Rogues of the Republic - Review
Link to the author's (P. Weekes) personal website
Book 1: The Palace Job
Book 2: The Prophecy Con
Book 3: The Paladin Caper
Blurb: (From Book 1) The most powerful man in the republic framed her, threw her in prison, and stole a priceless elven manuscript from her family.
With the help of a crack team that includes an illusionist, a unicorn, a death priestess, a talking warhammer, and a lad with a prophetic birthmark, Loch must find a way into the floating fortress of Heaven's Spire–and get past the magic-hunting golems and infernal sorcerers standing between her and the vault that holds her family's treasure.
It'd be tricky enough without the military coup and unfolding of an ancient evil prophecy–but now the determined and honourable Justicar Pyvic has been assigned to take her in.
But hey, every plan has a few hitches.
Review: A wonderfully entertaining and inventive read! It is rare that the cast of main characters in a series this size is so large. You have a former scout leader who's a baroness, her first mate with a named lock-pick, a unicorn with a fascination of virgins, an endlessly lucky prophecised teenager, a love priestess that moonlights as a death priestess, a hammer that speaks three sentences, an overly flexible and strong monk, a thief with an endless amount of pockets, and a failed graduate of a wizard that can only cast illusions. This is strange and varied even by modern fantasy standards. I was initially worried that the quirkiness would ultimately overwhelm the story, but it fit together perfectly. The cast is lovable, and continuously divisive in the context of the story.
The theme follows that of classic heist stories. Each book there is an objective that needs to be reached, often some object that needs to be stolen, and inevitably not everything goes to plan, or a plan is being made up along the way. I laughed so many times when reading this, especially for the first book. Some of the jokes you clearly know are coming, but I still find myself laughing, and that makes my happy. For example, one character frequently jokes about people's mothers, because it is a universally effective taunt, and thieves thrive off of distraction. When some spirits come through a portal, only able to speak some forgotten archaic language, an insult about their mother may still get thrown at them. Dumb but hilarious. This series is worth reading, especially if you're looking for something with humour or something heist like.