Smoke Thieves by Sally Green - OPTIONAL

Green, Sally Smoke Thieves, 544 pages.  Viking (Penguin), 2018.  $19.  

Language: R (49 swears, 28 “f’); Mature Content:G; Violence: PG-13 (fighting and deaths).

Tash is the apprentice (or bait) for a demon smoke hunter in the Northern Plateau of Pitoria.  Since smoke is illegal and demons are wickedly fast, no one except the smoke users are happy with their chosen professions.  Usually the reward outweighs the risk - but maybe not this time.  Catherine is the unloved daughter of the King of Brigant, a cruel man who will stop at nothing to wield power and influence o the world.  She is about to be married to the prince of Pitoria as a political alliance, but she is determined to make her father proud - even if something about the whole arrangement makes her uneasy.  March is one of the very few remaining Abask people - a tiny land that was caught between the King of Brigant and his goal - the kingdom of Calidor.  While he hates both lands, he has been given an opportunity to get revenge on Calidor, he jumps on it - even if means killing.These three and others are headed on courses that will bring them all together, for better or worse.

Green does such a good job of building each character, that even though their stories don’t start to intersect until near the end, the clues and backstories and details still add up to a satisfying whole. Can I tell you much I hate the use of the “f”-word in medieval-like fantasy settings?  It’s such a modern word that it is a jarring anachronism.

HS - OPTIONAL (ratings).  Cindy, Library Teacher