The Spirit Thief

The Legend of Eli Monpress, Book 1

By: Rachel Aaron

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Eli Monpress is talented. He's charming. And he's a thief.

But not just any thief. He’s the greatest thief of the age - and he’s also a wizard. And with the help of his partners - a swordsman with the most powerful magic sword in the world but no magical ability of his own, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and punch through walls - he’s going to put his plan into effect.

The first step is to increase the size of the bounty on his head, so he’ll need to steal some big things. But he’ll start small. He’ll just steal something that no one will miss - at least for a while.

Something like a king.

©2010 Rachel Aaron (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"After a slow start, debut author Aaron pulls the action together and turns in a romp of a lighthearted fantasy starring an absolutely darling rogue." ( Publishers Weekly)

want more

loved it want the rest of the book's. it makes driving on long trip's good.

Epic Adventure, Magic, and a little Silliness

What an adventure! I'm not one for fantasy novels, but this one kept me listening long enough that I needed to see how it all turned out. My usual trouble stems from being plopped into unfamiliar realms with unknown forms of magic and beings and not being given any proper introduction, explanation, description, etc... That was the case here, but what kept me listening past the first chapter was the attitude of Eli in the introductory scene -escaping from the dungeon and his blithe observation that you shouldn't pin your hopes on a gullible door... While this whole world and the idea of the spirits and wizards took me a bit longer to come around to, I immediately knew I'd enjoy Eli's take on things. He provided a magnificent dose of lightheartedness to the epic tendencies of the fantastical and dangerous mission. And too add to that, when we were introduced to Miranda the spiritualist - I immediately admired for her good character and good sense. Her righteousness was occasionally a little overdone, but I like a girl who sticks to her principles. And I thanked the author for using her to explain (to the servant librarian girl and thus me) about her magic, her court, and their code of ethics. Gotta love me some explainin. And I was intrigued about the different uses of wizard powers, and Miranda's confusion when she couldn't figure out how in the world Eli pulled off the things he did. And then came the appreciation of both of their methods when drawn out in stark contrast with Reynaud's. Add in Eli's interesting and mysterious traveling companions, and a giant ghost hound, and I became wrapped up in wanting to know more.

So, aside from my taking to the principle characters, some of the action was none too shabby either, and it entertained me, though it was somewhat predictable. Of course things get dicey when ransom exchanges, multiple bounty hunters and banished princes are involved. Handy to have the goodwill of the countryside indeed! I'm tempted to make pleasant small-talk and flirt with the trees when I'm next out and about in the wilderness, just in case I may ever need a favor from them... =P Not to give any spoilers, the plot of course thickens and complications compound, forcing alliances in order to fight the inevitable battle against a great evil in a massive showdown that tests everyone's strength and will. It was a hell of a fight, but well fought. I'd have been disappointed if it had turned out any differently.

The narration by Daniels was fantastic. Each character had a unique voice, which were consistent and identifiable. I don't recall a single instance where any voices were accidentally swapped in dialogue. The emotions were on point, and I enjoyed the casual, even flippant tone often employed to match Eli. The swordsman Corianno had a Spanish sound to his voice, which combined with his quest for a fight with another swordsman (though for different motives), brought Inigo Montoya promptly to mind. Only I wasn't really rooting for him - though it would have been interesting to know a little more about him. And Daniels did very decent female voices, which I often find to be the downfall of all but a select few male narrators I've listened to in the past. I thought Miranda's was properly feminine, strong and noble, without any forced higher pitch or unnatural sound. Very well narrated indeed.

A light fantasy adventure. Epic and yet sometimes silly. It was good as a stand-alone, but clearly set up to be a series. Some things were definitely left unexplored or unexplained, so I'd hope that ground is covered in future books. I have yet to decide whether I will continue to read them though. Some of the fantastic runs up against the boarders of what I can handle.

Outstanding

I was caught completely off guard by how much this book swept me away. It is funny, witty, and action packed. It simply a great time

Like a Fairy Tale

The book is fun, short, and reads like a fairy tail. Those are all good things after listening to over 100 hours of Game of Thrones books. If you have ever seen anime like Slayers, or One Piece, I would compare the book to that. They are fun, fast, with many action scenes. Which can be a huge plus, IF that is what you are looking for. This book was so different than what I usually read, I did enjoy it.

The narrator's voice is perfect for the tile character. He is also good all around.

