Book Title: Magic of Thieves by C Greenwood | Berg’s Bookclub
Author: C Greenwood
Series Name: Legends of DimmingWood
Book No.: #1
Genre: Fantasy, YA
First Published: 2012
Publisher: Self-published
I’ve started reading more now that I have gotten to the end of my PhD (all that is left are edits to do). I’ve decided to do the thing that is hard for many bookworms and work down my current TBR pile. With that, I’ve been stratregic. There are books that have been moved to the DNF pile because I couldn’t get into them to finish.
Magic of Thieves did grip me… at least, it did at the beginning. So I managed to read the entire book.
Synopsis of Magic of Thieves
In a province where magic is forbidden and its possessors are murdered by the cruel Praetor, young Ilan, born with the powerful gift of her ancestors, has only one hope for survival. Concealment. In the shadow of Dimmingwood, she finds temporary protection with a band of forest brigands led by the infamous outlaw Rideon the Red Hand.
But as Ilan matures, learns the skills of survival, and struggles to master the inherent magic of her dying race, danger is always close behind. When old enemies reappear and new friendships lead to betrayal, will her discovery of an enchanted bow prove to be Ilan’s final salvation or her ultimate downfall?
~Goodreads
Plot of Magic of Thieves
In Magic of Thieves, the story begins with promise but struggles to build momentum. For the first third of the book, things move at a leisurely pace, allowing readers to grow invested in Ilan’s character and her relationship with her adoptive parent, Brig. The bond between them is—not necessarily heartwarming, but sweet—and Ilan’s strength of character, likely shaped by her upbringing among a group of bandits, adds a unique layer to her personality. Her determination and resilience are traits promise an engaging a protagonist.
However, despite its potential, the novel lacks depth and fails to deliver a satisfying plot in its initial instalment. Most of the narrative unfolds within the confines of the bandits’ camp. The progression of events feels slow and somewhat stagnant. The story only begins to pick up towards the end, but by then, it feels like the foundation of the plot has only just been laid.
The ending comes across as abrupt, almost as if it were intended to be the midpoint of the story. The bit that got everything moving. I also feel that the most climatic scene could have been the inciting incident which triggered everything. Yet, this event actually happened partially off-page. Despite this, it was the most climatic part of the story. Overall, the narrative felt undeveloped and incomplete. While there’s promise in the world-building , the first book struggles to fully deliver on its potential.
Characterisation
The characterisation starts off well. There’s Ilan and Brig and “The Hand” who make an impression immediately. But there are some heavy flaws with her characters, mostly consistency. I think all the main characters had some form of potential but to be honest, they read like a first draft. The whole book does to be fair.
If Greenwood went through this book another 2-3 times, I am sure there would be depth to both book and plot. Alas, this is the version we have.
Ilan
Ilan is strong-willed and doesn’t like to be shown up. Her pride is her downfall. But there’s a conflict with her character that stems with the relationship she has with her adoptive father, Brig. After a heated argument, she says some things to him that she immediately regrets and attempts to make it up to him by learning to read. Only… she doesn’t just decide she’d learn to read without him pushing her, Brig still makes her… so she’s not really trying to make it up to him at all. Then when Brig gets taken, she suddenly wants to rescue him and will send the only other person who is kind to her to his death in order to rescue him. I don’t think so.
She isn’t consistent. She flitters between caring for someone and not caring for someone. It’s hard to pin her down… if anything, she is only a ghost of a character.
Brig
Brig has essentially adopted Ilan and he cares for her. He makes sure she is able to read, even though no one else in the camp can, and tries to prevent her from the dangers that bandits face. He is a minor character in a lot of ways, and yet I’d say he is the most fleshed out of all of them. Unfortunately, his character doesn’t get what it deserves. An ending that was perfect. Instead, whatever happened to Brig happened off-page, removing all feeling from it.
Terrac
Terrac is a character that Ilan saves by using her forbidden magic or something (not entirely sure). Only she and Brig know this though. He is a priest boy who has yet to be sworn in but Ilan tells him not to correct The Hand on this matter if he wants to live. There are times when the character seems naive and other times when he seems intelligent. He appears to care for his life but is also very submissive when Ilan tells him to just wander into the enemy’s camp.
Minor characters
There are a lot of minor characters in this book, including one that betrays them but none of them stand out. In fact, the one that betrayed them is only named once he betrays them. No foreshadowing, no character at all. I don’t even know if Ilan knew him that well, although she clearly recognised him as she hesitated before killing him.
World-building
Like most of Magic of Thieves, this shows premise. We know that Ilan has magic inside of her. We know it’s forbidden and frowned upon, and we know she hides it. The only thing is, like everything else, this is vastly undeveloped. She uses magic twice. The first to save Terrac, and the second to probe another. I don’t think it is clear to the reader that this is what she is doing, but it at least is stated.
But as someone who has magic, it is disappointing to see that she uses it show rarely, or even has the ability not to use it. She is offered a chance to learn how to wield it by the second person who has magic and she refuses. This is about 50% of the novel. It is also why I feel that the inciting incident is around 80%. The inciting incident is the thing that usually sends the character on their way.
Luke Skywalker’s guardians’ death, for example. Or Hagrid coming to collect Harry Potter. Frodo given the ring and told to run. The inciting incident is the bit that forces the character in a new direction, usually after refusal of the call. This is Ilan refusing the call.
There is also the magic bow, depicted on the cover, but… well… she only acquires this about two chapters from the end. It’s not a big thing for this first book.
Overall thoughts
Honestly, I feel like I read part of a story and not a full story. I get that it is a series, but even series have a full story to them. One of my favourite series, The Chaos Walking, has cliffhangers in. But the characters are all well developed, the world has foundation, and there’s a sense of a good place to stop in Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness.
Magic of Thieves by Greenwood, starts out well. By 20% of the story though, progress stops. It still feels like we’re at the beginning of the story. By the time we get to 80%, it feels like we’ve just had the first inciting incident. The end feels like the end of act one, not the end of the novel.
I think there was promise in the story and it would have been good if Greenwood had taken the time to develop it a bit more… give it some UMPTH!