Thank you NetGalley and penguin teen for this arc! 

I was super excited for this arc, because I love green mythology, and I thought the premise sounded super exciting. Unfortunately I didn’t really find myself connecting super closely to the characters, which makes it harder for me to enjoy the story. The world building was super rich and beautiful, but also a little confusing, which took me out a bit. 

Overall enjoyable, but didn’t fall completely in love.

I just put down my kindle and I have so many thoughts! Starting this book I was thrown in and honestly just confused. As much as I ended up enjoying the complexity of the world-building, the initial few chapters were hard to follow. Ultimately, the complexity of this story is both the best and worst parts of the story. So if you're willing to push through the initial confusions, be prepared for an action-packed, adventurous, and thought-provoking story that lies on top of a message about societal differences and how privilege affects society.

Once the world forms a clearer picture in your mind, and the characters become more and more familiar, there is so much to explore! There is a variety of relationships (friendships, familial, romantic, etc.) portrayed, and following the plot of these characters is truly both so frustrating, but I could not look away. I don't want to give anything away so I won't disclose the characters I grew to love, but there was certainly an interesting handful!

The conclusion of this story was both realistic, needed, and yet somewhat disappointing. I only say this because I was left somewhat confused, yet the ending brought clarity to other aspects of this story.

If you're looking for a story with plenty of twists and turns and a new world to explore, be sure to pick this one up!

While the world building was intrinsic and inventive, there were too many things going on that felt disconnected in this book. I went through so much of it confused and having to go back and reread passages.

I liked the idea of this book: a group of teens living on rooftops and the intensity of their lifestyle. There was some romance and a lot of suspense. But there were too many characters referenced and they did not seem to be complete persons. It was more like just ideas of people and a shadowed silhouette as opposed to detailed, fleshed-out characters.

It is hard to summarize a book like this when I feel like I did not quite understand what was happening some of the time. And the length did not lend to that affect.

While this book did not work for me, I would recommend it to others who are more versed in the high fantasy genre who have the patience to really dissect a book like this.

This book was STRANGE. It dropped me into the world and I really had no clue why the characters lived on roofs, why there were guilds, it was just wow strange. I honestly struggled following the story arc and the e arc had strange breaks that made it harder to follow I think. Ultimately, this book wasn’t for me.

This book is a conundrum. I went into it slightly confused, and came out of it even more confused. The thing is, this book features some of the richest worldbuilding I’ve read in a YA book. This is a story brimming with mythology, lore, and history. There’s so much built into this world the author has created, and people who enjoy deep, inspired worlds would definitely appreciate this.

As incredible as the world was, I never felt like I could even begin to grasp the basics of it, let alone the intricacies. Terms, locations, jobs, guilds, creatures, events…they were just thrown out without much explanation. It was all very cool to read, but nearly impossible to understand. It’s sorta like starting a movie such as Avengers: Endgame right in the middle, without any prior Marvel experience. It looks and feels interesting, but you have no idea what’s happening. At all.

City of an Uncommon Thief is told from the perspective of Odd Thebes, a teenage boy who runs lines at the top of guildtowers. He’s also the self-proclaimed bard of Thebes Tower. However, the story is actually about his cousin Errol Thebes. Odd tells the story either from his own first-person perspective, or as a bard telling the third person perspective of Errol Thebes. Yes, it’s about as confusing as it sounds. While I appreciate the unique take on storytelling, it really only hindered the connections I felt to the characters, and their development.

The biggest issue with this book is how the plot is slow enough to feel like a first book, but the amount of unexplained aspects make it feel like a third installment in a series. I can’t properly review the plot, considering it relies on a deep knowledge of the world the author created. As it was, I was half-entertained, half-bored, and thoroughly lost.

There is definitely a lot of potential to be had with this author, considering the depth of the world created, and her captivating writing style.

First of all, I would like to thank Penguinteen for sending me an ARC through NetGalley! 

I think what I really liked about this book was the writing and the world-building. It was rich in detail, and I felt that I could imagine every scene that was told in the book. The only thing that I wasn’t a big fan of was it got a little confusing at times, and I would find myself going back a few pages because I felt that I was missing something that was going on. Also, I would find that I would get a little bored during during some scenes. But other than that, I really liked the concept of this book, and the whole system. I feel that this is a book that I would like to revisit one day, and maybe it would make more sense. 

This book comes out February 9, 2021 so mark your calendars! It was truly an interesting fantasy, and I can’t wait to revisit it in the future!

Final Rating: 3/5 Stars ⭐️

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book! 

