Uncommon Criminals: A Close-Up Review

"Katarina Bishop has worn a lot of labels in her short life. Friend. Niece. Daughter. Thief. But for the last two months she’s simply been known as the girl who ran the crew that robbed the greatest museum in the world. That’s why Kat isn’t surprised when she’s asked to steal the infamous Cleopatra Emerald so it can be returned to its rightful owners.

There are only three problems. First, the gem hasn’t been seen in public in thirty years. Second, since the fall of the Egyptian empire and the suicide of Cleopatra, no one who holds the emerald keeps it for long, and in Kat’s world, history almost always repeats itself. But it’s the third problem that makes Kat’s crew the most nervous and that is simply… the emerald is cursed.

Kat might be in way over her head, but she’s not going down without a fight. After all she has her best friend—the gorgeous Hale—and the rest of her crew with her as they chase the Cleopatra around the globe, dodging curses, realizing that the same tricks and cons her family has used for centuries are useless this time.

Which means, this time, Katarina Bishop is making up her own rules." (from Goodreads)

Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

Characters:

Kat and Hale: I found Kat insufferably stuck-up at the beginning of Uncommon Criminals. Her ego's inflated from accomplishing all of these jobs that give her an adrenaline high, and all I could think was, "Pride goeth before a fall..." It makes me cringe when characters act like that! Hale also bugged me initially because he was all cranky and grumpy at Kat all the time. Admittedly, he probably had some right to be, but it wasn't fun. However, then she ends up getting conned and realizes she's not the world's most genius, undefeatable thief, and is humbled...which leads to Hale becoming nicer and their relationship turning more amicable, thankfully.

Still, the Kat/Hale dynamic frustrated me more in this book. They just couldn't seem to get their act together! Hale wasn't as charming as in the first book, either. In Heist Society he had this cocky, confident attitude, whereas in this one he was always worrying and saying things like, "We don't have to do this!" And then Kat would reply, "Yeah, but I want to!" They seemed to have this same argument several times throughout the book. Eventually, they do kind of resolve things, as Kat recognizes how important it is to have people on her side, helping her out. But things were tense between them most of the time (and not in a good way), and I wanted more romance. Plus, I found it a little annoying how Hale was always telling Kat, "You can't do that!" Yes, Kat does take risks, but they're all thieves...it kind of comes with the territory.

Also, I don't know if there was as much soul-searching going on here as there was in Heist Society. Or perhaps Kat just annoyed me a little more, with her inability to make a decision in terms of her emotions and love life. She just seemed to keep wavering back and forth between "Hale" and "thieving" and not seeing that she could have both in her life.

Everyone else: We get to see the whole team again here, but we still don't get to know some of them that well (a complaint of mine about the first in the series, Heist Society.) I liked Gabrielle's feisty attitude, and I also enjoyed meeting Charlie, this gruff but lovable hermit in the mountains. Nick wasn't my favourite character in the first one, but he's kind of grown on me — he's a good guy to have around.

Maggie was a well-written addition to the cast of characters. She was a really horrible character — she totally used people and enjoyed it, very manipulative. Spoilers, highlight to read: Although she seemed pretty clever to begin with, at the end she was just rather pathetic. I think she could have been a creepier villain than the Mafia dude from Heist Society, but she didn't turn out to be that evil. Still, in a way I prefer her as a villain, because she was such a low, underhanded user.

Premise/plot:

Uncommon Criminals was a lot more creative in structure than its predecessor. I thought it would follow the standard pattern with the heist at the end, but instead the first heist occurs pretty soon on, and then there are all these new twists and turns throughout as obstacles pile up. I enjoyed all the surprises and found it less predictable than Heist Society. Pacing-wise I think it moved a little faster than the first one, too.

However, there are some parts in the climactic scenes where the reader is led to believe one thing when really, that's not the case at all. While I'm okay with that most of the time, it has to be written in such a way that it's not actually lying to the reader about the character's intentions/emotions. I understand that the author is trying to make the reader believe that this is why a character is doing something. But if it's not why they're doing something, you shouldn't say that it is. If it's a mere matter of a reader interpreting the words a certain way, that's acceptable. But when you're telling the reader "he was angry", when he wasn't really, then you're just lying to the reader — and that's not cool. A few instances in Uncommon Criminals could have been written more cleverly to avoid this.

This may be one of those books that you have to read a few times to figure out exactly what happened, because the ending really confused me. I wish there'd been more explanation — I like being tricked in a book as long as I figure out how it happened! And honestly, I was reading through pretty carefully, and I was still left with a whole lot of questions. I suppose there could be several explanations, but I'd like to know which one the author intended.

