I adored this book from the beginning to the very end. I didn't even know that it was a retelling of "The Goose Girl" until after I finished it and thought more about it. I loved Vanja's determination on becoming her own person and to not serve Death. She robs the rich royalty of their jewels and is trying to make a better life for herself.

Thank you to Margaret Owen and Netgalley for this advanced readers copy.

I’ve been losing patience with YA fairy tale retellings for a long time, so I wasn’t expecting to love Little Thieves – but I absolutely did. It’s wonderfully voicey, with a fantastic flawed, realistic heroine, a fabulous set of secondary characters, some great worldbuilding and an immensely satisfying plot.

Go. Pick. Up. This. Book. Now. It's been a while since I've been so immersed in a book. “Little Thieves” sucks you in and you won’t want to get out of its wonderful world. I loved the German folklore influence, this book is a retelling of “The Goose Girl”, written by the Brothers Grimm. “Little Thieves” is, somehow, an aesthetically pleasing world (not just the cover, which is also amazing!). I enjoyed Margaret Owen’s writing, she wonderfully crafted a retelling of a children’s story and I can assure you, you will love it.

The goddaughter of Fortune and Death steals the life of the princess she has served for years and gains access to a life of wealth and comfort. When a low god becomes wise to her thieving ways, though, she is cursed to know the price of her greed. As she tries to break her curse, a Prefect comes to town chasing her alter-ego, the Red Penny. Will she be able to evade him in time to break her curse? Or will her greed kill her first?

I’ll admit…it took me until about halfway through this book to really get into it. The first half is amusing and well written, for sure, but also a bit bland. As the plot picks up towards the middle though, it felt like all of a sudden the characters came fully, vividly to life. This story is whimsical and fairy tale-esque, but I also found Vanja to be a very funny narrator and loved how she broke the fourth wall. (I can’t type "fourth wall" without thinking of Fleabag, one of the greatest shows of all time.) Owen does a masterful job unraveling her motives and deeper wounds, and I found that the way that she resolved her conflicts with her loved ones in stages to feel deeply human and authentic. We all know what it is like to harbour resentment and anger, and figure out how to let it out so that we can let relationships heal – it doesn’t happen overnight. Vanja’s character development was spot on, as was her relationship with Emric. This book is true (and refreshingly) YA, and I’d recommend it as such with no qualms. It reminded me a bit of both Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden’s work as well, with interesting lore and familiar-feeling characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

It has been so long since a fantasy book sucked me in completely. From the epilogue the book was already impossible to put down. The author has such a distinct old fairy tale voice that it gave the book a fantastic atmosphere. I also loved the representation that was included like the F/F couple, the M/M couple abs the Non-Binary character. The pacing in the first quarter of the book was a bit slow but once I got about 30% in I could not put it down

This is 100% how I imagine all folk tales about the villains should be written. Dark, woodsy, and just feels like dirt under your nails. I have not heard of the "Goose Girl" that this is apparently based off of but I'm here for this.

Margaret Owen delivers another unforgettable novel that brilliantly weaves themes of trauma and class oppression into a well-crafted fantasy led by a refreshingly complex heroine. It also manages to be absolutely hilarious, treating its characters and themes with as hunch humor as it does heart. The old-world-Europe world building and perfectly supports a character-driven plot and well-rounded cast of Chaos Demons that have you rooting for them from start to finish. Please do yourself a favor and read it yourself, but definitely suggest it to fans of Leigh Bardugo. Actually, just give it to everyone. Any YA Fantasy fan. They will thank you.

There are many reasons to like this book: the protagonist is complicated, the plot moves quickly, and is interesting, and it's a queer normative world. For those reasons, I would recommend it to young adults and older. It's another fairytale retelling book, and "Goose Girl" isn't the most well-known fairytale. I sometimes got a little impatient with the protagonist. I know her life was hard and unfair, but she makes selfish decisions in response. I wouldn't necessarily use her as a role model, but I can see how this book could be used to ask good and deep questions about how we act when we feel we are wronged. It's a good fable for our society, and what happens to those left behind from the capitalist dream. The thing that this book really has going for it is that even though it's based on a fairytale, you're not always sure what's going to happen, how characters will act. It will surprise you, and that's reason enough to read it.

4.5 stars

“It has been nearly thirteen years since Death and Fortune claimed me for their own, and I have come far enough through winter and cold that almost no one calls me Vanja now.”

I read this sentence and I was a goner. Immediately hooked, instant captivation - who has responsibilities? Me? Don’t know her- I’m reading my new favorite fantasy retelling *hair flip*

“Once upon a time, there was a girl as cunning as the fox in winter, as hungry as the wolf at first frost, and cold as the icy wind that kept them at each other’s throats. Her name was not Gisele, nor was it Greta, nor even Pfennigeist. My name was—is—Vanja. And this is the story of how I got caught.”

The number one thing I adore about MO are the worlds she creates, they’re imaginative and elaborate and beyond anything I could ever comprehend. But what struck me even more about Little Thieves was the clever way the original tale of The Goose Girl was incorporated with essentially the same moral and characters at first glance while also standing entirely on its own as a fantasy tale unlike any other.

