Book Review: Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

Name: Midnight Thief (Midnight Thief #1)
Author: Livia Blackburne
Number of Pages: 376 pages in Hardcover
Published: July 8th 2014 by Disney-Hyperion
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Growing up on Forge’s streets has taught Kyra how to stretch a coin. And when that’s not enough, her uncanny ability to scale walls and bypass guards helps her take what she needs. But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she’s not sure she wants to play by his rules. But he’s persistent—and darkly attractive—and Kyra can’t quite resist his pull. Tristam of Brancel is a young Palace knight on a mission. After his best friend is brutally murdered by Demon Riders, a clan of vicious warriors who ride bloodthirsty wildcats, Tristam vows to take them down. But as his investigation deepens, he finds his efforts thwarted by a talented thief, one who sneaks past Palace defenses with uncanny ease.When a fateful raid throws Kyra and Tristam together, the two enemies realize that their best chance at survival—and vengeance—might be to join forces. And as their loyalties are tested to the breaking point, they learn a startling secret about Kyra’s past that threatens to reshape both their lives.

This is my December feature for the meme Random Reads. I’m getting great in keeping up with this meme. Hihi! So I got this book because the book cover is amazingly mysterious. Yeah. Call it judging the book by its cover. You got me there. I forgot all about this though. Given that I’ve acquired tons of books for the past weeks. This meme helped me a lot so far in reading books I’ve already forgotten. Though I’ve read awesome reviews, I’ve also stumbled upon not so good reviews about the book and I must admit I’ve got of issues myself which is sad since I want to like this at the very least.

This is an easy read. The writing is pretty much straightforward. Nothing out of the ordinary which is somehow, for me, not good. Though it’s an easy read, I can’t connect with the first couple of chapters or let’s say four to five chapters, that is. I kept on reading since the premise of the book has a lot of potential. In the middle of the book, I’ve come to realized that the ending could somehow be good or trash. The world building is no great shakes. It’s in an archaic town on a monarchy type of government with corruption and poverty as main issues. BTW, the King and Queen were never mentioned. Just the councilmen, knights and Red Shields aka soldiers. As you can see, everything is quite stereotyped so far. Nothing really remarkable. I have a lot of unanswered questions from how the plot goes. Not even a conclusion on why things were like this and that. So the main protagonist is a thief that cannot defend herself. Go figure. Raiding houses of the rich only equipped with her speed and the ability to hide. Pretty fantastic (Insert Sarcasm). She was caught in a situation where she can only choose to join a gang of men, a little close to Robin Hood’s pack who claimed to be stealing for the poor, who offers a lot of money for her to house her beloved gutter rats or struggle to earn money so she can survive each day. Poor little thief. Sigh. They had her doing things, but was only told a few snippets about the whole plan. She chose not to question them as long as they’re paying her good. Pretty fantastic (Insert Sarcasm). She eventually learned about the gang’s wicked plan and decided to leave the group. That’s where she was threatened and agreed to do one last job before letting her go. She was caught and held prisoner by the councilmen and she helps them capture the gang in the end. Then, she was “captured” again by shape-shifters. People who transform into huge cats. That’s where I lost it. That’s where my confusion started and never left. That’s where questions poured and were never answered. Come on. You cannot continue with the story without enlightening readers where this came from. Seriously? After her capture, a lot has happened, but I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t even care with the twist presented nor how the book has ended. Sigh. The failed attempt to add a love triangle is annoying. I like the romance between Kyra and Tristam though. It’s far from InstaLove and really not forced. I like their pair’s development. That’s it.

The character development was poorly done too. Wait. Is there a character development? None. Kyra is the famous thief who is amazingly poor despite of her incredible ability. If I’m a thief with her “ability”, I could be snorkeling with a lot of money put in a pool or I’ll be in a cover of Forbes magazine, smiling next to Oprah and the Queen. Sounds familiar? Lol. The very reason of everything that has happened was her ambition to earn a lot of money to help her favorite orphans. Pretty superficial. She’s even attracted to a much older guy who’s the leader of the Guild. Eww. I don’t know, but I don’t like her. Tristam is a stupid knight who’s confused whether to obey his superiors or not ’cause of his feelings for Kyra. He did get in trouble for it. I can’t say I like him too. James is the leader of the Assassin’s Guild. I can’t figure out why he’s doing the things he’s doing. It was just mentioned that it was for the greater good and then what? See? No character development. He’s just an evil in disguise. Period. Flick is the super best friend. Period. The councilmen are cruel. Period. The others? No idea.

I don’t know. It didn’t work well for me. It’s like a failed attempt of Kim Possible.
Though Kim saves the world in her spare time.
Not joining gangs for money and eventually waking up in a forest with shape-shifters.
Not sure If I’ll wait for book two. It could work for you though.

It pains me to give it a star since there are parts that got me
excited and intrigued so here’s a two.