Story Thieves

By: James Riley

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

This "clever opener likely to leave readers breathless both with laughter and anticipation" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) is the first in the New York Times best-selling series from the author of the Half Upon a Time trilogy.

Life is boring when you live in the real world instead of starring in your own book series. Owen knows that better than anyone, what with the real world's homework and chores.

But everything changes the day Owen sees the impossible happen - his classmate Bethany climbs out of a book in the library. It turns out Bethany's half fictional and has been searching every book she can find for her missing father, a fictional character.

Bethany can't let anyone else learn her secret, so Owen makes her a deal: All she has to do is take him into a book in Owen's favorite Kiel Gnomenfoot series, and he'll never say a word. Besides, visiting the book might help Bethany find her father....

...Or it might just destroy the Kiel Gnomenfoot series, reveal Bethany's secret to the entire world, and force Owen to live out Kiel Gnomenfoot's final (very final) adventure.

©2016 James Riley (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

great read! entertaining and kid safe

CAUTION some violence. all pg, one somewhat creepy moment where the hero ends up using a dark spell to reanimate a man, still nothing too bad.
Clean, entertaining, magical read. really entertaining for myself (27 yr mom) and my kids would end up sitting with me to listen to the story as i cleaned (5 and 3).
I was a little nervous because of the seemingly similar aspects in the summary to another series I just finished, it was, however, completely different in the best way.
narrator was really great as well.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

A fun fantasy for the whole family.

What made the experience of listening to Story Thieves the most enjoyable?

My kids love fantasy and action stories like Harry Potter and Fable Haven so we tried this series and it did not disappoint us. It starts out a little slow like most first books in a series (stage setting) but it quickly picks up pace and then leaves you wanting the next in the series. We all feel a little sucked into books at times so this was fun listening to the characters jumping in and out of books and watching the story unfold.

What other book might you compare Story Thieves to and why?

Closely similar to Storybound and Land of Stories. Both of these books involve interaction with the fairy tale world.

Which character – as performed by Kirby Heyborne – was your favorite?

Kiel is a lot of fun... As the fictional hero who is thrown into the real world, he definitely lightens up the mood and makes you smile and shake your head.

Any additional comments?

We love listening to Kirby Heyborne, he really does a fantastic job with the story.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Very simply written

This story had potential but a lack of detail and research made it bland. I wish the writer had taken more time to develop the characters, the environment and objects used to push the plot.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Not Terrible... Annoying Characters & Decent Plot

The boy, Owen, is duplicitous, selfish, and immature, even for the age these kids seem to potentially be. Kids may relate to him, but it was VERY hard to stay focused as an adult reader during his chapters. I listened to this to find out whether or not a nine-year-old family friend may enjoy the book. I suspect that she may find Owen insufferable even at nine. The other protagonist, Bethany, spends most of her time screaming at people and freezing up in the face of conflict until the last 25% of the book.

6 of 10 people found this review helpful

Great fun!

I've seen this book in the stores many times. I've considered buying it, but thought it might be aimed at a younger audience. On a whim, I decided to listen to the excerpt and found it rather enjoyable. I chose to use my credit on this book, and boy am I glad I did. This book was fun from beginning to end. The narrator did an excellent job, and his performance made the story even more enjoyable.

I am recommending this book to anyone who enjoys young adult/ children's fantasy and science fiction!

3 of 5 people found this review helpful

Just got to the ink

I'm going out to get some sleep
Kitchen high :/ kill j Kaufmann. J I :/ v jj h f

Our family loves this series of books.

Our family loves this series of books they're exciting and the kids love how both of them can jump in and out of the books.

Headphone Users Beware

Kirby, I get that it was written as the characters yelled, but I cringed every time you screamed in my ear. The yelling cost this performance a few stars in my opinion. Hopefully you toned that down a bit in the next book. I liked the story overall, but I don't know if I will finish the series. I will at least come back for book 2.

A Fantastic Listen!

I loved this premise of having a girl that is half fiction! This story had so many twists and turns that I often wondered how Owen or Bethany would get out of the "new" sticky situation they were in. And I loved how other books were woven into the story to create a plot for this book. Genius!

woooow that was a gerat boom evento for a 9 year

the plot was great i could feel the story it was awesome i moved it