I tried reading this one just through e-book at first but I just couldn't understand what was going on and the maps just wouldn't load. I then tried waiting and listening to it on audio thinking that would be better for me but that wasn't much help at all. There was no plot to this story and I had a hard time following along. I winded up dnfing this book at 11%

I struggled with this review a lot because I did not hate the book, but certain niggling things hindered my experience. One was that I did not connect with any of the characters. They all felt one dimensional, and honestly, I could not tell them apart if I happened to miss the chapter title. They seemed to lack depth. Maybe I wanted more of a backstory for them all so I know who I'm rooting for, but what you see is what you get and I had a hard time.

The plot mostly moves along at a very fast pace, but not much happens to teach our characters a lesson. Things just happen and that's it. The premise is good, but I did not see a true antagonist until the last quarter of the book.

The world-building was stellar but was not a driver to this story. Lack of clear motivations, poor execution, and unclear character arcs really didn't help the slow pacing by the midpoint part of the book to the point where I almost marked this as a DNF. But determined to get through 2020 with only a handful of DNF's I trudged on.

I'm really sad that I didn't enjoy the book as much as I hoped I would, but I know a lot of people will love it. But I was not one of them and I probably won't continue the series.

Big thanks to the publisher and to Lynne Bertrand for allowing me access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

At first the synopsis really called to me, a dark quarantined city? Count me in! But there were many parts that I felt like I was connecting dots due to confusion when I personally don't enjoy doing that when I read. I think the world building was complex and interesting, the character development was there, but I felt a lack of motivation to really get to know the characters and the storyline overall. I definitely think that this book may be suited to younger YA and that may be a reason why I had a hard time connecting, nothing was problematic but it just didn't seem like the type of book for me once I got going. I also have a hard time with greek mythology and that's completely on my end and not the authors or this book. Overall rating is a 3.5 - maybe a 4 if I dig down and rate it as a 13/14 year old!

**Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin/Dutton Books for Young Readers for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my rating for this title**

I consider myself a fairly well-read person in terms of High Fantasy books. I've read the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I've read ACOTAR multiple times. I've read Game of Thrones. I do not give up easily when the world building is complex. This is a new level of nightmarish "world building" and for that reason, I couldn't bring myself to finish it. It was taking me an hour to read about 20 pages (that is very slow for me). 

From what I've gathered, our hero, Odd Thebes, accidentally stumbles upon a weird weapon with his cousin, Errol, that makes Errol a fugitive and puts them in danger from a rival guild. I made it about 100 pages in and there have been so many characters and so many guilds that Odd does not belong to that it's difficult to keep the plot straight. 

Bertrand front loads ALL of her world building onto the reader in the first 4 pages. There is a map of 50 guilds (which was drawn beautifully, but difficult to understand). In looking at a finished copy, they've included the rival guild that was not on the map in my ARC, so I had no idea why this VERY important guild was missing from the map of 50 other guilds. I had to redraw the map myself to understand how all the rooftops are connected. I also combined the page listing all the exports of the guilds onto the map so I didn't have to keep flipping between those pages to get all the information. Additionally, there is another page with slang terms used in the book. For example, there are different words for all 24 hours of the day (i.e. 7 AM has a different word than 7 PM), the days of the weeks, and the months. There are also slang terms that are not included in this semi-glossary, leaving the reader to intuit what they mean on their own. This made it INCREDIBLY difficult to stay in the story instead of feeling like I was studying for a college lecture. I'm okay with front loading the world building and explaining the rules outright at the beginning, but being given essentially an info dump in the form of four pages of notes and being expected to remember that information to proceed with the book is inexcusable. 

I honestly just felt barraged with information and it was written in such a way that you are almost constantly out of the action and puts all of the work on the reader. I feel like it's the author's job to explain the world and make me invested in it, not the reader's job to essentially force themselves into the world. I don't usually give a rating to books I DNF'd because I feel it's unfair, but because I'm DNF-ing SOLELY based on the insane world building issues which are keeping me from getting into the book at all, I feel okay rating this book a 1. There are so many problems with the way this is written that it will be a very persistent reader who refuses to DNF that will read this. Others will most likely be scared off by it.

I won't be rating this book as I did not finish it. The writing style, the language, everything just didn't work for me. Major info dump and just general confusion. 

