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Title: Steal the Sky
Series: Scorched Continent #1
Author: Megan O’Keefe
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 340
Words: 117.5K
| Synopsis: |
From Kobo.com
Detan Honding, a wanted conman of noble birth and ignoble tongue, has found himself in the oasis city of Aransa. He and his trusted companion Tibs may have pulled off one too many cons against the city’s elite and need to make a quick escape. They set their sight’s on their biggest heist yet – the gorgeous airship of the exiled commodore Thratia.
But in the middle of his scheme, a face changer known as a doppel starts murdering key members of Aransa’s government. The sudden paranoia makes Detan’s plans of stealing Thratia’s ship that much harder. And with this sudden power vacuum, Thratia can solidify her power and wreak havoc against the Empire. But the doppel isn’t working for Thratia and has her own intentions. Did Detan accidentally walk into a revolution and a crusade? He has to be careful – there’s a reason most people think he’s dead. And if his dangerous secret gets revealed, he has a lot more to worry about than a stolen airship.
| My Thoughts: |
I read this back in 2016. I wasn’t that impressed then, as I had some real issues with the story structure. I’ve been seeing lots of positive reviews for O’Keefe’s Protectorate series though, so wanted to give this series another chance. It was a smidge bit better, enough to bump it up half a star and to get me onto the second book, unlike last time.
Reading my review from ’16, I can still see what I meant. It just didn’t bother me the same way, as I was already familiar with the characters. I’ve also realized that I enjoy the “Lord and Servant” trope. Detan & Tibbs. Wooster & Jeeves. Whimsey & Bunter. It simply works for me.
I did find Detan to be more of a useless ass this time around than last. I rather dislike using pejorative body parts as descriptions for someone, but really, it seems to be the most accurate, universal fit. Tibbs was less involved than I remember while all the women (the rest of the cast) played a much more decisive role.
Upon some investigating, it turns out that O’Keefe wrote a prequel novel after she finished this series. If she had written that first, even if not published it, it would go a LONG way towards explaining some of the “familiar” banter between Detan and Tibbs and would give some weight to their obvious history in this book. In that same investigating I have come across enough issues that I have decided to not delve into the Protectorate series. Now I just have to hope she doesn’t tip me off a cliff with this trilogy.
Honestly, I can’t say if I enjoyed this more than last time. I certainly had much less “dislike” than last time though. I’m pretty ambivalent and this review definitely reflects that.
I think Fantasy novel names must be hard to make up for a writer. Detan and Thracia invoke The 3 Musketeers and Roman gladiators. Do the characters fit that?
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History is a fantasy writers best friend. With so many people being ignorant of the past, most writers can pillage to their heart’s content and the majority of the readers will have no idea.
Detan is no musketeer, at least in terms of their swaggering braggadocia. Thracia, on the other hand, I could see being a gladiator. She’s a fighter 😀
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Spartacus was a Thracian, I had a soft spot for him.
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the only scene I remember from the old Spartacus movie was when he drowned a guy in the soup! Talk about making an impression 🙂
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Loved the movie, (Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis) loved the Tv series ( I have a feeling you’d appreciate it) and loved the books! (Ben Kane, 2 novels part 1 & 2, most excellent) Obvs the books were best, but the TV series came very very close.
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I guess you respond to the Lord and Servant trope. I am the former, and you are the latter, right?
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The Tyrant Dr Lord Bookstooge will let you comment on this post.
* waves hand *
You are welcome…..
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Aha, lick my boots, servant! I am your master and commander and YOU will respect my authority!
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Your authority to watch bad movies? You can have it 😀
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No, I’m master of you. You think you run the show, but the only show you run is the puppet show. I am your boss. That is how it works.
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Oh, you’re a funny man.
I should charge admission and let people look at you.
You’re just angry because I took away your Lucky Charms yesterday…
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That was fake news, I’m more of a kind of Count Chocula kind of guy…
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How do you afford the taxes on your chocolate castle?
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Taxes? We don’t need your steenking taxes!
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I thought the UK had something like a 99% tax rate?
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For people like you, yes. I’ll have it removed from your bank account.
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People like me? Excuse me?
Canadians are people too you know!
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Doppel, is that the big radar ball thing that tells us where the rain is? Sounds cool. Oh wait. Yes, that’s it: doppelganger! I wouldn’t mind ganging up on some rain. 🤠 All jokes aside, books where it’s people against elite seems to be interesting, to me.
Well, at least it was worth a read. 👍
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This is definitely an “Underdog vs Empire”
Now we’ll just have to see if the sequels can carry the momentum forward…
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I love this cover, and overall it looks interesting enough to give a try. If it is on Scribd I’ll def give it a shot… if not, it might disappear on my Want-to-Read list
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Seems like it has the audiobook 😁
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Excellent! If/when you get around to it, I hope you enjoy it.
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Oh my goodness. I have read this book! And I have no memory of it. LOL. I remember being disappointed and I wanted to like it so much.
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I can see this being completely forgettable. Give me 5 years and I’ll have zero recollection of it either. So you’re in good company, hahahahaa 😀
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I thought that you were going to do less re-reads this year? 😉
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This was one of those “necessary” ones so I could get into the swing of the trilogy. No way I’m coming back to a trilogy after 4-5 years 😀
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Ok, I’ll pass. Velocity Weapon is still on my radar, but not this – so thanks! 😄
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I’m reading these to decide if Velocity is worth checking out 🙂
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As an admirer of O’Keefe’s Protectorate series, I’m very curious about this one, which sounds like she was still honing her skills… It’s a “maybe”, for me 🙂
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To be honest, me too. If the 2nd book isn’t any more engaging, even if I still give it 3.5stars, I’ll not bother with anything else by her.
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I tried the first of the Protectorate books, and while I liked the writing style I wasn’t interested enough in the story to finish it. I’ve picked up this book of hers too, just to see if this series might work better for me, but I haven’t started it yet. We’ll see! (eventually)
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Like I wrote to Maddalena, if the 2nd book doesn’t engage me more, even if the rating is as high, I’ll be done with O’Keefe. I don’t have time for mediocrity
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Not a fan of characters who behave like an ass! Hopefully your next reads will be better for you.
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Thanks. I’ll be thankful if the next book in this trilogy has just a bit more depth of engagement to it. I’m not keeping my expectations very high though.
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Interesting to hear about her earlier projects. It’s nice to hear how welcome a prequel is for you though. I usually find them scary (as in… I fear that they might be not worth my time).
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I concur generally about prequels. I’m really hoping book 2 grabs me just a little bit more so I’ll be actually excited to read a prequel
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