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Vanja Schmidt has been the goddaughter of Death and Fortune ever since her birth mother abandoned her to them in the forest. And when she became too old to remain with them in their world, she returned to a life among humans to became the dutiful servant to Princess Gisele.
But her mothers have demanded a steep price for their care, and Vanja will do anything to avoid the fates they lay before her. Instead, she’s determined to steal back her own future. The perfect opportunity to do so begins with stealing Gisele’s identity for herself as the princess travels to meet her betrothed.
Using Gisele’s enchanted string of pearls, Vanja crafts a careful heist, living a double life as a princess and a jewel thief who steals from the noble’s coffers.
Now, Vanja is one heist away from freedom. But when she crosses the wrong god in the forest one night, she is cursed to an untimely end. Vanja has two weeks to break the curse or she’ll turn into jewels, becoming what she so desired, and time is quickly ticking toward her death. There are more sinister forces at work than Vanja realizes, though. Gisele’s fiancé has dark plans of his own, and a junior detective is hot on Vanja’s trail. If she hopes to survive the curse and find her freedom, she’ll need help.
Little Thieves is the kind of obstinate story that simply strives to be what it is, regardless of other books in the same genre or what readers expect from a fairy tale retelling, and I liked it for that. It’s true that Little Thieves is a retelling of the Goose Girl — from the viewpoint of the maid who stole the princess’s identity. There are a lot of the same elements from the original fairy tale, with the exception that there are no actual geese in this retelling. It also has a very woodsy, German-village, dark fairy tale vibe, which is a rare find among fantasies.
Though it is listed as the first in a duology, Little Thieves stands on its own, and there is a twisting complexity to the story that impressed me. It never misses a beat while constantly throwing new plot twists into the tale. It even goes so far as to weave tales throughout the story that give the reader a deeper glimpse into Vanja and Giselle, their relationship, and their backstory without the dense info dumping.
While at first I was daunted by the slow pace and length of the book, I quickly became engrossed in the story. As an anti-hero Vanja was a compelling, complex character. Overall, this would be the perfect read for someone who is looking for a fresh retelling with interesting magic and world-building and a healthy dose of mystery.
(Other Goose Girl retellings reviewed on Rated Reads include The Secret Princess and The Goose Girl.)
Rated: Moderate, for 1 use of strong profanity, 7 uses of moderate language, and 24 uses of mild language. The German word for “block” or “log”(which resembles moderate language) is used frequently as a fantasy exclamation. Violence includes many references to past events: a child servant is abused and whipped, a child is trapped in abusive environments and relationships, a character endures attempted assault (it is stopped when the man is caught undoing her bodice), and women servants fear sexual harassment when their master is home. In one scene, a man is killed in self-defense and the crime is hidden. A character is also poisoned and near death, and several scenes feature blood. Gothic, fear-inducing tension is a large part of the story. Sexual content includes many innuendos, usually made to discomfort another character. Brothels and prostitutes are mentioned and frequented by soldiers. A shapeshifter transforms into a naked human girl. Characters, including a same-sex couple, kiss.
