The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe

Sometimes I don't get myself. It's been years since I've enjoyed an actual romance novel and to be perfectly frank, I wasn't expecting to enjoy The Smoke Thief.

Joke's on me there, I guess. Shana Abe's writing is so light and airy that reading it is, if you'll excuse the pun, a breeze. It just floats by without effort, easy and evocative (and occasionally slightly purple, especially during love scenes, but no one is perfect and I don't expect them to be). It's easy to sink into, to just let the book sweep you away, and that makes it all the easier to enjoy.

Though it's been a long time since I've cared for romance stories too much, especially the characters, I found that I liked Rue. The premise of a woman like that becoming a master thief in the way she does is utterly charming, teaming up with courtesans and thieves. She's a s... Read More

The Dream Thief by Shana Abe

The Dream Thief stars Amalia Langford, the daughter of Kit and Rue from The Smoke Thief, and Zane, a thief who was introduced in the previous book. Zane is charged with retrieving a special diamond called Draumr. At the behest of Kit and Rue, he agrees to travel across Europe, into the Carpathians, in search of it. Accompanying him is Lia, who is possessed of the ability to hear the future. In her dreams she hears a future in which Zane, using the power of Draumr, holds her as his slave, slaughters her entire tribe, and uses her knowledge of precious gems to steal. So she decides to um...help him retrieve the diamond. Oookay...

This only so-so plot is not helped by the characters. As much as I enjoyed Rue in The Smoke Thief, I can't stand Lia. She's just not very interesting. The plain Jane outcast who doesn't have all the fa... Read More

Queen of Dragons by Shana Abe

So here we are in the third book. The plot has something to do with the mysterious Drakon princess, Maricara, who was introduced in The Dream Thief and Kimba the White Lion — I mean, Kimber, the son of Kit and Rue from The Smoke Thief. There's something to do with someone murdering Drakon, I think, but frankly I didn't make it far enough to find out. Which is kind of sad, actually, because if the reader isn't sure of what's going on by page 70 or so, you're doing it wrong.

I suppose a large part of the problem was that nothing was going on. One party is talking and doing tedious stuff, the other party is talking and doing tedious stuff, and that's it. The main characters — the love interests, for crying out loud — do not even meet one another until page 50. We don't actually get to see them interact until about page 60, though, because ... Read More