And not to mention just deliciously morally grey characters that resonate with me on a personal level- you just get where they’re coming from ya know? And you can’t help but root for them all the way.

Add to that a narrator dripping in snarky wit, dialogue packed with banter, and sass upon sass that had me literally rolling with laughter. If you pick up any fantasy retelling from this year then let it be this one.

“There’s a shimmering, intoxicating kind of thrill to it, this game between us. I am his puzzle and he is my lock, and it’s an arms race to solve the other first.”

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Children’s Publishing Group for an advanced copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions are solely my own. I also bought myself a physical copy and listened on an audiobook from the library because this book was too good to put down.

content warnings: animal death, reference to sexual assault, parental abandonment/neglect, emotional and physical abuse

Little Thieves is a retelling of The Goose Girl fairytale, from the perspective of the thief named Vanja instead of the princess! For those unfamiliar with the tale, Vanja steals an enchanted pearl necklace that gives her the appearance of the princess she worked as a maid for, and she betrays her to steal her life as well. We follow Vanja in her attempts to play the role of princess while stealing enough gilden to escape her life, the kingdom, a horrible prince (of sorts), a clever prefect close on her tail, her two godmothers who are literally gods, and an ill-fated curse. Will she manage to escape with her life?

I am 100% certain I’ve read this fairytale as a little girl before, but I have no idea where from, and I was thrilled to remember it all over again in a way that made me feel torn apart and amused and loved and seen.

I struggle to find the proper words to describe what I loved about this book, because my immediate answer is everything?! The characters all felt real and genuine and multifaceted, the dialogue and banter left me in tears from laughter or heartbreak, and I truly was hooked on this book from the very first page.

Margaret Owen is now one of my favorite authors, this is probably my favorite book of the month (jury’s still out but possibly the entire year), and I eagerly anticipate reading the sequel and her original series!!

Such a beautifully written story that I can see sparking inspiration for others. I believe this is a story that will be recommended by others in the future as well and will include audiences of multiple varieties. I love books that span the ages like this one.

Little Thieves has firmly cemented Margaret Owen into my auto-buy authors list. I loved The Merciful Crow duology (so much that I'm still thinking about it months later), and so I was thrilled to read her next book. While this is a total departure in story, the writing is just as good if not better. Despite the fact that she's the adopted daughter of Death & Fortune and mascarading as a princess, everything about Vanja felt relatable. Her struggles and goals were realistic despite the magical elements. The side characters made the novel, especially Ragne who I think had the most impact on Vanja's growth. Overall, highly recommend!

This book started out way slower than I expected but the ending was totally worth it. I really enjoyed the magic system but wished it was explained more - I think some of the time in the beginning of the book could have been spent here.

I loved this book! A great start to a fantasy series with a unique take on the Goose Girl myth. I would recommend this to anyone who likes YA fantasy.

Vanja is a thief who is trying to escape the possibility of serving her adoptive mothers, Death and Fortune. Looking to steal an amount that will allow her to live comfortably and leave Death and Fortune’s influence, she impersonates a princess with the help of a set of pearls and takes from the nobility. But when Vanja steals the wrong object, she finds herself cursed with only two weeks to break it. Vanja has other challenges too since a junior prefect is sniffing around her robberies looking to catch the culprit and the margrave is, well, trying to kill her.

The Merciful Crow duology is a series I absolutely loved and I frequently recommend it to others. Margaret Owen has a way of diving immediately into the action and spinning out the backstory of the protagonist slowly. And while this has worked well in the past, I found that I didn’t love this technique as much here. It took me a while to get into Little Thieves specifically for this reason because Vanja is not a particularly likeable character at the start of her story. In fact, I would call Vanja an anti-hero at the beginning of the novel. As a reader, I realize that’s the point, but it made it difficult to empathize with Vanja until aspects of her backstory were revealed. As this happened and she learned to trust others and be vulnerable, she became more likeable and grew into the role of an actual hero. And as Vanja hits that point about midway through the novel, I found myself more engaged. Owen does have a knack for writing the scrappy, downtrodden character who uses sarcasm as a defense mechanism.

Vanja is not the only character to experience growth. The secondary characters in Little Thieves were excellent, specifically Ragne, Gisele, Emeric, and Joniza. Each plays their a role in the novel and has their own arc, which provides them with the ability to fully grow into themselves. Shape-shifting Ragne learns about love and what it’s like to be human while Gisele and Joniza find ways to forgive and develop compassion for others. Emeric is the most like Vanja and sees the loneliness that has plagued both of their lives. While I predicted an enemies to lovers connection between Emeric and Vanja given their similarities, Owen always writes relationships in such a way that the characters genuinely fit together as they get to know each other, and as a reader, they have me rooting for their success. I loved the final few lines of the book that closed off not only the tale but Emeric and Vanja’s relationship.

