one character than the others, and I end up speed reading chapters just to get back to my favourite character more quickly. However, I found each of the characters equally endearing in very different ways, and I was keen to catch back up with each of them in turn - and equally keen to see when or if their paths would eventually converge.

There were a few areas of the book that I found a little slow and overly concerned with the politics of war, but not to the extend that I would be put off reading the next book in the series. In fact, after that ending, I will be queuing up for the next book!

When I started reading this book, I couldn't remember what genre it was supposed to be, and looking back I was a little surprised to discover that it is YA. Now I know that this encompasses a huge age range (myself, I am most definitely no longer able to consider myself a young adult), but I also know that the blurb would appeal to some younger teens, so just as a warning to parents, there is a fair amount of bad language, and some fairly graphic bloodshed.

The Smoke Thieves is the first book in what I think will be a brilliant fantasy series from Sally Green. The story introduces us to five main characters, all from very different backgrounds and each with an important role to play. Sometimes when you have so many different points of view it can be hard to keep track of all the main players but I never had that problem here, it helps that several characters are on the same journeys but by the end of the book all of the storylines have converged and I think the rest of the series is going to be even more fast paced.

Catherine is a princess who is currently getting ready for her marriage to the prince of a neighbouring country. The marriage has been arranged by her ruthless brother and father but she wants to make the best of things and is determined to win over the people of Pitoria. Ambrose is a member of the Royal Guard and one of Catherine's bodyguards but after the execution of his sister his family is now being targeted by the royals he has sworn to protect. He is trying to find out what secrets his sister could have discovered that led to her death but he also wants to protect Catherine and his family.

Tash is a young girl who is apprenticed to the demon hunter Gravell, she helps him trap and kill demons so they can collect the smoke that is released upon their deaths. It is highly illegal to hunt demons but the smoke is valuable and they can earn a good living selling it on the black market. March is one of the few remaining survivors of his people, he was rescued by a king but his people were slaughtered when they were caught between two warring countries and he has sworn to get revenge on the king he believes should have protected them. Then finally you have Edyon, a reckless young man who wastes his life stealing from others just for the thrill of it. Edyon believes he has no future but when he finds out the truth about his father a whole world of possibility opens up in front of him.

Each of these characters has their own journey to take and I enjoyed the character development we saw. The multiple POVs gave us a wide view of this world and the various conflicts between different countries and how it had affected the people living there which I really enjoyed. This is an expansive world so the story feels a little slow in the beginning because we're being introduced to lots of different characters and places but I was never bored and I devoured the story really quickly. Certain things like the use of demon smoke only really starts to get clarified towards the end of the story as lots of little hints and clues are put together and we realise what the big plan was all along and I can't wait for the next book to see where that leads.

I was lucky enough to be given a chance to review this book early from Penguin Random House on NetGalley. I am all about YA Fantasy at the moment and when I heard of The Smoke Thieves, a story told from different perspectives, I knew I had to find out more. This is the first in a trilogy and I feel that it set the tone really well. I had expected there to me a bit more action and for the most part it was very story driven. Some characters were more memorable than others, but overall I enjoyed this book.

Spread across the three nations of Calidor, Pitoria and Brigant, there is a princess, a traitor, a soldier, a hunter and a thief. Due to changing circumstances among the kingdoms, their lives are about to become entangled in ways they never thought possible. Princess Catherine is in Brigant, preparing to enter into an arranged marriage with the Prince of Pitoria, but her heart belongs to Ambrose, her faithful bodyguard. During an unfortunate situation, Ambrose is deemed a traitor of Brigant and has to flee to save his life. March is a servant who has been pushed around for too long by the Prince of Calidor and he vows to have his revenge, whatever the cost. In Pitoria, a young man called Edyon gets his kicks from stealing, a hobby which is bound to get him into trouble and in the northern territory there is Tash. There she works with the demon hunter Gravell to take the smoke from their bodies and sell it on their travels. Danger is on the horizon, the kind that they will have to work together to defeat.

