Thief of Sorrows

Written by Kristen M. Long

Narrated by Laura Horowitz

What if Robin Hood was a female assassin, with deadly powers, who not only steals from the rich and corrupt...she kills them too.

Isolde Cotheran is anything but a damsel in need of saving. By day, she is the heir to Thornwood manor and all its lands. By night, she masquerades as the Hood, a brutal outlaw who leads a cadre of thieves and assassins whose mission is simple, fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. When Isolde brutally kills a lord, it forces two men back into her life. Liam, the handsome Captain of the Guard, who was shunned from Thornwood for joining the evil king's army. And Gage, the Right Hand of the king and murderer of Isolde's first love.

After a successful heist leaves Gage humiliated and in danger of the king's wrath for failure to capture the Hood, Isolde's world is thrown into chaos. Struggling to protect those she loves not only from the dangers of the kingdom but from her own deadly power, Isolde is forced to take action when one of her own is caught in the crosshairs. Choices are made and blood is spilled, forcing the Hood to face her past. A past that is far more dangerous than even she realizes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristen M. Long Books LLC
• Release date: Feb 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9798368926261

Reviews for Thief of Sorrows

[Thea McLean · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So… I wanted to like this book. The concept is interesting, it’s a fun blend of shapeshifter and elemental magic with an assassin Robin Hood aristocrat lady type story. Sounds intriguing. However, it’s needlessly gruesome? I suppose I don’t mind it when books are very detailed and show struggles and trauma-causing, mind-breaking situations, but it almost shoved it in your face to say “Bad people very bad! Good people very good but do bad things to bad people for good reasons”.

That’s what truly irked me was the lack of nuance from ALL of the villains. Some people in the world are just bad, I get that, but in my opinion it’s uninteresting. I felt there was SO much room to craft interesting villains and we got egotistical bastards that maim and torture women and children for fun and are just generally insufferable.

Insufferable — which brings me to the MFC. She’s decent…sometimes. She hits hard, she’s powerful, gloriously vain, and has a good heart. But, and it’s a big but, she seems to constantly be throwing herself a pity party and being straight up dumb and obtuse. You have a supposedly intelligent, cunning assassin woman capable of infiltrating strongholds but then she goes to a political party/hang out and is just RUDE and AWFUL to everyone. And of course she is because all the bad people she interacts with are so NOT subtly bad it’s cringe-worthy. There is NO nuance. She should be playing her cards right, and working the system. I understand it’s horrible, but her life would be SO much easier and honestly she’s be more helpful to the people she’s trying to save if she’d just keep her hand close to her chest and slyly work information from people. She puts a target on her back which is the last thing she needs. She provokes bad men who then manhandle her and while yes, they are the bad men being bad, what if she had played into their advances, schmoozed her way into obtaining helpful information or secured herself a seat in the secret meeting, and then when she has what she wants she can go back to kicking butt as the Hood. GAH!! Like I’m trying to root for her but she’s so ERGH. Play them like a fiddle and once their guard is down THEN deck them. I’m not saying she should not stand up for herself, but there are better and more satisfying ways to get revenge than throwing stupid insults in someone’s face.

Honestly while there were certain elements I enjoyed (like the relationships between our main group), the book felt drawn out, didactic, and horribly uninspiring. I felt either sad and disgusted by what was happening, and then immediately following that I was exasperated by our MFC being angry and sad over the horrible things she’s seen. I think this book ultimately suffers from not having a compelling villain. It just has a whole horde of bad people being horrible and bad and our ragtag group fighting an endlessly tiring uphill battle and getting pummeled.

[rafaella · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Narration was great and the story overall was entertaining. However, the explanations (or lack there of) of the world and of Isolde’s magic’s felt short and needed more.