Actual Rating 3.5
Allegra has always had to look over her shoulder. As the niece of the infamous assassin Lea Saldana, Allegra is used to hiding from people who want her dead. Once the strongest clipper family in the Kingdom of Lovero, the Saldanas—or what’s left of them—are now the most hunted. Their number one enemy is the Da Vias, whose thirst for retaliation is almost two decades in the making.

But lately Allegra’s getting fed up with everything being kept from her—including her parents’ identity. When she finally learns the truth about her family, though—that she’s a Da Via—her world crumbles. Feeling betrayed by the people she trusted the most, Allegra turns to Nev, a Traveler boy whose presence makes her feel alive in ways she’s only dreamed of. But getting caught up in Nev’s world has consequences Allegra never saw coming.

Note to self: Learn to read the synopsis of books right before you start reading them so you're not wildly confused because you got a habit of thinking books are entirely different to what they actually are.
Will I learn? Probably not.

I read Assassin's Heart not that long ago in preparation of Thief's Cunning. I quite enjoyed it, I liked the concept of groups of people murdering others in the name of their god because let's be real, it ain't that different from real life. I went into this book thinking it would pick off right where we left off but no... it did not.
So you can imagine my utter confusion when the POV is no longer Lea and is actually her niece Allegra who was a baby when we last saw her. I quickly discovered that Thief's Cunning picked up nearly 18 years after Assassin's Heart. Once I got past my confusion I was okay though, and honestly I can't even blame the book for it in the first place. As the reader I really should have read the bloody synopsis, but you live in you learn.

I really enjoyed Allegra's character, she was different than Lea but if I'm honest, not by a lot. Lea is more cut throat and her world revolved around her seeing revenge for her family's deaths where as Allegra's world revolved around feeling trapped and then discovering whole parts of her life were kept secret from her.
I really connected with her though, maybe more so than Lea. I feel like I picked this book up at the perfect time. Although it did take me a while to read it, I saw myself in Allegra.
Like Allegra, I have felt extremely trapped in my lately, like I am holding my breath and am desperate to be free. And like Allegra, my cage is my family right now.

Thief's Cunning does a great job at exploring the complexities of families and how loving people can keep you restrained to one place. That sometimes that is harmful, but sometimes, with the right people, it feels less like a cage and more like home.

A lot happened in this book, while also a lot didn't happen. I don't know if it's just me, but I do find Ahiers's writing drags a bit for me. I'm never desperate to find out what happens next, it never feels like a race to get there. It's more a leisurely stroll which, with my lack of reading lately, might have been right for the occasion.

I enjoyed each of the new characters introduced, they all felt like fully fleshed out, with personalities of their own no matter how small the part they played in the story was.
Ahiers is great at building a world that feels tangible, she did an incredible job at extending that world here as well, giving us more cultures to explore.

There's honestly not a whole lot more I can say. Thief's Cunning was a good book, it just didn't quite hit the mark for me, but I enjoyed the ride regardless.

Cover Art:
I really enjoy the covers of these books. They are simple but represent the book really well! In the first one we just had the Saldana coin and the city below (I'm not sure if it's Yvain or Lovero) and this on we have the Singura and the city Mornian (I think) at the bottom. They are eye-catching and gorgeous!

Writing:
My opinion is the same for this book as it is for Assassin's Heart. The world building is amazing and continues in this book. I loved learning more about the other gods and other cultures in this book. The book flows really well and is very descriptive! My only small issue is I still have no idea how to pronounce the MCs name, Allegra. I am pretty sure I pronounced it differently every time it came up in the book! It's such an uncommon name, as are many of them, but most of the other characters had easy nicknames so it was okay that I didn't know how to pronounce Les's full name (I don't know how to spell it and I'm not hunting through the last two books to find it as it's only mentioned a couple times).

Plot:
I didn't enjoy the plot of Thief's Cunning as much as I did Assassin's Heart. It was still good and I enjoyed it but the first book was better in my opinion. This book was filled with a few plot twists of sorts and that was enjoyable as I didn't see them coming. 

