Rachel Aaron

The Legend of Eli Monpress — (2010-2011) Publisher: 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 but no magical ability of his own, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and punch through walls — he's going to put his plan into effect. The first step is to increase the size of the bounty on his head, so he'll need to steal some big things. But he'll start small for now. He'll just steal something that no one will miss — at least for a while. Like a king.

The Spirit Thief

In the opening scene of The Spirit Thief, Rachel Aaron’s charming debut novel, the notorious thief Eli Monpress is trying to escape from the royal dungeon of Mellinor. Since he’s not just a thief but also a wizard, he does this by quite literally trying to charm the dungeon’s door into opening: not by casting a spell on it, but rather by persuading, cajoling and wheedling it into letting him through, explaining that it really would be much better off without those annoying nails keeping it together (which results in the memorable line “Indecision is the bane of all hardwoods.”).

After all, in the fantasy world of THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS, every single object, from the tiniest pebble to the largest mountain, has a spirit. A wizard’s power derives from the ability to enter into a mutual contract with these spirits, although others, on the more evil side of the spectrum, actually enslave them. Eli, uniquely, seems to be able to just talk them into doing what he wants. This may be a familiar magic system in fantasy, but it’s used here in such a charming and often funny way that you’ll barely notice.

The plot of The Spirit Thief revolves around a few central characters, and if most of them lack depth, they’re at least consistently entertaining. The wizard thief Eli Monpress initially confuses everyone (including the reader), because his goal isn’t, as you might expect, stealing Mellinor’s treasure. Instead, he merely wants to become more notorious so his bounty is raised — or possibly raise his bounty to become more notorious. Either way, he’s definitely not your standard criminal. Miranda is a powerful Spirit Court wizard who, along with her giant ghosthound companion, has been dispatched to Mellinor to deal with Eli, partly because he is giving wizards everywhere a terribly bad name and partly because he may be looking for an ancient magical artifact with terrifying powers. Mellinor’s King Henrith is initially elated to have caught Eli so he can collect the already sizable bounty, but soon finds himself kidnapped by his former prisoner in order to increase that bounty even further. Finally, Eli has two companions: Josef, the mysterious swordsman with his even more mysterious sword, and Nico, a girl and “demonseed” who seems to have mysterious and terrible powers...

The Spirit Thief is in some ways an old-fashioned sword and sorcery novel that focuses on Eli Monpress, the roguish wizard thief who’s out for adventure, fame and personal gain with his companions. The tone of the novel is so light that it’s almost breezy, mainly because it’s filled with lots of funny interactions like characters bickering or sending each other dirty looks even during the most stressful moments. Despite the action-packed plot, there’s lots of unabashed silliness in this story — which you probably would have guessed, given that the first scene features someone in a deep conversation with a door.

If the book has one problem, it’s that it’s hard to pin down its tone. After the first few pages, I felt like Rachel Aaron was going for very early Terry Pratchett, focusing on jokes at the expense of a serious plot. However, the plot takes form once the (true) villain takes the stage, and Eli’s world takes shape as an edge of darkness creeps in.

Most of the events happen within a mile or so of Mellinor’s palace, which gives The Spirit Thief’s story a deceptively small scale because there are plenty of references to larger powers and events that are only hinted at in this first novel. Still, because of this story’s smaller scope and the relatively short length of the novel, it sometimes feels like an elaborate prologue for the rest of THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS.

If Rachel Aaron can expand the scope and impact of the series without sacrificing its sheer fun and readability, THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS could prove to be a winner. As it is, The Spirit Thief is a light but charming and highly entertaining novel that definitely piqued my interest for the next book, The Spirit Rebellion, due out from Orbit in November 2010. If you’re traveling over the holidays and looking for something quick, light and fun to read on the plane, this fast-paced and cheerful little novel would be a great choice. —Stefan Raets

The Spirit Rebellion

Just a few weeks ago saw the release of Rachel Aaron’s entertaining and light-hearted debut novel The Spirit Thief. Now, fast on its heels, we already have the sequel The Spirit Rebellion — and even better, the third book, The Spirit Eater, will be here around Thanksgiving. Isn’t it wonderful when you don’t have to wait a whole year for the next novel in a series?

This second installment in THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS takes place right after the events in the first book. Spiritualist Miranda Lyonette, heading back to the Spirit Court, finds herself on the wrong end of a political witch hunt after her involvement in the recent events in Mellinor, more specifically the escape of the notorious wizard thief Eli Monpress. Eli, meanwhile, is on the road with his companions, the swordsman Josef and the demonseed-girl Nico, as usual out for mischief but also to purchase a new coat for Nico. The Shaper wizard constructing the coat demands a certain rare sword as payment, and wouldn’t you know it: one of those swords just happens to reside with the Duke of Gaol, who has recently advertised his brand new, ultra-protected and supposedly even “Eli Monpress proof” citadel. If there’s one thing Eli can’t resist, it’s a challenge...