Writing style:

The writing style was basically the same as in Heist Society. Every chapter starts out sort of slow and then builds. Since I brushed up on the first book before I read this one, I was pretty much used to that. The spy talk is well-done, just like the previous book; Ally Carter writes like she's part of an inner circle of experts who know all about agencies, spies, and detectives, so it feels authentic. I enjoyed all the names given to the different types of heist methods, like "Cinderella" or "Mary Poppins" or "Anne Boleyn."

Final verdict: 3.5 shooting stars. In some ways it impressed me more than Heist Society, particularly in terms of having a different, less predictable, pattern of plot points. However, in other ways — the relationship, the "lying" to the reader, the somewhat abrupt ending that lacked a satisfying explanation — it bugged me.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for review.

This book counts towards my goal for the Just Contemporary reading challenge.

Thief's Covenant: A Snapshot

Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell

"Once she was Adrienne Satti. An orphan of Davillon, she had somehow escaped destitution and climbed to the ranks of the city’s aristocracy in a rags-to-riches story straight from an ancient fairy tale. Until one horrid night, when a conspiracy of forces—human and other—stole it all away in a flurry of blood and murder.

Today she is Widdershins, a thief making her way through Davillon’s underbelly with a sharp blade, a sharper wit, and the mystical aid of Olgun, a foreign god with no other worshippers but Widdershins herself. It’s not a great life, certainly nothing compared to the one she once had, but it’s hers.

But now, in the midst of Davillon’s political turmoil, an array of hands are once again rising up against her, prepared to tear down all that she’s built. The City Guard wants her in prison. Members of her own Guild want her dead. And something horrid, something dark, something ancient is reaching out for her, a past that refuses to let her go. Widdershins and Olgun are going to find answers, and justice, for what happened to her—but only if those who almost destroyed her in those years gone by don’t finish the job first." (from Goodreads)

 
The subject: a girl who's busy stealing riches, hiding from the law, evading thugs, and hanging out at the "Flippant Witch" tavern in her spare time. Widdershins lives on the edge, brave to the point of foolhardiness; she's crafty, but sometimes underestimates her adversaries and overestimates her own skills. Though she has her own sort of moral code most of the time — as in, stealing's fine, but not murder — when push comes to shove she can be pretty ruthless, and I couldn't get behind all of the choices she makes.

The setting: the city of Davillon, in a world with a bit of a 'historical urban fantasy' feel (but not set in our world's history, obviously).


Shutter speed: for a fantasy adventure, it's actually fairly slow-moving and dense. It's written in third-person omniscient, alternating between many characters, which works to draw the mystery out. There's no shortage of fights, but I thought the action scenes could have been quicker-paced.


What's in the background? An interesting religious system. The gods rely heavily on their followers' worship, and if the god has no more followers, he or she is basically "dead." It makes sense, then, that Olgun is "attached" to Adrienne, and I thought this was a neat way to make Adrienne a target. Olgun comes in very handy to help Adrienne out of some tight pinches (a little too handy, perhaps, at the end when it really counts) but since there are limits to his powers, she has to do a lot of work the rest of the time.  


Zoom in on: the emotional connection. This is definitely a story that's more about the 'swashbuckling,' so to speak (no pirates, but there are plenty of brawls and lots of the grotesque factor). Numerous deaths happen, but I wasn't bawling my eyes out for any of them. While I understand the focal point is the adventure, I do wish there'd been more of an emotional connection. The angle that comes closest is probably Adrienne's relationship with Alexandre, since he's one of the few people she cares about.


I also would have welcomed more scenes involving Julien Bouniard (a member of the Guard).  He's out of his depth dealing with Widdershins but doesn't realize it, and their interactions are actually pretty cute. In an odd kind of way they respect each other, but at the same time, Widdershins is constantly giving him the run-around. I wanted to see these two get together but it seems like the author is hinting at a different character for Adrienne's love interest (there isn't any romance in this book, but I suspect there may be in sequels).


Anything out of focus? The plot is complicated and difficult to follow; I found myself repeatedly flipping back to try to figure out what was going on. It was difficult to keep all of the characters and groups/organizations straight, and remember who knew what/had gone where/was working for whom/etc. 


Ready? Say... "Thieving and murder and secrets, oh my!"


Click! 3.5 shooting stars. It took me several tries to get into this one, I think partly because the prose seemed overwritten, giving me more of an 'adult fantasy' vibe than YA (I believe Ari Marmell has previously written adult fantasy novels but this is his first YA book). As I continued to read, though, I got used to the writing style and it didn't bother me that much. 

 
Note: There is some mature content (namely, scenes of violence) in this book. 




Disclaimer: I received this for review from the publisher.

This book counts towards my goal for the 2012 Debut Author challenge. 

