To Catch a Magic Thief
by E. J. Kitchens
PLOT SYNOPSIS
Marcel Ellsworth, Baron of Carrington, has an extraordinary talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, suspected of being the famous Magic Thief, he is ordered by a police inspector to stay away from enchanters, sorcerers, and generally anything magic. Fortunately, he is planning to spend the next month learning about estate management from the Duke of Henly. Unfortunately, he soon discovers that the duke is the head of a proud family of enchanters. And if being responsible for a failing estate while dodging magic in a house owned by enchanters is not trouble enough, it quickly becomes evident that the Magic Thief is poised to strike again. And this time, he has more than just magical trinkets in his sights.
Age Recommendation: 12+
Warning: Mild violence and mildly disturbing imagery
Faith Based: Yes
ISBN: 978-09993-5092-8
Overall
Characters
Story/Plot
Writing
Setting
Consistency
THE BOTTOM LINE
This mix of Jane Austen and fantasy is worth putting on your reading list.
THOUGHTS…
If Jane Austen wrote less pretentious stories and included magic in them, she might have written this book. First, let me point out that this is not an action-packed adventure. The story focuses on characters and their relationships for most of its length. The two main characters are excellent, believable, and flawed in realistic and relatable ways. For example, one is prideful, and the other is a bit prejudiced (get it?). Their failings are natural, relatable, and serve to make their successes feel earned in a significant way. I also appreciated that the male protagonist is written to be a plain, bumbling character who just wants to do the right thing but has both physical and mental barriers standing in his way. The relationship between these characters is a driving force in the novel. Though hampered occasionally by the use of coincidence to create artificial barriers and an extraordinarily sudden final change of heart, the depiction of the friendship growing between the two is quite good, able to carry the story on its own merit. I have only good things to say about the fantasy elements of the story. The magic system introduced is multi-faceted and intriguing. It is described neither too much, nor too little so the reader can appreciate it without being inundated. Additionally, lore and history of the world is introduced via snippets before each chapter. Few books can make this work, notable exceptions being Jurassic Park and The Oath, but Ms. Kitchens pulls it off, and I found myself eagerly reading each new piece of information rather than skipping over it. Ultimately, To Catch a Magic Thief is a fun read sure to keep you entranced for the duration. The ending is simultaneously a bit convoluted and predictable, but since character development and relationships carry the story, this small critique can easily be forgotten in light of how good the book is.
RANTS AND RAMBLES (SPOILER WARNING)
- This book focuses on characters and their development, and E. J. does a good enough job in this department that it is easily the biggest strength of the book. The main characters in particular are believable, flawed, sometimes frustrating, and likeable. The entitled, self-absorbed nature of the characters made me want to reach into the pages and smack them on several occasions. Considering that this was the point, it shows how well Elizabeth crafted her characters. Though glossed over in many stories, the flaws of the main characters are often the most important aspect because these imperfections make the later successes feel much more significant. If the main characters have few or no flaws, the best outcome is pretty much a foregone conclusion, and the potential for failure is rarely a serious consideration.
- In contrast to the main characters, several of the side characters are examples of Chekhov’s Gun, which is to say they were introduced early on for the sole purpose of being used in a twist near the end. Unfortunately, the time spent on these seemingly unimportant characters made the twists somewhat predictable and less than jaw-dropping. Had these characters been handled with a bit more finesse, the twists would have been executed to much greater effect.
- The male protagonist is described as being plain and gauche, but his portrayal on the cover makes him look like a male model. This follows a trend of book covers not necessarily lining up with what is inside, and it irritates me a bit.
- The writing of the book is admirable and creates a natural flow and rhythm to the story. I enjoy uncommon words and was pleased by the exceptional vocabulary this novel utilized.
- The romance at the heart of the story was both good and bad. On the one hand, the general relationship and friendship depicted growing between the two main characters was quite good, able to carry the story on its own merit. On the other hand, the story did rely heavily on coincidence and misunderstanding (a terrible romance trope unless executed correctly) to build artificial walls between them. Then, near the end of the story, it appears Elizabeth ran out of room to bring the relationship arc full circle and skipped a few steps. The final change of heart happens very quickly and perhaps a bit unrealistically.
- Something the book gets right in a very big way is the scale of the plot. There are no epic storylines here, no world-ending threat and no fate-of-the-country consequences. The story knows it is small scale, ultimately about the interactions between two people, and it sticks to this. Honestly, it’s great to read a book with more grounded, realistic stakes. Not everything is a world-ending calamity.
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