Hey book nerds! Welcome back to my blog! Today I'm gonna be talking about The Thunder Heist by Jed Herne.
Now I love good heist story, and when I saw this book on NetGalley, I was immediately intrigued because I am someone who has grown up loving movies like Ocean's 11, The Italian Job, Now You See Me (just the first movie) ,and I'm a lover of just the heist genre in general. So when I got the opportunity to read another fantasy heist novel, I jumped at the opportunity.
Now this is unlike the other fantasy heist novels that we usually see like Mistborn, and Six of Crows because this is, at its core just a good old heist story.
“Was it wrong, for a man to see injustice in the world, and not dedicate all his power towards fixing it?”
Ok, if I talk about the things I like about this book, first of all- it starts off with a BANG! It's a very cinematic opening. It reminded me a ton of heist movies, just like that first scene that throws you into the action and sets you up for the whole ride. I really liked seeing that, since it set me up for what the rest of the book was going to be.
Also I loved the world building in this. It's very cool. It's just while idea of cities at sea. The land is filled with monsters and it is un-inhabitable. No one can go on it, so the people have created City Ships by latching together a ton of ships, so it became just like, cities floating around.
And I really liked that. I thought it was very cool. Even if you're not a big urban fantasy gal, I think this type of world would still appeal to you.
This is obviously a non-spoiler review so I won't get into any details, but there is this one scene right at the end which I like to call a classic heist shenanigan, and I mean that in the best possible way! There's just this moment between two characters and they’re talking, and I am like, “Yes! this is what I'm talking about. This is what I'm here for!”
Things just clicked for me in that moment. There was this fulfilment of expectations, which is not burdensome or predictable in any way, but just a genuine, good pay-off of what makes heist stories what they are. And I really enjoyed that!
I also really liked the female representation in this book. The main character is female, but beyond that as well, the rest of the crew is half and half...there is a female mob boss, and a lot of roles that are associated with males were kind of flipped on their heads. If we talk about other books, there are often complaints about how there is only one female character in Mistborn, and even in movies, other than Ocean's 8, there aren't really many female leads in any of the heist movies I love. So I appreciated that this book changed it up a little bit without feeling force or trying too hard.
It's a great first entry into a series and I also appreciate that it is a pretty contained story.
I find that to be a positive actually because as I was reading, it it felt very complete. It felt like the series is maybe gonna be a bit more serial in nature, like the Dresden Files. It didn't feel like it had a ton of loose ends, like in a trilogy, and that's turned out to be a positive for me as sometimes I enjoy reading a book where I don't have to worry about getting through 5 more books to know what happens.
“The colours of a city run by selfish pricks who didn’t know about the slavery and the hardships and endless brutality that powered their lives. Or if they did know, they didn’t care.”
So overall if you or someone who likes heists, s and particularly really action-packed and fast-paced stories, you’re really gonna love this book.
I do have some negatives to talk about though. So I'm just gonna mention a few things that didn't work for me as much.
Honestly, the biggest criticism I have about this book is the main character. My biggest problem was that I couldn't really get a grasp on her. I never really understood who Kef Cutmark really is. It wasn't really like a journey or discovery with her. It felt like she was two different characters merged into one. The front that she put up in front of her crew members went up and came down in ways that didn't necessarily make a lot of sense to me.
Another thing that I felt was lacking was that, unlike the usual crew leaders in heist stories, Kef wasn't charismatic. I mean, there's Danny in Oceans 11 and Kelsier in Mistborn who are essentially known for that; but Kef was I think intentionally made an unlikeable character. And yet unfortunately it didn't work for me.
Moving on, this point actually gives way for my second problem, which is the camaraderie, or lack of it there of, between the crew members. One thing that I’ve reali about myself is that one of the reasons I like heist stories so much is because of the banter and the camaraderie between the characters.
There’s also the saying that “a crew is as good as its weakest member.”, but this book didn't really have that and it's something I sorely missed. All the characters are strangers, they don't have any team feeling or camaraderie among them, which really bummed me out.
“The colours of a city run by selfish pricks who didn't know about the slavery and the hardships and endless brutality that powered their lives. Or if they did know, they didn't care.”
I’d also like to take a moment to appreciate the cover art and the supplementary illustrations sprinkled throughout the book. They’re so fantastic, and they just give the story a whole new life!
Let’s Chat!
So that was it for review today. Let me know in the comments if you liked it. Will you be picking up The Thunder Heist anytime soon? If you’ve already read it, what were your thoughts on that revels at the end? Did you like it? We’re you able to take a guess? I’d love to know!
Until then,
I hope everyone stays safe and stays inside,
Bye! 😇