Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

A dark YA fantasy reimagining of the classic Grimm's Fairy Tale, "The Goose Girl," told from the villain's perspective. Anyone fascinated by morally gray characters will love this book. This reimagining takes the villain of the original fairy tale, the maid, and turns her into the protagonist. Vanja admits she's anything but perfect--she stole her mistresses' identity and steals from the rich, and she doesn't think she has anything to be particularly sorry for. After all, life is harsh, and sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands or perish. But when she steals from the wrong god, she is cursed for her greed, and she must find a way to escape the city (before anyone discovers her false identity and without giving up her freedom to serve her godmothers, Death and Fortune) and break the curse. The story highlights the many cruelties of a system that punishes the poor and puts young women at the mercy of men (their future is often based on their beauty) or at the mercy of their parents, who may or may not have their best interests at heart. The story takes quite a few twists and turns, and we eventually learn all of the events that took place that made Vanja into who she is today. Is she a villain? Perhaps there is no such thing.

I'm not familiar with "The Goose Girl" so I am unable to comment on the retelling. I did enjoy that the same story isn't being told by someone else in a different way. I enjoyed the characters and a refreshing new story. Great start to a new series.

Vanja was clever, quick-thinking, and downright funny. Absolutely loved this retelling of The Goose Girl and can’t wait for the sequel!

There's not a human alive who doesn't like Margaret Owen's works, and Little Thieves is yet another fantastic one. She's an impressive human being, designing a lot of her own covers and art and ensuring that we as the reader can see her worlds the same way she does, which you can see from her Twitter account. This book does not disappoint and is on par with everything else she has done.

Truly one of my favorite reads of 2021!! I've never stopped thinking about this book.
The main characters are all lovely little bastards (affectionate) who deserve the world.

This is a ya fantasy with a sweet romance subplot. I felt at times the pacing was a little too slow, but it was still an enjoyable read.

TLDR:

Little Thieves is the first in a new Fantasy Series by Margaret Owen. She is best known for writing The Merciful Crow duology.

Notable Elements:

- Greed
- Power
- Deceit

Likes:

- Characterization — There is a diverse cast of characters, who add to the uniqueness and expansiveness of Vanja’s story.

Dislikes:

- Directionless — Vanja’s actions never feel truly motivated or necessary.
- Unlikeable Narrator — Vanja reads as immature and entitled. I found her condescending tone off-putting and her character arc underwhelming.

Final Thoughts:

I found it really hard to get into get this book as it never really held my attention. I don’t think the writing is “bad,” but I unfortunately found every story direction uninteresting and unmotivated. I’ll definitely give Owen’s future books a chance, but I don’t think this particular book was for me. Perhaps if I had the context of "The Goose Girl," I might have appreciated the narrative more.

Rating:

2.5/5.0

I really struggled to get into this story. I don't know if it's the language barriers focusing on English folklore or just not being familar with the story. However, it was very beautifully written and I loved the wittiness of the character, Vanja.

I loved this book. The more I sit on my feelings about it, I’ve come to realize just how well the story was crafted. The book starts off a bit slow, which wasn’t ideal since I was in a bit of a reading slump. It felt like the author was showing us bits and pieces but this all combines to reveal the true story of Vanja and Gisele in such a satisfying way.

The side characters Ragne and Emetic are awesome as well. I especially loved Ragne. She was so charming, sweet, and her abilities made the story so much more fantastical and exciting. Her character contrasted with Vanja’s hard edges, making this friendship so endearing.

If you’ve read Margaret Owen’s other books you know she is great at world-building and her female protagonists are charismatic and well-developed.

MORALLY GRAY PROTAGONIST
I’m not familiar with the Goose Girl retelling but I was curious how the author was going to make us sympathize with Vanja. She is truly devious and unabashed in her thievery. You can’t help but feel wary of her because she literally took someone’s identity and left the other person to fend for themselves in an unknown land with little to no money. But the author does just that! I loved how the author explores the definition of morality. And to be honest, it was refreshing to be in the mind of such a scheming and resourceful protagonist. Her methods in duping those around were fun to follow.

“I see myself for what I am: a scared girl, alone in a cruel world, abandoned by family and friend, who would rather turn herself to bloodstained stone than let anyone get close enough to leave another scar. A girl who would rather die than serve anyone ever again. Even myself.”

PRIVILEGE VS SURVIVAL
I love how the author didn’t just pit Vanja and Gisele against each other. This isn’t petty rivalry between the two. The anger and bitterness between them is more layered. There are two sides to every coin and the author painted a vivid picture of what it means to have privilege contrasted with the decision desperate people make to survive. Vanja isn’t innocent, but she’s made her decisions because she wanted to grasp control over her own life. She’s been betrayed, neglected, and abused by those she loved deeply. Throughout the book, she learns a hard lesson - quite literally.

Gisele in her abandonment begins to learn about the privilege she had and how it blinded her to many things. Gisele's character is probably the least developed in the book. We simply don't get enough page time with Gisele, but that's understandable since we are seeing this from Vanja's perspective.

“Little thieves steal gold, and great ones steal Kingdoms, but only one goes to the gallows.”

SLOW BURN ROMANCE
I didn’t think I would love the romance as much as I did. Emeric is the perfect scholarly hottie that is totally my type of hero. He matched Vanja’s cleverness. This isn’t your standard YA rivals who banter with each other. This is a highly skilled detective pursuing a clever thief. Through their interactions, Emeric begins to see the goodness in Vanja. The devastating truths about her background. The chemistry and understanding between them made me swoon. And it’s not explicitly labeled, but I think both Vanja and Emeric might be demisexual, which is something I haven’t come across much in YA fantasy. The ending! I had the cheesiest smile on my face for how cute and perfectly it described their relationship.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. There is a sequel planned but Little Thieves can be read as a standalone fantasy. The ending is open ended but the events of the book wrap up nicely.

