Been Reading: Rachel Aaron - The Legend Of Eli Monpress (2012)

" Eli Monpress is talented. He's charming. And he's a thief.
But not just any thief. He's the greatest thief of the age, and he's also a wizard. And with the help of his partners - a swordsman with the most powerful magic sword in the world, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and punch through walls - he's going to put his grand plan into effect.
Because Eli won't rest until he's amassed a fortune. Step one in his plan is to increase the bounty on his head, so he'll need to steal some big things. He'll start small for now though: he'll just steal something that no one will miss - at least for a while. 
Like a king . . ."

This omnibus collects the three novels "The Spirit Thief", "The Spirit Rebellion" and "The Spirit Eater"

  Or to put it another way, you can get a nice, big chunk of Eli and his team as they move from one caper to the next.


There's a lot to like about this book. Let's start with the basic set-up, as it's an intriguing one.
 Everything in the world has a spirit - mountains, rivers, trees, the wheels on a cart - and humans with the gift of wizardry can communicate with them, even make them do their bidding. Some make bargains for mutual benefit, some enslave the spirits by sheer force of will. Eli, on the other hand, can get usually the spirits on his side through asking nicely.  How and why he can do this is one of the things we find out as the trilogy progresses. We also get a good idea as to why he is so determined to make himself the most wanted criminal in the entire world. 
 Then you have Eli's sidekicks. Swordsman Josef carries the worlds most powerful sword  and is always on the lookout for a good fight. He is also surrogate father to Nico, a small, skinny girl who has something very dangerous growing inside her.
 In determined pursuit is Spiritualist Miranda. Not one who talks to the dead but a young woman who can command spirits. Together with her giant, talking dog Gin,  Miranda is determined to bring Eli back in chains. Unfortunately things have a habit of getting complicated.
 All these people are well-fleshed out, easy to root for if not always like, and while Rachel Aaron doesn't go overboard with her descriptions, she does have a nice line in dialogue.
 Obviously the capers central to each book go pearshaped every time, usually in spectacular fashion, and with some novel action sequences.

So: Interesting characters, a memorable world for them to play in, some surprises and questions that need answered and plenty of action to keep things moving along at a brisk pace.

 I ended up being late back from lunch this afternoon because I had to see how this ended. I always think this is a good thing to have in a book.

One of the most entertaining things I've read lately and since there's a second  collection out (The Revenge Of Eli Monpress) that just went on my wishlist.