Audiobook Review: Thieftaker by D.B. Jackson
Thieftaker by D.B. Jackson
Genre: Historical Fiction, Urban Fantasy
This book marks the first book I’ve completed using Audible’s Whispersync, which allows readers to switch between listening and reading (the Kindle version) without losing their place. It’s a great feature to have and one that is particularly useful for people like me who often end up leaving the audiobook to read the book. This gives me an incentive to come back to the audiobook, though, since it saves my place, which means I can listen to it when I can’t read the book or just feel like listening and then resume the book when I’m ready.
Thieftaker starts in 1765, eight years before the Boston Tea Party and eleven years before the Revolutionary War. Civil unrest is stirring, growing from a mewl to a roar, as the colonies begin to rebel against the taxes forced on them by the British crown.
The story centers around the thieftaker Ethan Kaille. As a thieftaker, Ethan is tasked with finding the stolen property of others in exchange for payment. Ethan’s true power rests in his ability to conjure spells–a power that damned him in his former life as a sailor, but has aided him in his current profession as a thieftaker.
During one of the late-night riots against the crown that are starting to plague the city, a wealthy businessman’s daughter is found dead in the streets without a mark on her, and a brooch is taken from her possession. While “witchcraft” is frowned on, Abner Berson, the businessman, is well aware that his daughter’s death is probably magical in nature and requires Ethan’s talents to find his daughter’s missing brooch and her murderer.
Finding the culprit proves to be quite the challenge as Ethan realizes he’s up against a conjurer of immense talent paired with the fact that a powerful rival thieftaker named Sephira Pryce has it out for him.
Could one book hold any more things that I love than this one? It’s a historical fiction, but wait, it’s also an urban fantasy set in historical Boston. Why don’t we just throw in a little alternate history to sweeten the pot?
As a history nerd, I liked that the story is set around factual historical events. Ethan may not be real, but his profession is seeded in historical fact. Jackson uses the events leading up to the Revolutionary War as the backdrop for his story, so there are cameos by people such Samuel Adams and James Otis, Jr.
Ethan’s case itself is tied heavily to the politics plaguing the city. Even though he tries not to get mired into politics himself, he’s finding it hard to avoid as his investigation seems to move deeper and deeper into politics. One thing I really enjoyed about the political aspects of this story of this story is that Ethan’s opinion of the historical events around him are very gray.
The history isn’t painted with a patriotic slant, if that makes sense. Ethan considers himself a servant of the crown, but he does understand the plight of the people in the colonies. The activities of Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty aren’t assumed to be correct and aren’t written to make a heart bleed red, white, and blue with all the patriotism. Instead it focuses more on the everyday man’s outlook and how it does or doesn’t affect his life.
Jackson also does a commendable job with combining the magic and history. He’s managed to make the magic feel believable without falling prey to some of the pitfalls of other stories that have taken a similar approach. It doesn’t feel forced or trite in contrast to its setting, which can often happens when trying to base a magical story around actual historical fact. Usually, I find with books like this that the magic feels out of place in the story, but that wasn’t a problem here.
This book features a colorful cast of characters, and I really liked Ethan whose trying to do the best he can after living a very hard life prior to returning to Boston. One thing that I’m often guilty of is giving male characters in an urban fantasy setting the “Harry Dresden” test and making unjust comparisons. I think part of this reason is because so many male urban fantasy leads have similar qualities that make it so easy to compare and contrast (and this is true of many female urban fantasy characters, too). I didn’t do this so much with Ethan because after a while he felt like a different breed of male protagonist. His experiences, his views on his own magic, really made his character feel a bit distinct. Jonathan Davis, who recently made it to my favorite narrators list, did a wonderful job of bringing Ethan to life with his narration, so that might’ve helped my view.
Some of the other supporting characters felt a little flimsy and really only served one purpose to the story, but they were mostly likable, just not the type of characters who’d stick with you with a few exceptions. While I’m on supporting characters, I should get a complaint out the way. Sephira’s role in the story started getting on my nerves a little after a while. Sephira is definitely a character that you love to hate, but her motivations after a while just felt a little weak. I think she’s a great antagonist and rival to Ethan, but her involvement in his investigation after a while just made me raise my eyebrow even after her explanation.
As ubiquitous as her presence and influence is in this story, it felt like she was a little too involved with the matter and her impact started to kind of diminish when she kept showing up to try to dominate Ethan’s life or whatever. Her motivations seemed rather flaky and conflicting. However, I am interested to see how she further complicates Ethan’s adventures, and that really is a minor complaint for an otherwise engaging story.
In short, I thought this was an excellent historical urban fantasy that managed to meld the magic and history in a way that felt realistic. The magic isn’t so fantastic and in-your-face that it doesn’t mesh weld with the gritty world its set. Ethan is a wonderfully interesting character whose flaws run a bit deeper than a self-deprecating self-view hidden behind quirky humor. I’ll definitely be reading the next book soon.
The BiblioSanctum 