Review: The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braid or a really hard book to put down!

Hello people! How are you? I hope you all are good, here it seems like Autumn is finally here and I am so happy! Quite wet, because it rains every day, and usually it rains when I have to go out with Ade or when I am going to work, but happy! Anyway, today I am back with another review so… let’s start!

Title: The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braid
Series: Amra Thetys #1
Author: Michael McClung
Page Count: 208

Amra Thetys lives by two simple rules—take care of business, and never let it get personal. Thieves don’t last long in Lucernis otherwise. But when a fellow rogue and good friend is butchered on the street in a deal gone wrong, she turns her back on burglary and goes after something more precious than treasure: Revenge.
Revenge, however, might be hard to come by. A nightmare assortment of enemies, including an immortal assassin and a mad sorcerer, believe Amra is in possession of The Blade That Whispers Hate—the legendary, powerful artifact her friend was murdered for—and they’ll do anything to take it from her.
Trouble is, Amra hasn’t got the least clue where the Blade might be.
She needs to find the Blade, and soon, or she’ll be joining her colleague in a cold grave instead of avenging his death. Time is running out for the small, scarred thief.

I waited a long time before writing this review because I really enjoyed this book, but I haven’t a lot to say about it. And I was hoping to find something to say about it if I just thought a bit more. But… I wasn’t so lucky. So I hope to make justice to this book, and to make sense of my thoughts, but no guarantee here!

The point is that I enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. I have enjoyed it so much that I didn’t stop as planned: I started this book because I was taking part to the read-along, or at least this was the idea, but once I started it I couldn’t stop. And so I spent a glorious afternoon (and evening) immersed in Amra’s adventures.

And we are not alone. We have Bones (he is just adorable and I hope to meet him again!) and a lot of side characters that are as well developed as the main one. Ok, that’s not entirely true. I have found the support characters even better developed that Amra herself. And this is such a peculiar thing. It is almost as if we learn more about her, and we see her as more real, through the other characters. More they are alive and complex, and more we knew about Amra too.
And it is not to say that we see her through the eyes of the others, it is there in part yes, but it is that giving form and complexity to the people we met, the author manages to give more substance to Amra too.This is not to say that she is plain or boring, even if she is all about balance, balance as a way of life (she is a thieves, but she is honorable with the ones that she loves or befriend, she tries to stay out of complicated things, but she won’t hesitate if the big things involve a friend) and balance in her personality and in her look. Balanced, yes, plain or boring, absolutely no.
But the other characters are more… I don’t know which word to use. Interesting is not the right one, because Amra is interesting, she is witty, she is determined and she is a great MC. Colorful won’t be the right one, either. I mean Holgren is not your usual wizard, that’s an understatement, but colorful is not the word I would use for him, either. And he is quite the lively character. He is original and there is more that what you can see with him. I just hope to discover more in the sequels. Because I would read them for sure. I have to read them!!
Anyway, as I was saying… We have other characters too. Holgren has a peculiar humor, but there is no surprise here. He is a peculiar man himself. And he is just fantastic. And Alain was surprising. He is secondary at best, but he and his family are just so real too!
And I liked that Amra managed to find unexpected ally in some singular characters. I enjoyed them!

And then we have the plot. We have so much in this short book, because it is short! It is not the shortest, yes, but it is not a long book. But we have it all. We have action, mystery, intrigues, plot, feelings and adventure. You could not ask for more, really. And it is fast-paced.
And all of these things mix together perfectly, and in the end you are there with this book in your hands, and you won’t be able to put it down.

So, have you read this book? Or are you planning to do it? Let me know!

Happy reading!
S.