I do like Sally Green as an author, but I just feel as though this High Fantasy, princess in a kingdom kind of thing has been done so many times before, that this didn't add too much to the genre.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

Absolutely fantastic - I sped through this, amazing characters and world building! Sally Green is fantastic, will read anything she writes

There were a lot more perspectives than I expected (different each chapter) and a lot of characters to take note of, so it was a bit overwhelming trying to keep track. Some were more interesting to me than others, particularly Tash, whose chapters gave me Witcher vibes from the first perspective, and I grew to quite enjoy Catherine's voice too, which turned into more than just a romantic perspective and began to delve into political intrigue, forbidden love, nefarious plots and all out war. It was interesting to see all this span out from her perspective when originally she had only ever been concerned with honorouring her father and country, despite disagreeing with what they stood for.
As fir the itber perspectives, I felt like they at least added another layer to the tale and I generally enjoyed each of their view points and personalities.

I wasn't as captured by the first book in The Smoke Thieves trilogy as I hoped to be, and I think this is because the demon smoke aspect wasn't a big a portion as I wanted it to be. Don't get me wrong, it is definitely a connecting driving point for numerous characters but it only really felt like it was bubbling under the surface and I wanted to learn so much more and see more of the demons in action. It does look like its going to be explore way more in book two, so that's got me intrigued to continue on with the trilogy, but the lack of this direct theme in this book made it fall a bit flat for me.

The ending definitely excellerated my enjoyment and showed so many dark scenes that I was not expecting.

I enjoyed the short chapters for the most part. It felt like I was getting through it quickly and gave it a quick pace, but at the start of it, when I was trying to get a sense of new characters and all the world building and politics, etc, it felt like it was fast forwarding and I couldn't keep up. Once I felt established in the world and story, I enjoyed the short, quick chapters much more, but I do think some pieces of information didn't get absorbed properly, early on.

Differentiating the chapters for my buddy read was difficult as they weren't numbered, so reading my e-copy was hard to keep track of the daily pages. Due to this, and because I loved the Half Bad Trilogy, I purchased a physical copy but it didn't arrive in time, and by that point, I felt like I was speeding through the story as I became invested.

Thinking of the Half Bad trilogy, I loved that series and I think that because that had such a big claim on my heart, in comparison (although they are completely different stories), this just didn't reach that pendulum.

A princess, a traitor, a hunter and a thief. Four teenagers with the fate of the world in their hands. Four nations destined for conflict. End is cliffhanger..
I honestly really really enjoyed it! I haven’t been able to read a fantasy book so quickly in a while, there were a few issues but for enjoyment alone I’m sticking with 5 stars!

This has everything I love in a good fantasy book (and start to a series). Great world building, interesting ‘magic’ system and great characters. I especially loved the five different perspectives and how they converged over the course of the book.

I started this as it was written by a local author and I had seen her speak at the local YA convention. However I really couldn't get into it and decided to DNF the story fairly early on.

I enjoyed the various POV's but I found that overall the story dragged and didn't keep me engaged. I loved Game of thrones so I was expecting to love this based on how it was pitched, however it was just a little flat, lacked depth and didn't make me want to continue reading unfortunately

Unfortunately I no longer wish to review this book as the first few chapters did not reel me in. Thank you for the opportunity.

Really enjoyed Sally's previous trilogy but only got about half way through before I stopped - just wasn't feeling it. Just didn't have the same oomf as her previous books.

I only read half of this book, but I enjoyed the plot and learning more about these characters and how they were all involved together.

After loving The Half Bad series by Sally Green I was very excited to pick up her new series however this just didn't live up to my expectations, the writing fell felt and the story felt like any generic fantasy telling without adding anything new. I think I have read so many fantasy novels now that I am now wanting something special and new from the books that I read.

This book is amazing - the characters were really great, and the world-building with the demons and what they looked like, where they came from, was really intriguing. I really enjoyed reading this one, would definitely recommend!

So, I read a couple of chapters of this and really just felt I couldn’t get into it. It upsets me to DNF a book, but this was one of those times. It’s no reflection on the author at all - it could just be this story isn’t right for me at this moment in time!

I was so looking forward to reading this book but unfortunately this one just wasn't for me. I read a couple of chapters but didn't end up finishing it as I just couldn't get into it. I am very much a plot driven reader and although there was some great character development happening I was a little bit bored at how slow the plot was developing in the beginning chapters so unfortunately didn't end up finishing this one.

Really sad to say I struggled to finish this book. I think Sally Green is a brilliant writer but this story didn't hook me. 2/5

Sally Green’s Half Bad is one of my favourite books of all time, which is why I have been constantly putting off reading The Smoke Thieves. I just couldn’t see it living up to Green’s debut, and my expectations for this one were through the roof.

Unfortunately, I was right.

My main issue with The Smoke Thieves is that there are too many viewpoints. As you can see from the cover, we follow a princess, a soldier, a hunter, a traitor and a thief, and only three out of the five kept me engaged.

I wasn’t interested at all in Princess Catherine or Ambrose – they are torn apart too early in the novel for me to feel invested in their separation or any kind of desperation for them to be reunited – and I found myself internally groaning every time I encountered another one of Catherine’s chapters. This a world where there is a lot of misogyny, but the scenes where males were talking down to Catherine and disrespecting her because of her gender were ones which I felt I’d read a thousand times before. I did appreciate the fact that each of her chapters started with a quote from a piece of literature from the world as it fleshed the setting out very nicely, but I think this would have had more of an impact if she’d done the same with all of the characters.

On the other hand, I absolutely flew through all of Tash’s chapters. She’s the female half of a demon-hunting duo and all she wants is to get paid so she can buy herself a pair of boots she’s been coveting. It’s a very simplistic motivation, but it does its job – that pair of boots pushes the plot in some action-packed directions! Not only that but Green has obviously thought through the way that she wants her demons to work, and it’s refreshing to see such a different version of them – I’ve never seen anyone else’s story feature dying demons releasing a smoke which people use to get high!

I also really loved March and Edyon. March is the last member of a race which was wiped out during the war between Princess Catherine’s father and her uncle, who we discover is Edyon’s father. The dynamic between the two of them is very interesting: Edyon is instantly attracted to March so he’s very flirty throughout the majority of their interactions, while March has no idea how to feel because he’s not planning on taking Edyon home to his father after all, meaning their entire relationship is built on a lie. I’m hoping this is going to be a slow burn romance which will be exploring throughout the other two books in the series, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what happens when March’s original plan is revealed.

The Smoke Thieves is a very strong start to the trilogy, but I think the success of the series is going to depend on how things continue. I’m looking forward to reading The Demon World, and I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it a bit more now that my expectations have been lowered.

This book was a little bit slow paced for a fantasy book.. it had 5 different POV, so a lot of intros and build-ups, but nevertheless the climax was reached. It wasn't great at keeping me wanting to read but I managed to read it.

Sadly did not finish this book. Got about 30% through, and the narrative could not hold my attention.

Sally Green blew me away with her Half Bad trilogy, and I was very excited to receive The Smoke Thieves. A bit of a slow burner, but it certainly picked up pace in the second half. YA fantasy books aren’t always easy for me to love, but Sally Green always leaves me intrigue for more. The alternate perspectives definitely helped with giving a well round view of what was going on. I’m very excited to see where this trilogy goes!

This book was not what I was expecting. I found it difficult at time’s to keep up with all the different points of view. The book however was well written and there was a lot of fantasy and the world building was amazing.