Characters:
So, I didn't love the MC for this one. Allegra was annoying at times and complained and whined so much. She also repeated the same thing over and over again. It also annoyed me that when she found out a certain truth that she didn't go straight to Lea and ask for her side of the story and the truth from her. She didn't even try and give her a chance and that annoyed me considering everything that Lea and Les had done for her. It also annoyed me that she wouldn't listen to Lea about the truth when Lea tried to explain herself, but she listened to Les.

*Side note - I hate that it's 'Lea' & 'Les' because if you aren't concentrating on every single word or just reading quickly than those two names look the same and you don't read it properly and then get confused*

I still love Lea & Les in this book. Les is so caring, awesome and calm. I wish we saw a bit more of his Clipper side as that was what he wanted the most in Assassin's Heart. Lea is still a badass and she will always do anything for the people she loves. 

Nev was a character that you are suspicious of and your thoughts go back and forth about whether he is actually a good guy or a bad guy. I won't say anything more about that because I'll let you figure it out yourself if you decide to read this series! 

Overall:
I really enjoyed this book, however, it was not as good as the first book in my opinion. I love this world and magic system. The MC was not my favourite for this book and I prefer the POV of Lea a lot more than Allegra. The writing is amazing and I can't wait to see what comes next from Sarah Ahiers!

Thief's Cunning is a great fantasy book that kept me thoroughly entertained.
I really enjoyed the character of Allegra and the world that Sarah Ahiers has created and I look forward to reading any further books by this author

An arc of this book was generously provided to me by Harlequin Australia, Teen/Mira and Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review

I was slightly wary going into Thief's Cunning, as I knew the story would be about a character that I felt was not treated ethically in Assassin's Heart. I won't go into specifics in case you haven't read the book, but basically there was a big decision at the end that the main character Lea made that I completely disagreed with. The character that was impacted most by that decision is Allegra, the main character of Thief's Cunning.

Taking a step back from this particular plot point, I thought the book was relatively well written overall. The story is engaging and fast paced. We see different aspects of the fantasy world that Ahiers has built, and it's a well developed one. I found the different gods and different magics of the cultures quite interesting, and definitely wouldn't mind seeing another book set in the same world.

In terms of the negatives, the main one was probably that Allegra was, to be frank, a bit of a brat. She was the classic rebellious teen that we all hear about, but she's also (unlike most rebellious teens in the real world) a prime target for many rival clipper (assassin) families. She made a lot of poor choices which could have ended pretty badly, and refused to listen to her surrogate parents who mostly gave her some pretty reasonable advice. I also wasn't sure about how much I liked the romance as it was pretty fast.

Overall, the book was a decent follow up to Assassin's Heart. I would recommend reading that novel first before reading this one so that you have a better understanding of the world that is presented.

Ratings
Overall: 7/10
Plot: 3/5
Romance: 3/5
Writing: 4/5
World Building: 3.5/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 4/5

Not as good as ASSASSIN'S HEART but still an absolutely epic read <3 I can't wait to see what else Sarah Ahiers writes!

Allegra is an assassin who kills in the name of her god. She's also an orphan, who has been raised by her aunt Lea.
Though Allegra has never felt like she fits with her family, and Lea is keeping secrets from Allegra.
When Allegra finds out that her mother wasn't dead like she had been told her whole life, she starts to question everything she has known, and turns to a traveler boy, Nev, for comfort and distraction.
This sets about a whole turn of events Allegra never imagined possible.

Ok, so I actually really liked this book. I haven't read the first book in the series (which was set 18 years earlier, and had Lea as the protagonist), but I never felt lost at all. This book would work just as well as a stand alone, or in the series.

The world building was really great. We learn about several different Gods, and these Gods actually 'interact' in a way with the people who worship them.
There are ghosts (angry dead) who come out at night and want to steal souls.

Allegra was a bit annoying at times, if only because she was constantly harping on about how she was always stuck in a metaphorical cage. Pretty much for the entire book. But, she did have some great character growth so all was not lost.

I felt like the story became a lot more interesting when Nev came into the picture. Mainly because he seemed to bring out the best in Allegra.

The plot is fast paced and there are some pretty cool fight scenes. These assassins are bad-ass, and feel no remorse for taking a life.

If you love stories about assassins, then look no further than this book. You won't be disappointed!