Based on other reviewers, I'm not the only one who thought this once starting this book.

I was so excited for this book. I loved the cover, I loved the synopsis, but I did not love this book. Jumping in, I was immediately confused. And not the confused of "it's a new book, I wonder what's going on" but "I have no understanding of anything and I don't think the author does either". Which is not great for the beginning. 

As I struggled to read along, about 20% in, I stopped, and was thinking what did I just read? I could not tell you a single thing that happened in the beginning. Not because I wasn't paying attention, but because it is so jumbled that trying to iron out the details and the emerging plot line is almost impossible. 

The main character is a mystery to me. I don't know their name or their gender. I thought I knew their personality, but they seemed to switch personalities to match the scene the author is throwing them into. In the beginning they were quiet and demure, not wanting to cause trouble or be called out. But in the last scene I finished they were raunchy and over the top - the complete opposite of how we saw them in the beginning, and not as an act. They were also coming across as someone kind and respectful, but then completely objectified this woman they were dancing with and forced her to kiss them before even knowing if that's what the person wanted. Plus, they were awful to their "cousin" or whoever Jamila is to them, and it was a complete 180 from a few chapters before. 

I didn't get too far in to see where the plot was going, but from what I gathered - nowhere. Errol was the symbol of this groups heroism, but he's thrown off a cliff and left there until I guess they find out he's alive? Everyone doesn't seem to care that Errol is basically dead, even though they were discussing hiding him for as long as possible. Not letting him get caught, but also asking him to turn himself in. And then the few details we got about these iron spikes was vague and strange. It sounded like they came from the city itself and that Errol found them, but then it's also said that his mother gave them to him? So which is it? I couldn't tell you.

I also could not tell you any strong details about this book. It's so unfortunate because I was so excited for this story and I just can't bring myself to continue when I have no idea what the heck happened in the first 25%. The writing and the characters are too scrambled for my taste. Did not finish and won't be finishing any time soon.

DNF 42%

Part of me had almost wondered if the e-galley I received of this book was mistakenly ordered, but upon reading other reviews, I realized other readers had just as much difficulty comprehending the story as I did. We are tossed into an incredibly complex and high-fantasy world with no exposition, and right off the bat, characters' identities are difficult to distinguish and even harder to grow attached to due to how haphazardly they are thrown into a plot that is never fully explained. Though there is potential in the author's lush prose, this story just could not hold my attention.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for early access to the egalley for City of the Uncommon Thief by Lynne Bertrand.
I’m very sad to say that I chose to DNF this book. The writing wasn’t bad, and I can tell the author put a lot of time & thought into building the world for this book, but I honestly felt like I was slogging through the story while hardly retaining anything. It may have been the very dense writing style & chosen perspective of the book, but I wasn’t able to connect with the characters or care about the world, I found that the way we were introduced to the characters & this “City of the Uncommon Thief” in combination with the dense prose left me feeling lost, confused, and unable to keep the characters straight in my head. If you are excited about reading this book, please don’t let my review discourage you from reading it, as this writing & storytelling style may be very well suited to a different reader.

*I will not be leaving a star rating for this book as I did not read the book in its entirety.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In a walled-off city, people live in tall iron towers, each organized by a trade or craft guild. Once a year, the city’s gates are opened to receive a shipment of food and other essentials, and also ship out the products the guilds make to the world outside. Teenagers can opt to become runners between the towers and spend a few years on the rooftops before taking up an apprenticeship with one of the guilds. New runners often play pranks and dare each other to complete tasks. When, during one of these dares, what looks like a pair of iron knitting needles are stolen, it quickly becomes clear there is something special about them as the regnat, the main administrator of the city, is willing to do anything it takes to get them back.

Plainly put, this book is confusing. The premise sounded really fascinating, and the setting even more so. I have to compliment the world building in this book. It’s really creative and the amount of mythology, lore and history make it obvious how much effort has gone into it. However, as intriguing as the world was, it was nearly impossible to understand. There are a multitude of references to epics and legends – particularly Shakespeare and Greek mythology, and several languages like French, Latin and English, but none of it seemed to tie into either the plot or world building in any relevant manner. It’s never made clear if this book is set in an alternate reality or how exactly it lines up with our own – if at all. There is just way too much going on with barely any explanation and it felt like being tossed into the middle of a series without any context whatsoever. Of course this could be just because I was reading an eARC, but right at the very beginning there are several pages of very confusing terminology that are used liberally in the book right from page one – and there was no way I was going to remember that much information which makes it rather redundant.

