Alright, so i'm doing a very not-traditional review of a book called False Covenant by Ari Marmell. Why? Because these books are AMAZING and since Pyr is a new imprint, it's not getting enough attention. So what am I going to do? Fix that, obviously.
Reasons why you should be writing Thief's Covenant and the sequel, False Covenant:
1. The heroine.
Widdershins don't play games. She's seriously one of my favorite heroines of all time; which is SAYING something. She's funny and strong and super brave -- she's a thief! One of the best thieves in her city and she doesn't take lip from anyone but she also has this fantastic vulnerable side that I just loved watching develop when she becomes not Widdershins, but Adrienne. The backstory of Widdershins really is heartbreaking and you really see her transition from being this badass to slowly unveiling a sad girl who just happens to kick some ass.
2. The setting
High Fantasy is where it's at, guys. The writing in this book completely captures the mood of the world Marmell has created using a town to show this elaborate system of gods and government that rules across the nations. You're focused on the small town of Davillion but there's so much going on there, you're not gonna want to go anywhere else!
3. The thievery
I hope thieves are the new vampires, because dammit, I love a good steal. I love reading about thieves which is why Widdershins happens to be awesome in my book. Sometimes she steals for fun, sometimes she steals for a reason, but she's just good at it. She always has been and you get to see how she got into this whole thing in the first place back when her parents were still alive and she was a young girl. And then the thieves guild! Oh the tangled webs that are woven over there! It's funny to me that in a place where there are so many thieves as to have a guild, there is still honor and alliance amongst thieves. Widdershins isn't very good at following orders, from the Shrouded Lord that is the thieves' guild's leader, or from anyone else, which is always refreshing.
4. Julian
HE NEEDS HIS OWN CATEGORY OKAY? This book isn't soaking in the romance but it's subtle enough to take backstage to Widdershins but enough that i'm not pulling my hair out in frustration. (Especially the second book guys, my heart. MY HEART.)
5. The side characters
Renard is hilarious. He bounces around like a peacock, preening his feather and stealing at his leisure, and I just love every scene with him in it. He is sarcastic and witty but there are some moments where I really feel for him and his unrequited love. And then you have Robin who is young and adorable and willing to do anything for Widdershins. The Shrouded Lord is BOSS (no pun intended) and he would scare the living hell out of me and basically everyone in the Thieves Guild was awesome or awful, in the best way.
6. People like people and it's not a big deal
There are side characters in the book who like Widdershins. You know, elementary style, like-like her. And it's not a big deal. It's not made into this torrid love triangle or love square and it doesn't seem annoying or fake or "Why does everyone even like Widdershins?". It just...is. And it seems realistic and your heart breaks for them but you love them and just....guys.
7. Olgun
The best god ever. He is attached to Widdershins in the sense that she can kind of "hear" him and he helps her be an awesome thief and they are just such a funny pair together.
SO GET THESE BOOKS. I'll have the information down below.
Happy Reading!
Once she was Adrienne Satti. An orphan of Davillon, she had somehow escaped destitution and climbed to the ranks of the city’s aristocracy in a rags-to-riches story straight from an ancient fairy tale. Until one horrid night, when a conspiracy of forces—human and other—stole it all away in a flurry of blood and murder.
Today she is Widdershins, a thief making her way through Davillon’s underbelly with a sharp blade, a sharper wit, and the mystical aid of Olgun, a foreign god with no other worshippers but Widdershins herself. It’s not a great life, certainly nothing compared to the one she once had, but it’s hers.
But now, in the midst of Davillon’s political turmoil, an array of hands are once again rising up against her, prepared to tear down all that she’s built. The City Guard wants her in prison. Members of her own Guild want her dead. And something horrid, something dark, something ancient is reaching out for her, a past that refuses to let her go. Widdershins and Olgun are going to find answers, and justice, for what happened to her—but only if those who almost destroyed her in those years gone by don’t finish the job first.
A creature of the other world, an unnatural entity bent on chaos and carnage, has come to stalk the nighttime streets of the Galicien city of Davillon. There’s never a good time for murder and panic, but for a community already in the midst of its own inner turmoil, this couldn’t possibly have come at a worse one.
Not for Davillon, and not for a young thief who calls herself Widdershins.
It’s been over half a year since the brutal murder of Archbishop William de Laurent during his pilgrimage to Davillon. And in all that time, Widdershins has truly tried her best. She has tried to take care of Genevieve’s tavern and tried to make a semihonest living in a city slowly stagnating under the weight of an angry and disapproving Church. She has tried to keep out of trouble, away from the attentions of the Davillon Guard and above the secrets and schemes of the city’s new bishop.
But she’s in way over her head, with no idea which way to turn. The Guard doesn’t trust her. The Church doesn’t trust her. Her own Thieves’ Guild doesn’t trust her.
Too bad for everyone, then, that she and her personal god, Olgun, may be their only real weapon against a new evil like nothing the city has ever seen.
