The Spirit Thief

[sawyl]

After making my way through Name of the Wind, I decided I was due something a bit lighter, so I decided to go with Rachel Aaron's The Spirit Thief. The first of her Legend of Eli Monpress novels, it follows the titular thief and wizard, whose goal is to be the first criminal to have a bounty of one million crowns, as he pulls an audacious job in the city of Allaze, the capital of the Kingdom of Mellinor, a place where wizardry is very firmly outlawed.

With Eli Monpress safely locked up in his dungeon, King Hendrik of Mellinor is already looking forward to spending the Council of Thrones' reward money. But Eli quickly turns the tables by escaping his cell, abducting the king, and ransoming him back in exchange for some petty cash and a pledge of an extra twenty thousand crowns to his reward. Meanwhile Miranda Lyonette, wizard and agent of the Spirit Court, arrives in Allaze to bring Eli to trial for bringing wizardry into disrepute only to find her prey missing. Not one to give up easily Miranda, her ghosthound Gin, and her various bound spirits, set out to track Eli down.

Events in Allaze become increasingly complicated when the king's brother Renaud, exiled for wizardry, decides to stage a coup. When Miranda realises that Renaud is an Enslaver — a wizard who forces the magical spirits of everyday things to work for him against their wills — she realises that bringing down the usurper has a higher priority than catching an embarrassing thief. After striking an uneasy alliance, Miranda and Eli attempt to stop Renaud before he can unleash the power of Gregorn's Pillar, a mysterious artefact kept in the royal treasury that offers great destructive power to whoever uses it.

One of the most striking things about The Spirit Thief is the system of magic: everything of significance is inhabited by a spirit that wizards — those who can hear and speak to spirits — can persuade to do their bidding.

The various different types of magic are differentiated by the methods the wizards use to control the spirits. The Spirit Court uses formal oaths that obtain service in exchange for the wizard sharing their soul with the spirit, giving them protection and an investment in something bigger than themselves, with the explicit understanding that the agreement is voluntary and can be disolved by either party. Enslavers, on the other hand, on the brute power of their soul to dominate spirits into doing their bidding — something completely contrary to the ethics of the Spirit Court. Eli, though, seems to use his own method: informally chatting to the spirits, befriending them, and encouraging them to do what he wants through the sheer charm of his personality.

Although Eli himself comes across as glib and rather shallow — it's not clear whether this represents his genuine personality or whether it's carefully maintained front — he's not a bad guy for all his criminal activities and he often goes out of his way to help the spirits of the objects around him. His companions, Nico and Josef, are a little under-developed but both possess suggestions of hidden depths: Nico is a demonseed, able to call upon the power of the thing inside her for strength or to oppose powerful spirits but only at the risk of further eroding her remaining humanity; while Josef is a strong, gifted swordsman, who doubts his own abilities and constantly resists using the power of his awakened sword, the ancient and powerful Heart of War, to help him win his battles. All of which suggests that Aaron is setting them up for further work later on in the series.

To me, it seems that Miranda and Gin lie at the heart of the book. The pair have a solid friendship based on mutual respect, with skills and personality traits that mesh perfectly: Gin is the counter to Miranda's occasional impulsive outbursts, often attempting to talk her out of a bad decision but also willing to go along with her when she convinces him of the necessity of it. Miranda also complements Eli, for although the pair hold very different views about what it means to be a wizard — and what it means to be a responsible citizen! — their view on spirit ethics are rather similar and they make a pretty formidable team when they reluctantly team up.

An enjoyable and not too demanding read which leaves me looking forward to the rest of the series.