Even though the first book in this series was quite enjoyable, its small scope and relatively short length made it feel more like an elaborate prologue than a full novel. It’s nice to see that The Spirit Rebellion moves in the right direction in both regards: the story covers more ground both in terms of time and space, resulting in a more solid novel. Even better, it effectively builds on several elements that were introduced in the first book and uses them ingeniously and sometimes surprisingly. Explaining this in more detail would lead to spoilers, but suffice it to say that the brief hints at hidden depth in The Spirit Thief are further developed here, and hopefully this trend will continue.

However, The Spirit Rebellion still feels a bit thin at times. Especially the plotting is at times too transparent and obvious: character A wants object B as the price for performing a service for Eli, and it just so happens that object B is in the hands of Count X, who is obsessed with catching Eli — so Eli of course heads there. Separately and for an entirely different reason, Miranda ends up being sent to the same location, inevitably leading to the two protagonists meeting again. It’s all too convenient to be believable.

If Rachel Aaron occasionally plays fast and loose with improbable plot manipulations, and if her characters are still a bit on the thin side, it’s usually easy to forgive because The Spirit Rebellion is once again an engaging, fun fantasy romp. The characters still bicker a lot, there’s once again a conversation with a door, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that Eli Monpress is incapable of ever being boring. Despite the novel taking a decidedly dark turn towards the end, The Spirit Rebellion is for the most part another entertaining, action-packed and slightly silly novel that should get readers excited for The Spirit Eater, due out in November. Your enjoyment of these books will vary greatly depending on how you approach them: if you’re, say, a book reviewer always on the lookout for flaws and plot holes, you’ll probably end up muttering to yourself quite frequently. On the other hand, if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief, go along for the ride, and (most importantly) not take everything too seriously, you’re once again sure to have fun with Eli, Miranda and company. —Stefan Raets

The Spirit Eater

The Spirit Eater is the third installment in Rachel Aaron’s THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS series. Just like the first two books, The Spirit Thief and The Spirit Rebellion, it’s an entertaining, fast-moving fantasy story, although this newest novel does have a considerably darker edge to it.

The darkness starts right away with the novel’s prologue, in which we learn more about Nico, the girl who contains a demonseed, and about how she met Josef Liechten, the swordsman with the legendary Heart of War sword. Berek Sted, no longer a member of the League of Storms and out for revenge against Josef, makes a deal with a demon (and of course we all know how those tend to work out...). Meanwhile Eli, Josef and Nico are on the run (the high bounty placed on Eli’s head makes staying undiscovered harder and harder) and spiritualist Miranda, in an interesting new twist, is hired by the Council of Thrones to become an unofficial “Eli Chief Investigator”, because of her past experiences dealing with Eli...

And so another action-packed fantasy adventure starts. The Spirit Eater mostly has the same strengths and weaknesses as the prior two books in the series. On the one hand, it’s once again an entertaining, fast-moving and occasionally funny story. You won’t be bored, that’s for sure. Rachel Aaron gives the impression that she simply enjoys writing, and that enjoyment is contagious. Her prose has a fun, sly tone to it that’s genuinely enjoyable to read. There’s also an exciting “boss fight” (to borrow a video game term) towards the end of the book, featuring a really neat fantasy weapon that combines a few elements from the earlier novels in a way I absolutely didn’t see coming.

The world of THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS also continues to take shape. We learn more about the exact nature of the demonseeds, the League of Storms, and the relationship between Eli and Benehime, to name just a few. The Spirit Thief, the first book in the series, was set on a relatively small scale and didn’t fill in many world-building details. After finishing The Spirit Eater, you’ll have a much better idea of what’s really going on — and the last few pages add yet another intriguing layer.

On the other hand, the novel again plays fast and loose with plotting and has a few twists that are less than plausible. It’s often best not to take everything too seriously and just go along for the ride. Despite the darker edge of the story and the new world-building details, these books are still more about entertainment than depth, but if you’ve read and enjoyed the first two books, you should have no problem with this and will probably love The Spirit Eater, as it’s the best book of the bunch so far. As long as you haven’t suddenly lost your ability to suspend disbelief, you’ll probably have a good time with the newest Eli Monpress novel.

Book four, The Spirit War, is due out from Orbit in September 2011. —Stefan Raets