The structure of the story was also somewhat unique. Scattered throughout the novel, there are “tales,” which are written like parts of a fairytale; however, each of these sections takes a turn in the final few paragraphs with a shift to first-person pronouns that show how Vanja fits into this section of the tale. Given that Little Thieves is a retelling of The Goose Girl fairytale, these sections worked well. And seeing as how The Goose Girl is a Germanic fairytale, Owen leans into this aspect, including pieces of the language and names of people and locations that hint at the origins of the story. Owen does twist the fairytale in some interesting ways and Little Thieves ends up being a fun mix of adventure, mystery, and redemption.

Overall, while I didn’t enjoy Little Thieves as much as Owen’s previous duology, I still think this entry shines above its contemporaries in the young adult genre. Additionally, even though Owen has decided to continue on with Vanja’s character, Little Thieves functions well as a standalone novel. That being said, I will definitely be picking up whatever Owen writes next!

this was a weird one for me honestly. i think the problem lay in the fact that i liked the secondary and side characters much more than the main character. i definitely understood why she was the way she was, but it made me difficult to care. additionally, the pacing was a bit off for me, a bit slow and then all at once. the second half was definitely much better for me!

nonbinary lesbian shapeshifters for the win

My best read of 2021 -- an absolutely BRILLIANT book. The worldbuilding is exceptional, the characters are flawed, nuanced, and endearing, and the plot's twists left me hungry for more with every turn of the page. Owen is truly a masterclass writer, and I can't wait for the next thing she writes.

Oh I love it. It’s the first book that made me cry not because somebody died but because I could feel Vanyja’s emotional pain so much.
She definitely has a beautiful arc coming from it’s just me to convincing herself and the world around her that there is more to her.

Emeric Conrad is also an interesting character that takes on a antagonist roll to Vanyja. He seams to be one dimensional at first but eventually you realize that that is intentional. Their back and forth is very entertaining.

Also the world building is very beautiful and intriguing. I love the ideas of mixing many different mythologies. Form what I could identify there was the obvious German but also some Russian and Greek. I would love to explore this world some more.

All together this is a worthy read with interesting characters and a good arcs. I got this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgally.

“You know an awful lot of big boy no-no words for a man of the gods.”

This book had me so hyped it was everything and more. I haven’t read anything by this author but clearly I’ve been missing out because I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it so much I kept going back to certain chapters to reread parts that I found too good not to read over again. Even after finishing the book I skimmed the book to my favorite parts.


“You see,” I say gravely, “when two people love each other very much, or at least think the other’s passable if you squint—” “Yes I understand now thank you.” I can practically hear his blush.

The characters mainly our girl Vanja, has me cackling! Though I felt for her horrible upbringing and just the crap life she had to endure, she had a way about her that you couldn’t help but laugh at how she took on the world. I really enjoyed reading her character, even the parts where you wanted to strangle her with sense that everything would be ok. That she could trust those around her, trauma is trauma and we support a strong boss biss for her hard work and resilient! Vanja would definitely be my best friend, no doubt.

It’s the little things in life that surprise you, isn’t it? Like how you can be trapped in a burning building, and it’ll still seem easier to deal with than being accused of murder by a boy you thought you might—no.

Ok this was just infuriating but accurate with the situation. I just wanted Vanja to love but a girl had to look out for what was best for her self. And you can’t trust no one, especially the nerdy prefect that seems not all what he seems ( if that makes any sense, just read the book and you’ll understand.)

I can’t be wrong. My fear can’t be wrong. Nothing stolen is ever mine. But there’s another truth on the other side of that coin: What is mine can always be stolen. I will not be anyone’s servant, even my own; I will always be a thief. I am never going to let myself be happy. I’m always, always going to steal it from myself. I press my fists over my eyes. Panic roars through me, and I cannot keep the tide at bay, I am falling through shame and horror, I’m a fool, I can’t do anything right, I will always be haunted by myself—

The life lesson of the century, we will always be our worst enemies. Vanja learned this the hard way and as much as she wanted all the happiness in the word she was better at self sabotage. This was so hard to read through because I think we all go through this at some point In life.

This book was amazing I gave it a five star rating. I could not rave about it enough. I loved it so much I went and bought it right after I finished it. READ THIS BOOK.

That's the tagline of this book and I won't deny that this sentence alone already poked my interest. Then knowing that it's also a retelling of "The Goose Girl" made me excited even more. The Goose Girl is one of the retellings that I'm so curious to read and its retelling not easy to find either.

It's so refreshing to read a retelling of a fairytale that hasn't been told much. Whether you are a fan of The Goose Girl or you just love fairytales retelling I think you'll love this book.

This is the first book of Owen's that I've read and I'm really surprised by how she made the story feel so atmospheric. While reading this book, I feel that I was in a German village in some medieval times. Also, this book has very strong "fairytales" vibes!

The cast of characters is also quite interesting. I'm not really a big fan of unlikeable characters (they just tested my patience) but I didn't hate Vanja that much - although she definitely fall into the group lol. BUT I LOOVE Ragne! She is just the BEST! If you are a fan of an anti-hero story, this book will be your gem.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: ★★★★☆ (3.75)