In terms of world building I felt that this was more basic that the other stories I have been reading lately. Not to say that it wasn’t good, I managed to get a great feel for the land and the people in them. Brigant was a hard country, with a ruthless ruler, and I often felt sorry for Catherine. A large part of this book is spent travelling in Pitoria and the characters begin to cross paths a little ways in. We get to see a travelling market, where some of my favourite scenes take place, and the way the demon world was described was quite unique as it often incorporated the senses.

Nearly every chapter is from a different perspective, but as some of them were set within the same scene I found that they flowed quite easily. Some of my favourite chapters to read were that of Tash. She was hilarious and I loved her banter and interactions with Gravell, the demon hunter. Edyon was also an interesting character who stood out among the others. I’ve read about a lot of Princesses and unfortunately, Catherine didn’t strike me as anything special, but I did like her.

I love a bit of romance in fantasy novels, but I didn’t feel that The Smoke Thieves had a lot of it, when it should have. The relationship between Catherine and Ambrose was my least favourite and didn’t leave a very lasting impression. The slow burner between March and Edyon was interesting, but again, not a lot happened when I expected a lot more to.

While this book had a few bad points, it was mainly good and I felt I grasped a good feel for the story. I am hoping that the second one will have a lot more action and politics, especially after the last quarter of the book where there were a few revelations. This has often been compared to Game of Thrones (something I haven’t read but have watched) and the same was said about Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, but I think they are two completely different novels. Overall, I feel that The Smoke Thieves was an enjoyable read and one that I would give 3.5 stars to.

I liked it but not enough if that makes sense? It was a bit off the peg as fantasy’s go with characters that didn’t feel like they’d finished baking. I love found family story lines but this one just didn’t really deliver for me. Perhaps my tastes have shifted again but I just found this wasn’t as physically or emotionally complex as I would have liked. It was perfectly readable, easily accessible and even quite enjoyable but after Half Bad etc I think I was expecting more. Readers slightly newer to fantasy will no doubt love this one. For me it was just ok.

So this book is quite hard for me to rate.

The Smoke Thieves, a first book to a new series marketed as Six of Crows meets Game of Thrones for younger audiences had the promise of a fantasy world and political intrigue and while I enjoyed it when I was reading it, I can’t help but feel it fell a bit short.

So let’s break it down. We are introduced to five main characters, Tash, Catherine, Edyon, March and Ambrose (I’m not going to reveal which name matches the description in the cover, because where’s the fun in that?), each of them having a separate life and story, but fate leads some of them to meet and their lives intertwine under newly arisen circumstances. While this book was undoubtedly plot-driven and fast-paced, I wouldn’t say it was well-paced. The first half of the book was very interesting, giving the reader snippets of all of the five perspectives and trying to build up the setting and the political background, but the second half fell short. One of my main pet peeves was that the story seemed unoriginal and didn’t bring anything distinctly new to the table, seeint that the events taking place were quite predictable. I was also a bit disappointed by the world building, since this is marketed as a fantasy novel, yet the only fantastical element we learn about in this book is the demons and the demon smoke (hence the title), which becomes a main focus of the plot in the last few chapters. Other than that, there is a setting reminding me of medieval or ancient times with no other extraordinary quality, so I would generally describe it as insufficient. The descriptions of the towns and the setting, nonetheless, were one of my favourite parts of the book, because they were not overwhelming nor taking up too much space, yet lush enough to engulf me into this world and make me feel like I was there.

And then we have a wide cast of protagonists, who were unfortunately not properly developed and felt a bit blunt. I didn’t quite notice it at first, but the romantic element is a major theme in this book and takes quite a toll on almost all the decisions out main characters take. I was also surprised that I didn’t particularly like or identify with any of the characters, and they were five! I suppose March had the most potential for character growth and I was most disappointed in Catherine, who seemed clever yet always dependent on others, not just because of her state but because she seemed to come to herself after being told how to do so by somebody else, which is not coming into your own at all basically. Admittedly none of the characters are properly flashed out in this novel, which will hopefully happen in the sequel. I do believe that the introduction of such a varied cast should not rely upon plot alone; otherwise I don’t see the point of the story being told from multiple points of view. Overall, I liked the writing style, it was simple enough to help the reader digest the eventful story quickly, but not at all plain, with its delicately embroidered and otherworldly vocabulary embellishing the writing and thus enhancing the setting up of the historical background.