City of the Uncommon Thief is about Errol Thebes, narrated from the perspective of his cousin, Odd Thebes, a runner for Thebes Tower, as Errol gets caught up in the aftermath of the theft and goes on the run from the authorities. Now if the story had just focused on these two and the real plot, I could see this being a lot more interesting. While the theft of the mysterious knitting needle like objects is what the story starts with, it deviates unnecessarily (and lengthily) to other things such as what life is like for the runners, guild shipments and introduces a whole host of other characters. Secondary characters can be great for a story, but none of them felt substantially developed. The pacing was also too slow for my taste, and honestly, a book this heavy is what I might expect of the middle book in a series. Ultimately, it was the pacing and narration that caused me to lose interest before the quarter mark.

I’ve spoken very little of the actual plot in this review, and that was intentional, because I’m not certain I’ve grasped the entirety of it myself – in fact, I felt lost for most of the book. Though this book did have a lot of potential, especially given how rich the world building is, it was far too confusing and complicated for me to fully enjoy and it just didn’t work out for me.

I had a hard time focusing through this book. The world building could have used a bit more work to make the story-line easier to follow.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes included in this review are from an unfinished copy of the book.

“But the runner would have none of that. He clung to Errol, too terrified of life, death, and everything in between, to let go.” City of the Uncommon Thief has beautiful narration, but I often found myself confused on what was happening in the story. In addition, the worldbuilding- with heavy Greek and Norse influence-  was so intricate that it was hard to understand and process.

One of my reading goals for this year is not to read anything I don’t enjoy, so I ultimately decided to DNF this book.

This concept was such an interesting one that called to me but it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Unfortunately, I found myself confused in several parts and had a little bit of a difficult time keeping up with what was happening. I thought the world-building was a bit complicated but overall pretty good. I could place myself in the world but, again, I think if I was in the world I would be completely lost as to what was going on and why I should care.

I didn't really connect with any of the characters that well either. I wanted to, as I always do when I read something, but it was just difficult.

Overall I think this had such a cool premise but the execution wasn't quite there. There are a lot of references to various greek myths, which I am very familiar with, so that helped a bit but someone not familiar might be even more confused.

While drawn in by the synopsis, this was not the book for me. I did appreciate the world building and rough atmosphere, but ultimately struggled to attach to the characters and and struggled even more to finish this book.

DNF at 58%

This book was weird...

The POVs alternate too quickly and it was hard to keep track of what was actually going on since the plot didn’t seem to have one straight direction. It instead felt like a bunch of moments in a world that I didn’t understand.

Speaking of, the languages and words used in this book can be incomprehensible at times. I don’t know if it was just because I was reading an eARC or if the finished book will be just as confusing, but I had trouble figuring out the dynamic of the setting and characters. And the plot summary didn’t really help all that much either... 

The book didn’t start to get interesting until about halfway through, but by that point I was so frustrated and tired of reading it that I just had to DNF it for the time being.

I hope to finish this book eventually and give it a fair shot (especially since I’ve dedicated so much time trying to get through it), but for now I’m just not in the mindset to do so...

*I received an ARC from Penguin Teen in exchange for my honest opinion.

DNF at 40%. 

This is a prime example of the premise sounds incredible but the execution of the story leaves a lot to be desired. This plot itself is incredibly confusing, but needlessly so? There's great worldbuilding since I am a huge fan of mythology, but that was really all the story had going for itself. This is unfortunately a huge pass for me.

“𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐛 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐠𝐬. 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐝. 𝐒𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐄𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐖𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲.”—Lynne Bertrand

In a quarantined city of mile-high buildings, the streets are full of monsters, and people pass their entire lives indoors. No one has ever seen this city on a map. There are no animals within the wall shielding it. And an entire year passes between supply deliveries from the outside world. In the prime of their lives, teenagers are chosen from each guild building as runners, where they dwell on the rooftops, zipping from roof to roof among the clouds, playing pranks on each other, delivering supplies between guilds. They are the only form of connection in a city that may as well consist of a hundred ships on the water. When Errol Thebes, well known hero among runners of all guilds, steals a powerful weapon, uncommon in ever way, he learns exactly what kind of darkness lurks beneath the city.

