Product Description

In Einarinn, the secret of magic is known only by an elite few. They live in deliberate isolation, under the watchful eye of the Archmage. But nothing last for ever. Livak is a part-time thief and a full-time gambler, long accustomed to living by her wits and narrowly avoiding serious trouble. When she attempts to sell a stolen antique to a passing merchant, she finds herself pulled into a new and dangerous world of political intrigue in which the stakes are higher than anyone involved can imagine. For the antique she has acquired dates from a particular period in the history of Einarrin about which little is known, but much has been speculated. And when the truth begins to emerge, Livak decides to take the greatest gamble of her life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #230696 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the problems those not already besotted fans have with genre heroic fantasy is the real vagueness of its settings. One answer to this is to slot it somehow into real time--another, more interesting one is to provide the imagined world with a past of its own. McKenna does this less through the provision of endless chronologies and king-lists than through her characters' sense of what has been lost--her magicians, scholars and thieves are all aware of how little they know of the past and how much there is to find out. All the chasing around, sword fighting and hair-breadth escapes of the plot relate closely to the quest for knowledge, for understanding of the strange dreams that come to scholars who own ancient artefacts. Livak starts off supplementing her income from gambling with a little judicious burglary of the sort of thing she knows scholars are buying; she finds herself first blackmailed, and then more willingly recruited, into a cause which comes to be her own. And who are the mysterious blonde thugs who dog our heroes at every turn? McKenna's debut has areas of clumsiness, but real charm and excitement to overcome them.

Review
'A wonderful debut' J.V. Jones

From the Author
What I was thinking when I wrote this book
I wrote this book because I was wondering if anyone else wanted to read fantasy with characters who had lived lives of their own, whose personal concerns were at least as important to them as whatever epoch-shaking events they might be caught up in. On a purely personal level, I was also finding much of the fantasy I was reading unrealistic; I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms but think about if for a moment. Other things I was getting tired of included heroines who went through their adventures untouched by human hand until ending up as the hero's reward in the final chapter and even more so of farm boys who turned out to be princes (unaccountably mislaid) or wizards (hugely powerful but not wishing to take over the world on account of being such darn nice guys) without anyone realising. Some writers can tell these tales extremely well but I was finding a limit to what event the most inventive author could bring to the traditional hero tale. I wanted to write about a world where things like politics, religion and sex are facts of everyday life, rather than cosmos shaping forces. After studying history at school, university and latterly just out in interest, I wanted a fantasy world where there is change, progression, advances in science and technology, literature and philosophy, where the world goes on its way quite independently of whatever it is has the wizards and heroes running around in circles. The more I worked on it, the more the ideas came together and The Thief's Gamble was the result.

Customer Reviews

A taste of what's to come.
Having read this book without any preconceptions, I found it fascinating to see the span of feeling in the other reviews below. This is about the only book that I have come across that has literally been given every score from 1 to 5 stars and, in my view, this clearly demonstrates the originality of the work.

McKenna's debut is certainly different from the normal heroic fantasy tales produced by the more established writers, and I think that there will be many who will find her fresh approach to world building a pleasant change from the standard quests. As an introduction to a world where the politics and the major powers are in a state of flux, this book lays the foundation for a fascinating series. The thought and work that has gone into building a convincing history to Einarinn is particularly commendable. Here is someone who is not just setting out to write a story, but to immerse her readers in an unusual depth of background, culture and geography, whilst also telling a story that has enough pace to maintain a bond between the reader and the lead characters.

My only real criticism would be that I felt some of the characters introduced later in the story, lacked the depth of those who had been around since the beginning. I found myself unable to picture these characters quite so clearly. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I am looking forward to getting the subsequent volumes in the series.

Debut novel with much to recommend it
If you're reading this review, the chances are that you've seen a fair few swords-and-sorcery novels (or multi-volume sagas, as they more frequently turn out to be) in your time. If you're the type who'll read anything from Terry Brooks upwards, then here's what you need to know: secluded beardy wizards, convoluted names, small group on a quest, barbarians from across the sea, easy good/evil division. Okay? Good.

However, there's also much here for the more discerning fantasy fan. For starters, this is a fantasy world with rather more depth than the usual cardboard cut-out pseudo-medieval realm; the story takes us through environments and situations which carry within them a sense of historical and technological change. The action of the tale is triggered by an antiquarian initiative, led by wizards and scholars, to investigate the true reasons behind the fall of an empire. We hear of advances in smelting techniques, of new fashions and the effects of trade; this rarely feels like unnecessary detail, but is generally brought into the narrative when it is relevant to the plot. The magic systems are kept simple but remain intriguing.

The characters vary; some, such as the titular thief Livak (first-person narrator for around half of the chapters), work very well. Livak is a million miles from that patronising epithet "feisty" - she's quick-witted and capable without constantly feeling the need to prove it. She's also believeably experienced without being utterly world-weary. Casuel, in the subplot strand, borders on caricature but as a general rule works as a good contrast. The rest of the cast tend to be painted in broad strokes, and the interactions between them tend a little towards the flat, particularly once Darni is separated off from Livak's group.

The problems, such as they are, come with the story itself. The author herself has admitted that the basic plot is pretty formulaic, but that she had tried to use the cliches to produce something a little different. She hasn't entirely succeeded - this remains, after all, fundamentally a 'quest', for all the convincing background colour. Politicking rears its head only rarely, and for all the great build-up of place and history, the (rather rushed) climax plays out as a fairly standard magical confrontation.

Nevertheless, despite its bumps and flaws, this is a well-drawn picture of a world that I look forward to reading more of. McKenna undoubtedly has talent; if she'd only let her excellent world-building skills drive the story rather than the by-the-numbers fantasy plotting, she could be a considerable force in the genre.

A fine piece of Fantasy Work
Well, I am no literary critic, and I truely envy anyone with the self discipline to write any work of fiction, especially fantasy like this.
The plot is well developed and the idea's presented in the story are easily acceptable. Alright, so as a player of fantasy RPGs for the past 14 years they would do to me!

The story presents a female Thief and her adventures and intrigue in her homelands. She quickly becomes involved in something far beyond her imaginations, magic, swords, advances in technology, the secretive Elemental Mages and a strange blonde race all compete for her time and perhaps her downfall.

If you enjoy Eddings et.al you will find this a most pleasing read!
I cant wait to get the rest of the trilogy!