The Maiden Thief

A Tor.Com Original

By: Melissa Marr

Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer

Length: 1 hr

Publisher's Summary

The Maiden Thief by multiple NYT and internationally best-selling author Melissa Marr is a dark fantasy novelette about a teenager whose town is plagued by the annual disappearances of girls and young women.

©2016 Melissa Marr (P)2016 Melissa Marr

Great short story

Excellent short mystery! I'd love to hear more by Melissa Marr and Carla Mercer-Meyer does an excellent job with the narration!

Short but fulfilling.

I've read a lot of this authors previous work and really enjoyed them all, so jumped straight into this when I got it. While it's an extremely short book, it still packed a punch.

The plot centers on Verena, who is living in a place where young maidens go missing every year at the same time. She isn't happy about the situation and writes an article about it. All this does is to cause the kidnapper to target her family. What happens when she comes face to face with the kidnapper?

That's all I'll say about the plot as it's so short and I don't want to spoil it! I will say that it is a well written and entertaining read. Marr has given this tale a really dark feel, an almost Grimm fairytale feel, which I liked. The heroine, Verena, was well developed for such a short book and was kinda kick ass in all honesty. She didn't want to stand by and ignore what was happening and did something about it, even if it did cause the kidnapper to look to her, it was still nice that she stood up for the girls!

In all, a good short story, though I wanted it to be longer ;) Melissa Marr never fails to deliver!

This is the first book I've listened to narrated by Carla Mercer-Meyer and I thoroughly enjoyed it. She gave a solid performance and had the right tone for the right time. he drew me into the book and kept my attention throughout.

*I received a copy of this for review. This in no way affected my thoughts.*

Good fairytale retelling

I adore Melissa Marr and I'm also a fan of the classic tale of Bluebeard so this story was right up my alley. It adhered to the basic storyline of the old fairytale but was dark and edgy. There was both emotional and sexual abuse in this story. Though the main character, Verena, had some strong feminist qualities she also seemed naive in many ways to me. But that's how fairytales go. The ending was actually a surprise and more of a lighter note than I expected.
I really enjoyed this book. I listened to it on audiobook and the narrator made it a great experience. She added a more fantastical dreamlike quality to the story. She also really brought Verena's character to life. Her voice fit the tone of the book perfectly.

I was gifted a copy of this audiobook by the author/narrator/publisher. This is an unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A Fairy Tale-ish Dark Story

"The Maiden Thief" was a good listen and was pretty solid for being just an hour long. The protagonist Verena lived in a village where girls or young maidens were disappearing. In the end she discovers the truth.

While it was good, I'm not sure it felt completely original. That said, I think that overall this was a decent short story by Melissa Marr. I'd definitely listen to other books by her.

Carla Mercer-Meyer captured the tone of the story well. Her narration was perfect for that of the protagonist. It was dramatic and well performed.

"I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com."

Pretty good.

I enjoyed the story, though the thief's identity was all too obvious. My reason for giving it 3 stars is the speed at which we learned everything. Melissa Marr's writing doesn't usually feel that stunted. I wanted more sensory details, rich dialogue, emotions.

Overall though, it was a quick listen, worth the hour.

Well Written Old Fashioned Fairy Tale

Any additional comments?

The Maiden Thief is an excellent old fashioned fairy tale of the Irish and German variety, rather than the Disney princess variety. Like the Grimms brothers before her, Melissa Marr wrote a compelling story with an imperfect main character.

The story centers around Verena, who is tired of seeing her village become complacent with a serial killer kidnapping one young girl from the village each year. In hopes of inspiring the community into action, she writes an article about the Maiden Thief that questions why no one is doing anything to catch him. Rather than stir the community into action, it makes the killer target her family and older sisters. One by one the sisters become victims until only Verena is left. It was thrilling to let the story play out because I couldn't tell if she'd survive or become a victim herself!

Carla Mercer-Meyer did a great job narrating. She really brought the characters to life giving each one their own distinct voice, both male and female. She also has great intonation and pace, conveying urgency in all the right places. I received a copy of this audio in exchange for an unbiased review.

The storyline was great

It reminded me of a fairy tale, but very dark. Works written in first person aren't usually my favorite, but this one was written well. The main character irritated me with her submissiveness at first, but later I realized it was necessary.
I would have liked it to be a longer and more drawn out story. The plot was such a good one that it could have been stretched to add more thrill. I was still very pleased with it.

Fairy tales

It reminds me of this fairy tale I read, about a maiden who took in a girl to protect her in heaven and the girl was left alone one day and went through a door and died. The maiden brought her back to life in the end. That and the story of the 12 swans.

cute

this was a very cute book. I wish it was longer because I would really like to know what happens to the girls.