Unique. Different. Fun. I wasn’t quite prepared for how much this story grew on me. In fact, I ADORED it! I was intrigued, curious, and fully entertained.  We all have tales to tell, especially Odd Thebes, and what a tale he weaves! The world building is fascinating, centered around the runners who fly from roof to roof, carrying messages, supplies, and bridging the connection between each building. These dare-devils use zip lines to get around. They pull pranks, have contests, parties, and the weirdest customs! The world building was a little confusing at first because there are no info dumps. I believe this is why it got so many low ratings. But if you stick with it, the answers do come! And they are so satisfying! I loved the way it ended.

Within every person lives a beast. Some are rats, birds, and cats. Others are stags, panthers, and even dragons. Only the people living on the streets have any idea of this. Those living in the guild skyscrapers have no idea whatsoever. They are too disconnected from the streets. When a pair of knotting spikes is stolen, it is discovered that these spikes split a person open, ripping out their soul-animal, which crawling out of their chests. Fascinating, right?

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫...𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬.  𝐎𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝.”

This story is told by the bard Odd Thebes, who also happens to be the jealous cousin to Errol Thebes, the city’s hero. His jealousy comes between them a few times. But I liked this. It showed severe flaws on his part. No one likes a perfect character. His storytelling is bunt and open. He is intelligent, speaks some twenty or more languages, is familiar with all the city slang. The perfect storyteller. I really liked his character and struggles. 

There’s something dark happening in the city. What starts as a very tight scope, broadens. Everyone who lives in the city accepts things for the way they are. They have no idea of the darkness lurking beneath. They have no idea why they are quarantined for hundreds and even thousands of years. They know nothing of the world beyond. They live in mystery. But Errol Thebes rips everything apart when he finds himself on the streets below. He becomes the hero the city needs.

I cannot believe how much I liked this book! At fist, I thought perhaps it would be a two star. I read some reviews and got a bad feeling. But it had something that kept me interested. And by the 20% mark I was so intrigued! The story got better and better, told in snippets that wove together. I wanted to give this five stars but I think the little bit of confusion I experienced in the beginning doesn’t allow it. MY RATING: 4.5/5⭐️

Unfortunately I could not get into this story. There is definitely an audience out there for this story, but I was not a member. There was something about the writing that I couldn't get into.

No Rating

The premise of The City of the Uncommon Thief made me instantly add this one to my tbr. But I, unfortunately, couldn’t get past the first 15%. 

From page one, this book was confusing and I tried to push through but the writing style was not for me. I would like to think I am well versed in Greek and Norse mythology, but this was a whole other level that I was not prepared for. 

I understand the idea of mixing the languages but when a book becomes this difficult to understand right from the start, it’s hard to keep going. I felt defeated after the first chapter and as much as I tried to continue, I just couldn’t do it. The story was hard to imagine and was even more difficult to comprehend.

This unfortunately was just not the book for me. Thank you for allowing me to read it early.

Information: I will not rate this book on Goodreads as I do not rate books I do not finish. I will however rate this a neutral 3 stars on Netgalley as I don’t want to rate it negatively since I was unable to finish it.

Thank you @penguinteen for my eARC of CITY OF THE UNCOMMON THIEF! This book released today so go out and get your copy!!
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Likes:
✨ Rich world building
✨ Poetic writing! There were some great quotes, but it didn't feel too literary in this regard
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Dislikes:
✨ Confusing if you don't know a lot about Greek/Norse culture
✨ The late introduction of a fantasy element into the story
✨ The hopscotch timeline
✨ There was an unclear explanation for what the 'black iron spikes' did which left me confused as well.
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All in all, a ⭐⭐⭐ for me. I think this book could REALLY appeal to a certain group of readers, but it was not totally for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and he publisher for an opportunity to read this book .

Unfortunately this book was not for me. The author’s writing style and language just didn’t work for me at all. 

I’m sure there are those that may appreciate this book, but unfortunately I wasn’t one of them,