I can't believe I waited so long to start this one. I love retellings so was excited to read this, but then again it's another series so...😂

I finally decided to pick this up as it's an outstanding NetGalley and because of an October challenge for a book club. This is a big book BUT doesn't read like one. I loved the atmosphere, characters and story. This was a fast read for me and I finished in just a few days. I believe the 2nd is out already and I am definitely snagging it.

I actually haven't heard of The Goose Girl but I do have the Brothers Grimm fairy tales so will definitely be reading it after finishing this one. This is definitely a good one for fantasy and magic-loving fans.

I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. While a review wasn't expected, I have offered my opinion and these are my own thoughts.

As soon as I knew Margaret Owen was going to be coming out with the new book I knew I had to get this one and I absolutely love this I feel like she just has such a great way of World building I loved the characters I loved the plot everything about this was just awesome and I cannot wait for the next book.

I had such an excellent time reading this book.

I haven't read much fantasy or much YA in recent months and this book absolutely reminded me that I should rectify both of those things. I was so invested in this story.

My little criticisms shall come first. I occasionally found the narration style a tough overwrought. The tongue and cheek telling of a tale was mostly a delight but occasionally over explained. I would have liked slightly more radical politics from Vanja, she was slightly more forgiving of Gisele than I felt made sense. She starts the book very eat the rich and that is mostly a thread that is done well, but the book focused a little bit more on individual actions than I would have prefered. But this is quite slight. I also tend to be annoyed when the final reveal is hidden from the reader, but I had figured it out already so this bothered me less than usual. I did think it took the characters too long to figure out the legal matter they were going to face, but that can be explained by it being targeted at a younger age group.

Overall I was really delighted by this book. I wanted to be reading it whenever I could not be. It made me cry three times. I constantly wanted to see what was coming next, and I really loved the cast of characters.

Vanja, the narrator, is particularly well written. She is such an excellent exploration of the ways past trauma can cause maladaptive behaviors in later life. Most of the time her intense suspicion and wairyness are incredibly helpful to her, but there is an excellent moment in this book where Vanja is reacting to trauma in a way that is self sabotaging and Owens writes this in an incredibly heart wrenching and empathy building way. I truly ached for Vanja many times in this book. Every choice she makes is so incredibly understandable even when the reader can identify the 'better' choice to make. She is also just a fun character. She is clever and playful and vindictive, which is truly delightful to read.

This book has lots of casual queer representation. This isn't a world free of homophobia, but it is a world where most people who aren't cruel are generally accepting of queer people. We get lots of background queer people, including references to binary trans people and some on page nonbinary or gender fluid people. There are sapphic secondary characters (at least four), and the main romance is a girl and a boy but they are both presented as demisexual.

I really loved the romance in this book. It was quite sweet, but also had incredibly high stakes attached. Owen makes the pair excellent foils to each other and does not shy away from giving them very serious conflict. She really shows the ways in which the two deeply understand each other early on, then shows the reader the deep ways in which they misunderstand each other. Which obviously had disastrous consequences. Owen builds this dynamic so excellently. I really adored it.

In general Owen just layers conflict really well. I was constantly invested in what was coming. There were so many interesting threads of this plot and I was glued to the page to see what was coming up next. I found the plot intellectually interesting before I found it emotionally enthralling, but before long I was invested in both aspects equally.

I really loved reading this book. I shall have to dive into Owen's back catalog and I will certainly read whatever she writes next.

Little Thieves is a fun, slow-burning loose retelling of The Goose Girl. The characters are fantastic and so enjoyable to follow on this adventure. The story follow Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, who takes the life of Princess Gisele who ends up a penniless nobody while Vanja takes her place. When Vanja crosses the wrong God, she gets cursed and must face the consequences or break the curse. This is absolutely one of my favorite retellings ever. It is an enjoyable ride from start to finish. Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Little Thieves today.

I can not tell you how much I loved this book! One of the best YA books I've ever read!
The characters are fleshed out, the banter is *Chef's Kiss* I LIVE for good banter. And I love stories about folklore that isn't as popular. And I love a morally grey main character that stays morally grey.

Although the beginning of this book was slow to start, I was quickly sucked in! If you’re looking for a fun adventure look no further!

Finally, a book that has humor but isn't annoying! Every other "funny" book is just snark snark snark and bad jokes, but this one has a humor that makes sense, and a real heart to it, with real teeth as well. No character is any one thing and everyone gets the chance to grow and change and make mistakes and have themselves heard. The cast of characters is stacked and the world building in the book is also really interesting (though occasionally blended together a little bit...i kept getting two couples mixed up). A unique story with a great ensemble cast, great romance and a lot of fun .

This book was such a ride. Margaret Owen is a master storyteller and Little Thieves does not disappoint!

Such a cute book. I’m not super into YA anymore but I do love how this has romance in it! Very slow burn, but it was fun to read it develop and bloom (also a relationship from side characters too!). I appreciated the LGBTQ rep in a book where it was seen as normal, not something strange or looked down on. It’s a good book for young readers to get into. I probably wouldn’t read again just being an adult that prefers older situations but still a great read.

Margaret Owen has fast become one of my favorite authors.
The delightful cast of characters, the well built world and beautifully paced story- all simply a joy to read.
While this is a re-telling of "The Goose Girl," it does not read as just another re-telling of a fairy tale (as, sadly, so many that pop up do now). It feels fresh and fun, despite using some common tropes.
Can not wait to read the sequel!!