Who doesn't love a heist story?

We follow the adventures of Kef and his crew as they plan heist of their lifetime. The world of floating city held together by chained boats is fabulous. Add in the interesting mix of Kif's crew making up of mutants and gillers is fun and fascinating.

The prose is crisp and dialogues are to the point. There's not much fluff and the plot moves along at a fast pace.

A minor grips is that despite having interesting characters, they just have not been fleshed out enough. We hear a lot, but more insights on who they are and what drives them is missing a bit. We see a lot of Kef, but would have appreciated a bit more side characters pov just so they make a impression and not just part of background.

Overall a nice read.

This story started immediately with a lot of action.
You get to know the world during the story, and it is an interesting and different world where people live on floating cities that are build on ships.
It was an easy and fun read.

I have read a few of Herne's books before and enjoyed his creative worlds and writing style and am always left wanting more. The Thunder Heist is no different, taking place in a very inventive post-apocalyptic water world where cities made of lashed together ships are the only places safe from sea monsters. In one such city, a device is used to capture and harness the power of frequent electrical storms. Kef Cutmark wants this device and brings together a team with the right skills to achieve the feat.
The book plods along quite nicely with the plot unfolding apace, all leading up to the pulling off of the heist, with twists and turns along the way as very few things about this world turn out to be what they seem.
I had a few personal issues with the dialogue and the slightly clumsy way aspects of the world (that would be well known and second nature to inhabitants of the world) are revealed in conversation.
That aside, I found this to be an enjoyable fantasy heist tale with good distinct characters that I wanted to see overcome adversity and triumph.

I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. I didn't want to review a book that I didn't finish.

this was such a great pirate novel, I enjoyed the characters and that they felt like true pirates. It was a great start to a series.

We are dropped directly onto a prison ship where the executions are about to begin. It's a great way to start an adventure story. But where are we? And why is a thief due for execution? I enjoyed this swashbuckling very much and hoped there would be more. But more serious matters were afloat.

How long humans have been on this planet is unknown to us, but there are many strange and unanswered questions.

This is a world of monsters on land--so terrible that everyone prefers to link boats together into small "cities," competitive for resources.

People try to stay out of the water where more monsters live...in curious harmony with earth whales, sharks, and dolphins.

Some of the people develop a puberty-onset mutation into aquatic creatures, which is helpful to the population, but enslaves the changed people. Things like this tell us that we truly are visiting an alien and inhospitable place.

Zorith--the city of lightening and thunder--is led by a feudal lord who hides the one thing our hero, Kef, is determined to steal.

If you can accept the adventure and the story without question, it's a nicely constructed and told tale of peril around every turn (almost). If you can't, the book is like a program on a holo-deck with sections of yellow grid on black that indicate where holes in the story are. Whether these holes were caused by first-book-itis or something else, they didn't affect the action very often, and were easily pushed aside for later pondering. But they are large holes.

One thing that lost me on the city flotilla was that up and down were rarely used, and left, right, almost never. I'm a very visual person, so I see a representation of much of what I'm reading. During fights and movement of any sort, I was completely lost unless I assigned a direction to the tower. And little direction was given even then. A small orientation matter that took me out of the story several times.

For plot line and imagination, I gave this book 3 stars. I hope to read more from this author, assuming he discovers that if humans have lived on a planet long enough to evolve, their swearing might have changed as well; possibly becoming less offensive to our current day. I didn't see justification for the carefully inserted crude references.

3/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the obligation-free preview of this ebook!

#TheThunderHeist #NetGalley

I was given a free e-copy of Thunder Heist by Jed Herne (author), BooksGoSocial (publisher), and Net Galley. Thunder Heist is the first book in the Twisted Seas series.

This review will be spoiler free.

I would characterize Thunder Heist as sea-based steampunk story with anachronisms such as references to plastic and micro-fibers.

The world-building is a strength of this story. The story takes place on cities that are compromised of many ships tied together. It appears the story takes place sometime during the industrial age in this world. The weapons of choice are guns, knives, daggers, and not swords, bows, and crossbows. The depictions of the floating cities – particularly the city where most of the story takes place – makes very clear that the cities are wet, grimy, vast difference in the living conditions for the poor and the wealthy.

