A glimmering pearl of a fantasy novel

A review of Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

It should tell you something about how much I love this book that, even though I got a free ARC from NetGalley, I’m still planning on buying myself a hardback edition of the book for my collection — and I’ve already preordered the sequel, Painted Devils, due out in early 2023.

First impressions

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen is an exceptional novel, and I loved every single page. It has that perfect trifecta of great writing style, rounded and sympathetic characters, and a fantastic plot. Billed as 14-plus young adult fiction, it’s definitely a book that will also appeal to adult fantasy readers too.

While the main characters are almost all in their teens, they are essentially facing adult responsibilities in the fantasy world they live in and that comes across in their characterisation.

Vanja, the narrator and little thief of the title, is refreshingly wry and witty. We meet her in the middle of a magically-assisted heist, just when things are starting to go wrong for her. There is suddenly a gods-ordained thief-catcher on her trail, she has been cursed to turn into gemstones by Eiswald, one of the low gods and an embodiment of the forest, and the evil fiance of the girl whose life she’s stolen (with the help of some enchanted pearls) has come back from war and is rushing her to the altar.

Despite her actions — which she fully owns up to — Vanja is a sympathetic and enjoyably protagonist, who I warmed to immediately. Life has made her self-interested, but only because being self-interested is the only way she can survive. She has been let down by everyone in her life — many of them not maliciously, but through failing to understand that Vanja is her own person, and has her own wants and needs, separate from their own.

Vanja’s relationship with her godmothers (literal gods!), Fortune and Death, is really heart-breaking for much of the book. Vanja only wants to be their daughter, and their actions lead her to feel like she’s been rejected and abandoned by them.

There are a wide range of well-developed side characters too, with Ragne (Eiswald’s daughter), Emeric the thief-hunter, the real Giselle, and Joniza the bard (and Vanja’s previous mentor) serving as the most fleshed-out central characters alongside Vanja.

What about the world-building?

Owen has built a vibrant and distinct fantasy setting, calling back to the Germanic roots of the Goose Girl story the plot is inspired by. Castle Reigenbach is the centre of the city-state Vanja’s playing her hoax in, people can use magic through spells and potions (for a cost) literal nightmare creatures can take form and kill people, riding them to death in their sleep, and a friendly hearth spirit will protect you — as long as you feed it mead and grits every day. The low gods are concepts like Death, Justice, Truth and Fortune personified, and they can appear anywhere they like and interact with humans.

More magical for me, however, is how incidental the representation was in the book. LGBT+ people are completely normal and nothing to question, including clear mention and acceptance of trans people, and we’re in a queernorm world where gay relationships of all kinds are totally accepted as part fo the norm. There are also different races in the book (at least 2 of the side characters with significant roles are women of colour) and excellent demisexual representation.

Alongside this magic and everyday inclusion, though, there are still dark aspects to the society — people can be greedy, cruel and corrupt, the lower classes suffer at the whims of the nobility, there is a lot of political manoeuvering for power in the background — but it’s those aspects that are interrogated and challenged in the book. The dividing force in Owen’s world is not race, gender or sexuality, but class and power — who has, who doesn’t, and who will do anything for more.

Despite these darker aspects — and some well-handled references to past abuse — the plot was full of fun twists and turns. Having Vanja not only trying to find a way to break her curse but also tackling a suspicious investigator and the need to escape her murderous bridegroom leads to lots of excellent hijinks.

What’s also wonderful is that, as Vanja is our narrator, we only know what she knows. This means the changes of fate and twists in the story take us by surprise as much as they do her, which is delightful. It also means that we can see when Vanja is being truthful with herself, lying to herself, or just doesn’t quite understand the motivations of people around her (even as we see them), which provides a lot of pathos to the story.

What I loved about the development of the story, too, is that it’s not all up to Vanja to take action and change who she is to break her curse. Other people around her have to learn and grow as well and become stronger or more open-minded, and Vanja doesn’t have to debase herself to avoid death. Instead, much of Vanja’s journey is about healing from trauma and learning to trust herself and others. I’ve read nearly 200 books this year, and this is easily in my top five.

Content notes

As I mentioned, there are some references to past abuse. There is also mention of sexual assault (taking place off the page in the past), parental neglect and abuse, body horror/modification by magic, murder and drug use (again, taking place off the page). I think all of these issues are dealt with really sensitively by Owen, and there is nothing graphic in the novel, but if you choose to avoid any of these topics, you should approach this cautiously.

You’ll love this if you enjoyed

• Uprooted and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
• The Merciful Crow duology by Margaret Owen
• Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce
• Other fairytale retellings, like Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron, or folk tale-inspired fiction like The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden