Reviews for Storm Thief

The average rating for Storm Thief based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-08-01 00:00:00 Daniel Tuthill This book is so completely not what I expected. It's better. To what extent can you ever predict where a book will take you?! Sadly, the case with many books today is that a lot of them are predictable. They're tiring and dull, because they're the same old pathetic attempts at conveying a "popular" piece of crap not worthy of ever having been put into the field of writing. Not so for this book! GOD. I fell in LOVE with this book! From the intriguing, unique name, to the alluring cover art… to the interesting summary printed on its inside flap… this book completely shocked me and blew me away. It's taking the life of a thief to a whole new level, because it's a world of chaos. FAN-TAS-TIC chaos!! I swear! It's like nothing I've ever read before! The way that Chris Wooding describes this city he set the story in is amazing! You almost never hear descriptions like that! The entire design is unique and original! You can tell this man has a clear picture in his mind of what these buildings look like, of the webbing streets that connect one craved district to another brimming with corruption. GOD, it's refreshing! Everything about it is new and pulls you in! Even the characters! Oh God, the CHARACTERS! We have a boy named Rail and a girl named Moa, and NEITHER of them are love-struck dumbasses! THANK… GOD! It's about TIME. Not only that! They're SMART. My GOD are they smart! I wanted to KISS them every time the sickly and shy Moa had an intelligent thought the moment I believed she was going to pull a coward's trick on me. She never did! God what a beautiful feeling! To be proven WRONG whenever your suspicions even begin to tingle! MWAH! *Blows them a full out kiss!* Beautiful! And Rail! Oh my God, RAIL. That boy is TOUGH as NAILS! I adore him! He's got such an attitude, such swift and wonderful survival instincts. He's to the point, and he's not a believer, and that makes him a beaaauuuuuutiful piece of reality in this crazy city called Orokos. But what really wins me over is that no matter how much of a strong kid he is, he's still got the plain-as-fact sense to say what Moa means to him. And Moa. Moa! She puts herself fully in his trust, because she can trust him! And she does it without being pathetic and whiny, or thinking that because she has HIM to look out for her that it means she doesn't need to think for herself. God I love this book! And then we have Vago. Sweet, darling, adorable, caring, sensitive Vago! How I love that man! He's absolutely a precious addition to their group, and man. Did I love the relationship he struck out with Moa and Rail! I cheered at the fact that Rail never quite fully liked him, even though he had enough common sense and decency in order to trust him when necessary. I also love that Vago never simpered up to Rail and tried to get him to like him. And on top of that… I love the reasons for why they both didn't like each other (not saying they disliked each other, mind). The fact that Moa was loosely tied in (mind you, a lot more loosely than MOST "triangles" of ANY sort) didn't bother me either. In fact, I think it was completely believable and logical. Which made it even better! Seriously. I was impressed on a lot of levels with this book. Not only was it not just about the obvious'thieves'but there were enough other elements of unpredictability and wonder in this book that I began questioning whether or not the author had a few loves for Science Fiction and Dystopian! It was so cool. In fact, everything about the book was cool! It was written with a levelness and controlled, masterful corruption and power that was wonderful to experience! You weren't sure whether you could break free of this story steadily curving in to collapse on itself (in a very good way) or whether you'd be swept up in a new burst of knowledge and chance. It's not exactly unexpected'in fact, it's hard to describe. But the feelings that it evokes and the place it pulls you into are a trip! I know you'd love the read!! I have to make at least one more comment. I love the way Chris Wooding surprises you with these beautiful patches of wording! They catch you off guard in that when you read them, you realize with what creation and skill this man has with his use of the English language. Some parts of his writing are simply and feasibly works of art. It's a really nice surprise to come across in the midst of your reading! I was impressed quite a few times! I must say that there is one downside to the entire book though. And that's gotta be… the fact that the book ended… SO… SOON! *Cries!* I felt like we just got there! We just got to the point where the final part would unfold and we would have some real closure and elaboration on what would happen next… and then it all ends! DX Mind you, it didn't cut you off completely. But I was definitely left feeling like I got the short end of the stick there. Like after all that the author decided to chop the ending short, wrap it up, and throw it out there. ;~; It was a little disappointing. I was hoping for more! A chunk more at least!! The last two chapters, I would have to say, seemed almost rushed. It was just upsetting. After reading something so exciting and intriguing and wonderful, then we have this abrupt shortcut to the finish line and we don't get to see the extra parts that we were expecting all along! At least that's how it left me feeling. Other than that, the book was GREAT. I truly enjoyed it and I would love to re-read it sometime to see the connection between everything! I feel that there was a lot left unexplained or unfinished. And perhaps that was the purpose, but I'm not one to accept that when I've seen what greatness an author could achieve throughout the rest of his story. In my opinion, it's something that Chris Wooding still needs to work on a bit. Even with that though, I'm giving this book the highest rating possible on here~ It was definitely worth the read, and to me it's a story that's original and worth my remembering. I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of those books that influenced me for years to come. Check it out! I think a lot of people will find this book, its characters and its story really refreshing in the midst of the usual things that are out there now. So why not give Storm Thief a chance? :3 Go on and try it!

Review # 2 was written on 2010-08-27 00:00:00 Victor Theriault I feel it necessary to preface my thoughts on STORM THIEF for some reason by saying I'm a fan of Chris Wooding's. I especially love his "Braided Path" trilogy*, which I feel can sit on the shelf right next to Sanderson's "Mistborn" trilogy (and on my shelf, it does) because as far as quality of writing and depth of character it's right there. That said, however, STORM THIEF feels like it was "phoned in," if you get my meaning. It lacks depth. It lacks passion. The only thing it doesn't lack is Wooding's eloquent descriptions of people, places, and things. Otherwise, it feels like Wooding is sort of going through the motions. It's as if he got this cool idea for this isolated dystopian city, forgotten by the world, powered by something called a Chaos Engine, which unleashes random "probability storms" from a place called the Fulcrum, all of it created by long-dead mysterious ancestors called the Faded. Yeah, see? The premise is cool; yet, I could never feel anything for the characters. They were all, villains and heroes alike, self-absorbed, whiny, annoying bores, especially Rail (who graces the cover). Not to mention, everything is so bloody ambiguous. The whole story is ambiguous. It even ends ambiguously, with the phrase "Anything was possible," which I suppose ties into the ideas of probability, something Wooding promotes throughout the book. Instead, it just comes across to me as altogether noncommittal. There's just not much else to say about STORM THIEF. I didn't hate it. It wasn't the worst thing I've read. But I was disappointed in Wooding's effort on this one, and I can't recommend it to anybody. However, I can and DO recommend the "Braided Path" trilogy, and even POISON, both of which are far more fun, fascinating, and fervent than STORM THIEF. Sorry, Chris. Two out of five stars. -- As an afterthought, I want to add that I enjoyed the character of Vago, up until he was conditioned by the Protectorate. He was the only character I really cared about and I would have liked to go through his re-conditioning process with him to understand the depth of his dual nature better. It would have made his wavering allegiance so much more dramatic and powerful, especially during the book's climactic end scenes. -- * If you can get it, the collected "Braided Path" is available in a weighty Omnibus Edition.