Unfortunately, I didn't particularly like it, mainly because it is extremely convoluted. I don't mind a story that is written in a fractured way, and that takes some thinking in order to fully grasp what is going on, but I felt that this one is unnecessarily convoluted. Even the world-building is a bit unclear. There's a city where people live in towers organized by some kind of craft guilds. There are some kind of orphan people called foundlings who live in the guild towers but also don't really belong to the guilds. And there is also a seedy underbelly of the city down on the streets that exists outside the guilds (sort of). It is very unclear exactly why anyone is doing what they are doing, and then at some point in the middle of the book, animals start coming out of people's chests. Once that started happening, I completely lost the thread of what had been happening in the first half, and the rest completely fell apart for me. In addition to the extremely convoluted plot, the characters really didn't do much for me either. I struggled the whole time to figure out what anyone's motivation was and how the characters fit together, and I don't think the resolution particularly made sense either, probably because the whole build-up didn't really make sense. I think there may have been some flashes of something interesting here and there, but it was lost in the convoluted story-telling and the haphazard character development.

I was really excited for this one but it didn’t deliver like i was expecting but overall a good read and still recommend. 

It was a little confusing at times (it was hard to envision some things) but i enjoyed the world building a lot along with the prose.

Thanks penguin teen for allowing me to read this one!

I am grateful to have received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This book is an example of one of the richest worlds that I have seen developed to date. That being said, it was extremely hard to get into and grasp. Attempting to understand the world at most points took me out of the plot and I wasn't able to enjoy it nearly as much as I know I could've. The characters were interesting but paled in comparison to the large stage in which they were set. It is partially my fault for reading this when I was craving another genre, but for most fantasies I am able to get into them without much hassle.

DNF at 37%

Thank you to Penguin Teen for allowing me to have an advanced digital copy of this book. Unfortunately, it was just not for me. I tried to push through but I was supremely bored while reading. At one point everyone almost starves to death and I was actually rooting for that to happen so this book could be done.

The concept seems really cool but just not enough substance was there to keep me invested in the story. I also found all the characters to be extremely dull and self-centred which made it hard to root for them or read about them.

I tried to read this but just the first couple pages with all the different words for times of day, months, and guilds made this book waaay too confusing and hard to get into. Otherwise the premise sounded interesting, but it wasn't executed well Did not finish

This is such an enjoyable fantasy; I thought the inclusion of Norse and Greek myths were amazing, especially if you are already familiar with them. The characters are fascinating, and I think they were the strongest element of the book. The plot and world-building were fun to imagine and really set the mood for the beautiful fantasy setting.

I couldn't get into this book. I'm getting a Six of Crows vibe from it but I just can't seem to stay interested in it

A city is completely walled from the outlying world.  Within the city, mile high towers are built for each guild. Each tower ships their product out to the greater land. Teens are the runners between these towers and live a highly dangerous and precarious life around these towers. 
While the characters were interesting, I didn’t feel connected to any which made me care less for the story. A lot of time went into describing life on the towers for the runners and I feel a lot of it could’ve been cut out. It was much longer than necessary. 
The writing was difficult to understand.  It didn’t flow well and I had to reread many times to understand.  The world building is rich and intricate but very difficult to imagine. 
Thank you to Penguin Young Readers and NetGalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I just wasn’t the biggest fan of this one. It felt flat and I was a little let down. I’m
Hoping as the series goes on that it gets more fleshed out and can pick up.

WOW. What an amazing world! I love the way Bertrand just throws you up — demands the reader be willing to read without understanding and trust that all will be revealed. Pacing lags seriously in the middle, but the overall payoff is worth it.

Upon beginning this novel I was immediately hooked with the immense world-building the expedition sets up. It became a tad confusing at certain points, but I enjoyed reading about this new world. At some points, however, I found myself wishing for more action during the extensive world-building sequences. I found Errol to be a very likeable, relatable main character which I enjoyed immensely.

Im gonna have to mass on this cause the main characters name is way to similar to a personal one in my life and I had not realized this. Default 5 stars to increase ratings.

A new spell-binding fantasy inspired by Ancient Greece.

Though confusing at times, the world-building in this story was so rich! I really liked the tone and atmosphere of the story. The plot was intriguing, and the writing. So many good lines. I'm a big fan of poetic but direct prose. However, it was a little too direct at points. I didn't feel like I was really in the thick of it with the characters, if that makes sense? And I feel like I would have enjoyed it more, had it been shorter. It was also a little too thick for the story it was trying to tell, in my opinion.

All in all, this was a really interesting fantasy. Mark your calendars for February 9, 2021!

A big thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an ARC of this book!

If this hadn't been quite as long (due to padding) it could have been a five star.

Something has happened in this world, something that created a walled off city of mile-high towers, each tower belongs to a guild that makes some product eventually shipped to the greater world once a year.  Teens can become runners, living on the rooftops for three(ish) years before serving as an apprentice to one guild or another.  Ok, so far, so familiar, right?  These runner love to play pranks on each other and one day one of them steals what look like iron knitting needles... and our adventure begins.  Why would these needles be so important that the administrator and his goons are prepared to do almost anything to get them back?  

Of course there are deep, dark secrets about the city to be discovered, corrupt leaders and interesting side stories to be uncovered.  Which we do, mostly.  Sometimes things go a little too long (all the life on the roof could have been condensed), and there are things left unresolved, perhaps leading to a second book (it's unclear).

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.