Love Luke Daniels

But I probably wouldn't have read all three books if it hadn't been for his performance. Story was so so and it was hard to get invested in the lead characters

Fun characters but the plot lacks depth

I have had this book to read for quite sometime. This was a fun and light fantasy adventure read but left me feeling like something was missing. There are five books total in this series.

I listened to this on audiobook. It was narrated by Luke Daniels, who also narrates The Iron Druid Chronicles. He does a great job narrating these light-hearted books. But honestly it was a bit distracting because I kept thinking about the characters from the Iron Druid Chronicles, the voices he uses for characters in this book are very similar to the voices he uses for characters in that series.

This book follows two main characters. The first is a thief named Eli Monpress who has an uncanny ability to convince things to do what he wants them to do. He is determined to have the highest bounty ever recorded put on his head and has decided that kidnapping a King is the best way to hit that goal. The second character is a Spiritualist (a type of wizard that has spirit servants) named Miranda who is sent to capture Eli. When the King’s evil younger wizard brother (who is an Enslaver of spirits) steps onto the throne after the King’s kidnapping, Eli and Miranda find themselves in the uncomfortable situation of having to work together.

This was a fun and light fantasy novel. I really loved the idea of everything (even inanimate objects) having a spirit that certain wizards can communicate with. This was a creative idea that made for a number of interesting situations throughout the novel.

Eli Monpress is lighthearted and doesn’t ever take anything seriously. He also has a strange ability to make any spirit do what he wants just by asking. Not a lot is revealed about his past or his true goals. Eli remains a mystery throughout.

Miranda comes across as a very upstanding and noble character. She takes herself a bit too seriously and comes off as kind of immature and whiny at times. I grew to like her character over time, but she was somewhat annoying at the beginning of the book.

There are a number of side characters who read like sketches from a Dungeon and Dragons quest. You have a couple guys wielding magical swords, a young girl partially possessed by a demon, an evil wizard, and a giant magical dog. They were all interesting, but also lacked much depth. All of them have secrets and none of those secrets were revealed in this book.

So even though there was a lot of action, interesting magic, and some interesting characters I found this book to be lacking something. Everything was just very surfacey. The story was wrapped up too neatly. There isn’t a lot that really drives the story besides the whole banishing the evil wizard. It was just very light-hearted and fluffy. When I was done with the book I was kind of like “Eh, well okay what should I read next.”

Overall a fun light-hearted fantasy. This book has an interesting magic system and some intriguing characters but it missing some depth. I wasn’t really all that engaged with the characters or the world. I do kind of want to know more about Eli Monpress and his secrets, but that would be the only reason I keep reading this series. Right now I am unsure whether or not I will continue with this series.

Spirit Thief

I was very fond of Rachel Aaron's dragon series, but this one took along time to figure
out who was who. I think all the relationships will become clear in the next book.
Fortunately this novel is intriguing enough to continue even look forward to it.
The performance was fine but the very deep voice of Mr. Daniels is a little off putting
untill I got used to it.

We will see...

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I am torn on this particular book. Some elements were interesting and may convince me to read on, however, I have not made that decision yet. The world building was well done and certain relationships were intriguing, but the character development fell short overall. I like that the main male and female characters were equally strong and neither of them were insipid or whiny. On this alone, I may be compelled to read on. Another plus is that I never felt talked down to by the author which is a personal turnoff with any book. My hesitation is that I am not certain the author used their time wisely in the book. I believe it is important, even in the first of a series to demonstrate that the author can elicit some kind of emotion from the reader and this is where the book truly failed me. Without knowing if the author is capable of drawing me in and making me vested in the outcome of any of the characters, I just do not know if I am willing to read the next book in the series.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I was disappointed. I really wanted to care if any of the characters lived or died and I didn't.

Which scene was your favorite?

When I understood the threat of a demon-seed.

Do you think The Spirit Thief needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes. It was not a strong enough book to stand independently.

Any additional comments?

This series has potential. I wish the author had gained my faith in her ability to pull me in. At this point, if I move forward, it will be a toss of the die on whether the book will be something I could really enjoy.

A fun listen

What about Luke Daniels’s performance did you like?

I really enjoyed Luke Daniel's performance. He differentiated all the characters nicely and gave life to the story line. I would definitely listen to other books read by him.

Any additional comments?

This was a fun listen. It had a unique and interesting system of magic and some fairly interesting characters and plot line. However, despite the fact that it was unique and interesting, I didn't connect with it enough to want to rush out and buy the next book in the series.

Excellent book

Such a great work of Art, the next Harry Potter series, can’t wait for the movie!