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The Magic Thief: Home (2014)

by Sarah Prineas(Favorite Author)

4.22 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

HarperCollins

series

Magic Thief

review 1: Someone is stealing the locus stones of the magisters, and Conn is accused because everyone else will die if they touch the stones. He wants to investigate, but Rowan (who is now the duchess) and Embre (the underlord) want him to stay safe in the Dawn Palace as ducal magister. The street urchin in Conn balks at this, so before long he is back in the Twilight, pretending to be a chimney swift and discovering that Crowe is back and trying to mastermind a plot to take the government back from "youngsters". The magics are acting up, and spells are going awry,and Conn needs to figure out what his role in the kingdom really is, especially since all he wants to do is to return to Heartease, where he can be warm and eat Benet's fantastic cooking. (There is a lovely illustration of... more his room in the attic, complete with fire. Sigh.)Strengths: This seems like it is a nice and cozy conclusion to a steady series. After all of his travails, Conn finally figures out what his lot in life is. I liked the characters and the setting.Weaknesses: Things threaten to blow up in this one but nothing really does. There could be a bit more action.These didn't quite blow me away, but they are enjoyable.The Magic Thief, The Magic Thief: Lost, The Magic Thief: Found.
review 2: Hail, Hail The Gang's All HereWhen I pick up the fourth volume of a trilogy, (this series supposedly wrapped up with the third volume in 2010), I think of a performer waiting nervously in the wings after his act is done, waiting to see if the audience's applause is enthusiastic enough to justify an encore. With this series the audience was very enthusiastic and there was much disappointment that the Magic Thief trilogy had concluded. Well, Book 4 has finally been launched, and it was worth the wait.Everyone is back and we pick up right where we left off. Conn and Nevery and Benet and Rowan and Embre and Captain Kerrn, and that bad baby dragon, Pip, are all here, and the book takes off in a rush. By the end of Book 3 Conn had brought a new younger magic to supplement the older but weakening magic that had always powered Wellmet. As Book 4 opens, the two magics are not working well together, ("...like two dragons, both trying to fit into one dragon's space,...), and magic is in considerable disarray. Rowan, the ruling Duchess, needs Conn to serve as ducal magister, (head wizard), and get a handle on the problem. Conn resists, and then when a locus magicalicus stone is stolen he is accused and his whole thief history comes back to the fore. Who is really stealing these magical objects, and why? I had forgotten how much I liked these characters. Rowan is the most competent, vulnerable, resourceful heroine I've encountered since Hermione Granger and her struggle to be a good ruler at a tender age is touching and inspiring. Conn is, as usual, a bit more angsty than I'd like, but once we move beyond that he remains a solid bad-boy hero. Every other character steps up to the plate in a satisfying fashion, so it's all good.As always Prineas has a good handle on her material, with a nice balance of magic, action, intrigue, Wellmet politics, humor and character development. On reflection, these books are actually pretty "sprawling" for middle grade fantasy adventure, but Prineas keeps everything sharp, clear and energetic, and completely accessible to a younger reader. So, it took a while, (Prineas has published her "Winterling" books in the meantime), but all's well that ends well. This is a solid entry in the Magic Thief series.Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book. less

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