I am almost certain I will pick up the sequel when it comes out, because I want to see if there is more to this fantastical world and hope I will get more of who the characters really are, but I would want to see the book being more its own thing and not try to imitate popular YA themes out there.

My review system in short:
Plot 3.5
Characters 3
Writing Style 3.5
Originality 2.5
Value 3
Sense 3.5
Enjoyment 4
Overall reading experience: 3.25-3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green is quite a hard book for me to review and was hard for me to give a score to. On the one hand this was exactly the kind of book I love to read, and I had guessed that from the blurb but on the other hand there was only one character whose tale I loved.

The Smoke Thieves is a split-narrative story told from the perspective of five characters: a hunter, a thief, a princess, a soldier and a traitor. The only perspective that really gripped me was that of Tash, a thirteen-year-old demon hunter and trader of an illegal substance named demon smoke. I stopped reading the other stories by about 7% of the way through.

If another character’s story had been the first chapter of the book, then I think I would have not even managed to get to Tash’s story but as it was hers was the only story I read right to the end. Her story reminded me strongly of The Demon Cycle Series by Peter. V. Brett.

Tash and her friend and guardian Gravell travel around trapping demons and killing them for colourful smoke they emit as they die. Tash notices that Gravell always gets snappy before they are about to try to trap a demon. When she confronts him Gravell denies any nerves.

“Why should I be nervous? You’re the one it’ll catch first. By the time it’s done with you I’ll be long gone.” It was true of course. Tash was the bait. She lured the demon into the trap and Gravell finished it off.

Gravell bought Tash off her family four years earlier to be demon bait for him because he needed a fast runner. Her father was only to happy to sell her and she was only too happy to find a new family in Gravell because despite the occasional discomfort at least he never beat her or made her go hungry.

The selling of demon smoke tends to be ignored by the sherif's men and can be profitable but all that changes one day when someone steals one of their jars of it and others become aware of the potential uses for the smoke.

Tash’s story is one that would have scored quite well if it was on its own, but I have to take it as a whole with the other characters and those were just not interesting to me. Catherine’s story in particular struck me as cliché and predictable.

I don’t know what to say about The Smoke Thieves except if you decide to read it maybe it is best to stick to Tash’s chapters like I did.

I’m not even going to try to explain The Smoke Thieves. Usually, I like to attempt a wee overview but in all honesty, I don’t think I could do this book justice in a summary! So, read the one above!

Told from the perspectives of five characters; Tash, a demon hunter; Catherine, a princess betrothed to a prince she’s never met; Ambrose, a soldier and personal bodyguard to Catherine; March, a servant and traitor; and Edyon, a thief and bastard son of a trader.

I loved this book! I’m often wary of stories that are told through a host of different characters, as sometimes I can feel that we don’t really get to know the characters well enough. Or I inevitably dislike a character and dread reading their chapter. The Smoke Thieves thankfully bucked that trend. I loved all of the characters, found their voices distinct and felt we got to know them all and the world around them.

I’ll be honest and say that I found the beginning a little slow at times, but before I knew it, I was swept up in this world and in the characters and I couldn’t put the book down.

I think Green has built a fascinating world, one that I didn’t want to leave: Brigant, with its cruel, oppressive king and attitude towards women in contrast to Pitoria with its colour, dance and customs. I’d like to have explored Calidor a bit more but I’ve no doubt that will happen in future books.

This story is packed with intrigue, deceit, and deception. There’s fighting, demon smoke, hatred, political manoeuvres, revenge and even love. I truly didn’t want it to end.

Now, I rarely pay attention to comparisons but when I finished reading I saw this…

“a new epic fantasy series perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Game of Thrones”

and bizarrely, I agree with that! As I was reading I did actually think of it as a YA Game of Thrones. Maybe it was the travelling, the food, and the multiple perspectives, but I can see where they are coming from with that.

This is a wonderful epic fantasy that stopped my heart at times, made me chortle at others, and made me crave delicious foods!

I loved Green’s writing, this world, her characters and way the book is poised for the next instalment of the series. I seriously cannot wait for book two!