The story does not feature magic until maybe near the end of the story, but alchemy has an important part in the story.

The story has one main character, and she is something akin to a swashbuckling pirate with a very tough upbringing that is hinted throughout the story. She is somewhat engaging, and the reader gets see the story unfold from her perspective, but there is not really and depth or layers to her character arc. It felt that the main character is really never in danger even though she is fighting and killing guards left and right and killing them and what she needs to get done get done without too much difficulty. I would not say the main character is perfect, but everything seems to go in her favor. It seems that there are not real stakes for the main character.

The side characters, including the villains, are flat and not interesting. It appears they are in the story as plot devices to move the story forward. Mr. Herne introduces seven characters near the end of the story that I think could have had a bigger impact if they were featured earlier in the story. These characters knew the main character when she was younger. Through these characters, another aspect of the main character could have been revealed and added depth to her character arc. The story refers to the main character’s regular crew, how she became the swashbuckling pirate under the mentorship of the former leader of the crew before he died, and she became the leader of the crew. If the story featured a bit of the main character’s time as a part of this crew, I think it would have been another opportunity to add another layer to the main character’s arc including emotional depth which would possibly make a bit more fleshed out and well-rounded. In addition, the characters in the crew would be interesting and add something more to the overall story.

Some of the side characters featured in this story are her crew, and it is not clear why the original members of her crew are not featured in the story.

I was taken out of the story on more than occasion because there a few chapters that did not move the story forward and bogged things down. I think the characters that are featured in these chapters could have been removed and would not change the overall plot in any significant way.

The plot of Thunder Heist is the main character gathers a crew to exact some revenge on people who had an impact on her when she was younger and to save former associates. The story is linear and presented in a straight-forward manner without any complexity. The main character is not faced with any significant barriers or obstacles that could thwart her from achieving her goal.

When I read the conclusion of the story, it was bit anti-climatic and underwhelming. It seemed as the book was concluding, the ending was more telling than showing. It appeared that in one of the later chapters, a critical scene occurs, and then the critical scene is explained in the subsequent chapter.

I think Thunder Heist could have benefited from tightening the story by excising chapters that did not move the story forward. I think if the side characters could have fleshed out a bit more to and flesh out the side characters so each of them has something to do in the story which would add more depth and complexity to the story.

I rate Thunder Heist 2 stars.

I would like to thank Mr. Herne, BooksGoSocial, and Net Galley for the free ARC.

I was looking for something to break up my more serious and heavy fantasy and science fiction picks when The Thunder Heist by Jed Herne caught my eye. Heist novels have always been a favorite subgenre of mine ever since The Lies of Locke Lamora paved my way back into adult fantasy many years ago. Although The Thunder Heist is very short, slightly longer than some of the thicker novellas at 250 pages, it still manages to pack a lot of exciting action and plot into a small package.

Our protagonist is Kef Cutmark - self-proclaimed pirate, monster-slayer, and scourge of the Twisted Seas. She is a solo act with a mysterious past and she is returning to Zorith, her one-time home, in order to steal its heart. Zorith is a massive city-ship that is made up of a tangled jungle of a thousand boats, all lashed together to make a floating barge. At its center is a massive electrical heart powered by continuous lightning strikes that fuel the entire city. Mysterious, unique, and locked in an unbreachable tower, it’s a target for every thief in the area. But despite all the obstacles, Kef is determined to assemble a crew to steal the device and cripple a city that wronged her in the hopes of finding justice for her past. But with an unreliable crew, unbreachable walls, and a quickly approaching deadline, can Kef escape failure?

If you are looking for the next Ulysses, The Thunder Heist is not your book. There isn’t an enormous amount of depth here. It’s a fairly simple book that devotes most of its page space to the prep, execution, and escape stages of a heist and it doesn’t deviate a lot from the classic heist formula. There are classic twists, events that look like a failure that were all part of the plan, and dramatic reveals. But, if you are looking for a fun popcorn read with a lot of bang for your page then you should look no further.

