I don't really have anything against this book, I'm just really having a hard time becoming interested in it. It's been difficult following the plot and character descriptions, as well as how exactly this world is supposed to be structured. But my problems may be simply because I've been really distracted lately - so there's a strong possibility I'll pick it up again some day. But right now it's just not doing it for me.

(DNF'd at 14%)

So I've seen this alternately likened to Ocean's Eleven (George Clooney version), and the Eli Monpress novels. Either way I took much longer to get around to reading the book then I meant to. There's a lot to enjoy about the book - each character is unique and interesting, vying for attention even as they try to scheme and plot around new difficulties in an already impossible plan.

Interestingly while the book has its moments of action, the bulk of it is reserved for the last 25% wherein its literally one thing after another hounding, harassing and hunting our heroes. Loch is not a Robin Hood type - while she didn't deserve to be locked away for doing her job, she also wasn't reclaiming her birthright for altruistic reasons. Revenge and a healthy profit are the sole reasons she's gunning for that manuscript.

This is a book of set-up. We begin by watching as Loch builds her plan to escape from jail (entirely silently I might add), then as she builds her insertion team and finally, in the grand finale how she built her revenge. She's a quick thinker, master manipulator of the truth and above all she understands what drives people. While on the outside some of the recruits (like the safe-cracker team and the illusionist) appear to be in it purely for the money, Loch gives them all something they probably would have had trouble finding on their own: a purpose.

There's plenty of humor (Kail knowing the old "yo mama" joke in every language possible for example...hey it DOES get the job done), a bit of romance, intriguing world development (the Glimmering Man, Death Priestess, Dairy in general...) and heck ninjas!

I do think the book hinges on a reader's ability to just go with it. A lot of what makes the plan successful are variables that when taken together could not have been as accurately predicted as they were. Loch makes some leaps in logic that almost smacked of Mary Sue Intelligence. Granted she does prove herself clever in even small ways (her banter with Pyvic in the pub house is a mastery of double faced truth-lies), but I don't know if she really could have predicted the outcome of the last bout. ( )

That was fun. :) ( )

If the late Terry Pratchett wrote an Ocean-11's type caper in high fantasy, you'd have The Palace Job. Loch, a rogue captain, puts together a crew to recover a stolen elvish book. The group embarks on one of the wildest D&D-type adventures with lots of fights, witty banter, and constant twists. There are double-crosses and intriguing creatures that show up just in the nick of time. It's a rollicking good time and fun read. Definitely moving on to the next in the series. ( )

I am in two minds about this book. On the one hand I predicted 90% of the twists and found a large section of the humour to be juvenile. On the other I didn't pick up several crucial aspects of the ending, and it became quite enjoyable there. I also stayed up late to finish it, which is not something I do for all books.

Having said that, there were a couple of extremely implausible plot points which really grated with me. This is the primary reason I downgraded this book from 4 stars to 3.

Why did Lock get involved with the Justicar at all? In the middle of a job? It could have backfired quite seriously.

Why did the entire gang stay at the house of the only Urujar Voyant who has a connection to Lock? Its pretty obvious that Silestin would target that area.

How could Hessler deceive the Satyr with his illusion? The satyr was pretty powerful ( )