So clever!
My first impression of this is that I get the same feeling listening to this that I did as when I listened to Family of Lies by Sam Argent. So, I think, fans of that title will love this! It also sort of felt like Jordan L Hawk’s “Hex” series.
Where this story fails in those comparisons is the polish. Mouse is fully fleshed out but does change a bit near the end in such a way that he lacks the same “oomph” with which he started. The romance, while secondary, isn’t as well done as it is in Hawk’s books, and the ending neither promised a sequel nor felt completely satisfying.
It’s a sort of historical/fantasy piece where the thief has all the smarts and runs his mouth constantly and befuddles the bad guys and in the meantime falls for the good, and “proper” royal.
Joel Leslie is amazing at giving us all the various characters – including multiple voices for some characters. (I don’t even KNOW how he can manage all those voices!) I was really glad I’d listened to this rather than read it, because he definitely kept me engaged when I might have lost some of my impetus.
In any case, this is fun, funny and a little bit romantic. This is a fairly low steam (fade to black when it comes to “intimacy”) romance, but our characters have plenty of feels between them. Most of this is fantasy with lots and lots of action and twists and turns as Mouse outsmarts all the “bad guys”.
If I had to make any complaints it would be the ending. We have a tremendous amount of build up and climactic moment of separation and then an all too easy and rushed reunion and finale.
I’m not sure if our MCs have more coming but I’d love to see more of them and what all kinds of trouble they can get into.
I was grateful to have listened to this and highly recommend this in audio format.
4.5 of 5 stars