Cross My Palm: YA Fantasy

This is a series of posts I'm doing discussing current trends in YA genres and what might be in store for the future. This is just based on my own observations of books and what I've seen publishers/authors/other bloggers talking about.


Sorry it's been so long since the last post in this series! You can catch up on all the previous posts here (contemporary, sci-fi/dystopian, historical, and paranormal YA have already been covered), but this time it's YA fantasy trends.

• Time travel is the next "hot" topic. I think time travel stories hold a lot of potential for creativity — and apparently publishers think so too, with offerings such as the Hourglass series by Myra McEntire, the Ruby Red series by Kerstin Gier, the River of Time series by Lisa Bergren, and Tempest by Julie Cross. Not always "fantasy" in the strictest sense, I know, but time travel books kind of fit into several genres...

• Retellings — both fairytale and mythological — are holding their own. On the fairy tale side of things, we've got books like the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, Jackson Pearce's fairy tale companion books (Fathomless is releasing this year), Queen of Glass by Sarah J. Maass, and Enchanted by Alethea Kontis. In terms of mythology, there's a whole subsection just for "the underworld" stories, like Meg Cabot's Abandon trilogy, the Sirenz series by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman, the Everneath series by Brodi Ashton, and The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter. Other mythological retellings (or stories with mythological aspects) include the Starcrossed series by Josephine Angelini, the Medusa Girls series by Tera Lynn Childs, Starling by Lesley Livington, and the Gods & Monsters series by Kelly Keaton. And there are even a few upcoming fantasy retellings of classic tales like Jane Eyre (Ironskin by Tina Connolly) and the Ugly Duckling (The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors).

On a related note, fairytale retellings seem to be popping up in TV and movies as well! Any of you who have not yet tuned into the TV show Once Upon A Time, you guys are missing out. And I haven't watched Grimm but I know that it's a CSI-style show based on the Grimm fairytales. Also, be on the lookout this year for the movies Snow White and the Huntsman (yes, it stars Kristen Stewart – but seriously, check out the cool trailer!) and Mirror Mirror (which has Julia Roberts in it, even though the trailer makes me think a lot of the comedy might not be my style). 

• Here be dragons — well, a few, anyway. Dragons are no vampires in YA, at least not yet. But there seems to be the start of a renewed interest in these fire-breathing monsters, with books like Sophie Jordan's Firelight series, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, Prophecy by Ellen Oh, and Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey.

• Faeries are in, but elves and dwarves are not. Tolkien-esque fantasy does not yet seem to have made its way back into popularity, but faeries still hold an allure for readers. (Note the spelling there: by and large these are the unpredictable, can't-always-be-trusted "fey," not the Tinkerbell type of fairies.) Examples of upcoming faerie releases include Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier, The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long, The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney, The Falconer by Elizabeth May, The Torn Wing by Kiki Hamilton, and Luminance Hour by Ryan Graudin.

• Thieves and assassins are stealing readers' hearts. In a way, I think this is kind of the fantasy version of the trend in historical YA for secret agents and spies. I guess there's something about the seedy underbelly of a city that draws readers in... Recent or upcoming books that fit into this category are Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell, Mastiff by Tamora Pierce, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maass, Grave Mercy by R. L. LaFevers, and Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

• Oddly enough, "touch" seems to be an important theme in fantasy (and paranormal) YA these days. I don't know if this is just a fluke or what, but with books like Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder, Touched by Corrine Jackson, the A Touch trilogy by Leah Clifford, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, the Clarity series by Kim Harrington, and the Curse Workers series by Holly Black...it seems like this idea is becoming popular. What do you think?

• Unusual settings (for fantasy) and PoC characters are making an appearance. I wouldn't say yet that either of these aspects are common in YA fantasy, but hopefully others will follow these authors' leads and make it happen. We're talking books such as Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff, the Wildefire series by Karsten Knight, the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series by Laini Taylor, Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst, The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson, and Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson.

So, what are your thoughts on trends in YA fantasy? Is the "power of touch" something concrete or just coincidence? Will we keep seeing more PoC characters and different settings in the future? Will there be a return of the elves? Let me know what you see for the future of YA fantasy!

Heist Society: Review

Goodreads' description:

"When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster's art collection has been stolen, and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.


For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s (very crooked) history—and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way."

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Characters:

The characters of Heist Society are endearing, and really the stars of the show; Kat and Hale particularly stood out for me. Kat's confident in her thieving (to the point of recklessness at times) and yet vulnerable about her future and her role in her family. She's arguably mature in some instances and not so mature in others — in other words, she's just like any teen despite her unusual circumstances. She's still just trying to figure out what she wants in life. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of her relationship with her dad, and her history with the other characters, but perhaps we will get a few more glimpses of that in the sequel.

