No Heart for a Thief

I continue to be blown away by the quality of writing in the SPFBO9 competition. No Heart For A Thief hits all the right notes for me. A coming of age tale in a pretty grim world, where a country has been over run by a conquering civilization that is trying to eradicate their culture, and a very nice master/apprentice relationship being built, all attached to a very well constructed magic system. These are a set of tropes I can get behind!

The repressed native population trope is one that is attempted quite often in fantasy, but this one is particularly effective, in the insidious way the conquerors try to warp and eradicate the culture (inherently linked to the native magic). It is a very anticolonial message and it is extremely effectively realised. The world is well built with this conflict central to everything in the story. Add into that some internal and latent prejudice within the oppressed against ‘thieves' (magic users who can steal other magic users abilities) and we are treated to a very interesting political setup.

The relationship between our two central characters is also extremely well done, with the jaded old master and the rash new apprentice dynamic well realised and organic in its feel. The way the main part of the story is told through flashbacks is also well done and does not feel too gimmicky.

This is very much the first story in a series, there is not much resolution to be had on the plot themes in the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed this and am looking forward to the next book!