The Thunder Heist’s strengths are that it’s very streamlined with nice meaty pacing that keeps the gears turning. The book hits the ground running and doesn’t let up until its final pages. Although the plot isn’t reinventing the wheel, it does have a lot of fun twists that I really enjoyed. The big reveal at the end when Ref is finally reaching her goal is particularly delightful. Ref herself is very fun to have behind the wheel, despite not being endless well of insights. It never got old watching her show up to numerous old acquaintances from her past life and hearing them go “oh shit, she’s back.” The fact that the crew she recruits is somewhat inept puts more pressure on Ref to be entertaining as the sole source of competence, but I think she wears it well.

The place where The Thunder Heist stands out the most is in its world-building. While it is primarily surface level, there are a large number of cool ideas and imaginative elements constantly introduced to tickle the reader. There are tons of original fantasy species, weird magics and technologies, fascinating character quirks, and a setting that is just begging to be explored. Zorith in particular is a very interesting location and I will absolutely be stealing it for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

That’s about all I have to say about The Thunder Heist. This isn’t a book that needs a lot of examination or discussion, it’s just a prime example of a great beach read. If you like heists, rascally protagonists, revenge stories, and cool original fantasy worlds then this should be right up your alley. Take it out for a spin, it only takes a few hours to read to completion.

Rating: The Thunder Heist - 6.5/10
-Andrew

A really good read. A minor niggle is the unrealistic number of times the heroine, knowing or unknowingly enters a trap which she amazingly escapes. But don't be put off, it's worth reading.

The heist was good. The rest, not so much. There is lots of action going on, yet I’d have liked more fleshed out characters. Additionally, the MC got out of scrapes too conveniently; sometimes by purely changing the POV to a secondary character who happens to meet the MC after she made it out of the trap. That’s lame writing. I want to see/know how she did it.

I love a good heist, and I love pirates so it didn't took me too long to jump on that proof. It was quite a quick and fun read and I definitely enjoyed it.
However I would not compare it to the lies of Locke Lamora (as it was sold to me this way), as it has way less political intrigued and the characters were a bit more one dimensional. The change of point of view toward the end of the book put me off a tiny bit as well.
Overall it's a well writen and fast paced really entertaining novel

Meet Kef Cutmark. Pirate, monster-slayer, scourge of the Twisted Seas.

After a lifetime of running from her past, she’s returned to Zorith – a tangled jungle of a thousand boats, all lashed together to make a floating city-ship. Zorith is powered by a device that draws energy from lightning. Mysterious, unique, and locked in an unbreachable tower, it’s the envy of Zorith’s rivals.

And Kef? She’s here to steal it.

The Thunder Heist is the first installment in Jed Herne's explosive new series, Twisted Seas. I was so excited to start this book because its very different to the type of fantasy I usually read and it was a chance to find a new author. I knew I would enjoy reading something different but I'm still surprised by how much I loved it. It had the perfect combo of creative world building, engaging characters and explosive pacing which complimented the fascinating plot so well.

The story follows Kef's escape from Black Drake Prison and her plans for the Heist to steal Zorith's thunder which provides the city with power. I've been searching for a good Heist book for a while so when I was given the chance to read a fantasy Heist with pirates, I knew I was going to be in for a crazy and entertaining journey. I feel like it truly ticked all the boxes for me as a reader.

My favourite aspect of The Thunder Heist has to be the MC, Kef Cutmark. I absolutely loved the sass and sarcasm which lead to so many moments of laughter. Its so refreshing to have the MC as a powerful female whose an absolute badass! It usually takes a while for a character to grow on me, but in this case, I instantly took a liking to Kef and she's become one of my all time favourite characters. We also meet other really cool characters as Kef recruits her team to take on the almost impossible Heist. I also loved the idea of not all the characters being human. We have Gillers who are a mix between human and fish. It kind of reminded me of how Harry Potter looked when he eats the Gilly weed in The Goblet of Fire. There is also Wingers who are humans with wings which I thought was really cool. The level of creativity with the characters/creatures was on point.

The type of world building used was something I've never encountered in a book before. Zorith, where the majority of the story takes place, is basically a city that's made from joining ships. Its just bursting with imagination and is truly epic. Zorith is one of those places I would love to visit if I had a magic bean to create a portal.