Hale I liked from the very first scene he steps into. As bold as Kat, he radiates self-confidence. The teasing between them is enjoyable, and yet when the going gets tough, Hale sticks by her and is supportive but not domineering. Sure, he is upset with her when she puts herself at risk (which, let's face it, she does more than once), but it's only because it's obvious he cares about her and feels protective. Kat's response to Hale at times is also illustrative of the guardedness of her personality, which comes from years of thinking and working like a con artist, used to showing only a poker face...yet their relationship takes a gratifying turn towards the end that gives us hope for Kat. I'd love to hear more about how they met and their past (again, hopefully in book 2!)

The more minor characters weren't as well fleshed-out. Simon as the requisite computer geek — very handy when it comes to pulling off a heist — doesn't break out of the mould of stereotype, and I found Nick to be pretty flat (and his interactions with Kat lacking spark) most of the way through. However, I liked the dynamic of the group as a whole. Kat's companions together end up feeling kind of like a quirky family that you'd have fun hanging out with. They've forged a strong bond that might well test the well-known saying "no honour among thieves." I did wish there was more physical description of each character, as I had trouble visualizing some of them.

I must say that I didn't find the villainous characters very intimidating. The most obvious one chats with Kat several times and makes some threats, but they all turn out to be pretty idle. His actions aren't always the most believable, either (although really, you have to take this book as a whole with more than a few grains of salt.) He did have the whole Mafia vibe going on, though.


Premise/plot:

Kudos to Ally Carter for giving us a contemporary YA read that a) isn't set in a high school, and b) doesn't revolve strictly around a romance. Something refreshingly different!

Compared to other mysteries, I did find this one to be rather slow-moving most of the way through. A lot of it is just gathering information that the teens use to formulate their plans, and I didn't find myself that engaged in the actual mystery itself of the culprit behind the original theft. And perhaps I just don't have the mind of a thief, but I struggled sometimes with anticipating the group's next step or figuring out exactly what they were doing. The way it's described is often a little vague — probably to keep things mysterious (or maybe to make the reader work harder?) but I ended up confused and re-reading some parts to see if I could understand what was happening. I think some more description of the setting would have helped me picture it better. However, I enjoyed the twists throughout that kept things fresh, and the clever ways the characters were sometimes able to fool unsuspecting people.

Towards the end, however, as the "heist society" starts setting up for their big moment, the pace does pick up and I found myself more interested in how they were going to pull everything off. I really enjoyed the big climactic scenes, although the resolution with the villain seemed wrapped up far too neatly and conveniently to be realistic. I didn't believe the villain would be stupid enough to fall for the trick that he does. (Spoilery details, highlight to read: come on, infamous Arturo Taccone just waltzing into an empty apartment to pick up the art pieces, without thinking twice about who's sending him there? He may be over-confident but he's not *that* slow-witted, surely. Especially considering he knows Interpol has been tracking Kat's dad, and the apartment is right next to the art gallery...)

I did wish we could see a bit more of the characters' lives that weren't related to thievery. Everything in the book is focused on the case at hand, so there's never really a break from all the planning to see how they spend their free time. In that way, it does have quite a narrow focus, although given they were on a deadline I understand that they couldn't very well kick back their heels and relax. We get glimpses of it, but I'd like to see more of who Kat is outside of "Kat the thief."

Writing style:

The author slides into the thief mindset with great ease in Heist Society. Uncannily so, in fact — does Ally Carter moonlight as a con artist, by any chance? It was neat seeing events analyzed from that perspective, although it did sometimes feel a bit repetitive, as Kat and the others never snap out of this mindset they've been raised with.

I also think the quality of the writing is just excellent. It's written in third-person omniscient, which has to be one of my least favourite perspectives. It's difficult to pull off well, but Carter does just that. She gets us to care about the characters while still providing that distanced perspective that lends itself well to the mystery genre. Indeed, it feels almost like she slips into third-person attached POV sometimes for Kat, since we get to know the heroine quite well.

That said, I did feel like the POV and writing style contributed to the slower pacing for me. Many of the chapters start off in a descriptive, distant, often ambiguous sort of way — the reader isn't always sure who is being discussed or what their importance is, and then it becomes clearer as the chapter goes on. In contrast, the end of the chapter often ended with a mini-cliffhanger or surprise revelation. Then the next chapter would start off slow again, and I felt like the momentum just built up had been lost. I also noticed the chapters would sometimes jump forward in time a bit (rather than picking up right where they'd left off), and I'd have to try to orient myself and figure out what was going on. I eventually got a bit more used to this pattern as the book continued in this way, but I'd still have to push a little bit through the first parts of each chapter until it got more exciting.

Final verdict: 3.5 shooting stars. A clever, innovative premise and delightful characters, but I had a few issues with the plot and pacing.

Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the publisher.