The Thunder Heist is a fast paced and beautifully written book that has some of the most explosive and brutal fight scenes! It's a story that is truly captivating from Start to finish.

If the rest of the books are as good as this. I can see myself adding this series to my list of favourites series.

A big thank you to Jed Herne for providing me with a copy to read and review.

The Thunder Heist was an intriguing book. Almost immediately I was drawn into the world that Herne created, the floating cities, the mutant people. Kef is definitely the type of anti-hero I love to read about, ruthless, amoral, with a secret heart and more trauma than you can shake a stick at.

Kef's introduction is brilliant. A prisoner who's not afraid to walk to her own death immediately pulled me into the world. I loved the cast of characters that were revealed to us - not all of them young and spry, but all of them masterfully talented. An engineer, an alchemist, and a girl who can control lightning. What more could you ask for?

The first half of the novel had me eager to read more, I wanted to hear about Kef's plans, her past. Having recently read Six of Crows, I was eager to immerse myself in another steampunk fantasy world, and Herne delivered on that. World building is definitely where Herne flourishes.

It was the second half of the novel that let me down. The more I read, the more obvious the twists became. The secret of the Lightning Tower was laughably obvious once you considered Kef's own abilities. I also didn't feel any sympathy for Exoran, despite how Herne tried to set him up to have a more sensitive side.

All in all, the end of the novel felt rushed. Get in and out, reveal the secret. It was hard to feel tense when everything seemed to be over in a matter of minutes. I would have loved a few more twists, a slower and more cunning revelation, one more struggle that lasted more than a few gloating lines.

Herne did a brilliant job at setting up a heist, at getting you excited, and then failed to clear the last hurdle. The Thunder Heist wasn't a bad novel, but it wasn't what I'd call brilliant either. That being said, I would glady read more about Kef and her adventures on the ocean world that make up her home. I'm intrigued by the setting, the ships and monsters that fill the sea, I just think the Thunder Heist could have done with a little more mystery to pad out the plot.

What do you get if you mix one part Waterworld, with a touch of Mad Max, a sprinkling of steampunk, a dash of Oceans 11 and a soupcon of Jack Sparrow? You get Jed Herne’s ‘The Thunder Heist’.
The story revolves around pirate with a past, Kef Cutmark, the greatest pirate in the Twisted Seas. Not only is she a Pirate with a past, she’s a pirate with a plan. A very dangerous plan that could topple the city ship of Zorith. The city that held her enslaved as a child, and now she is all grown up, she has put together an elaborate plan that will see the ship and the government sink to the bottom of the twisted seas.
Sorry (not sorry) but I make no excuses for my love of pirates. It’s going to get me every time. And add to this a bit of a heist theme set in a world that has mutants and big assed ships and I am in.
There is no doubt about it, Jed Herne’s ‘The Thunder Heist’ is a fun little read. And clocking in at under two hundred pages, the story is a no frills thrill ride right through to the end.
It starts with our titular hero imprisoned on a prison hulk called Blackrake prison, waiting to be executed for her many crimes. However, everything is not as it seems. For one, she put herself there. For two, she fast tracked her own execution, and for three, this is Kef Cutmark.
From the explosive first chapter, the pace hurtles along like a person careering down a zip wire and it doesn’t let up. Jed Herne doesn’t bother with any meanderings. He goes from A to B with the minimum of fuss.
However, don’t think that it is a one horse caper novel. There is a whole lot of stuff going on in the book. The Thunder Heist is set in a world with some interesting little quirks. The setting is based around city ships. Great hulking ships that have other ships, pontoons, and other seaworthy vessels all around them. Not only that, this is a land that is populated by mutants. Like Gillers, who are able to swim beneath the polluted sea, Wingers who are able to fly and Crystalcoats, who resemble the stone men in the Gutter Prayer.
The book has fantastic energy and playfulness. However, it is not all fun and frolics. There are some dark edges to the story, that add to the texture of the book.
As it is a short book, and it is a heist book, some of the characters are there for one purpose and don’t really get expanded on, like Gabine for instance, who is the architect of the story. However, like I said, this is a heist story and that normally happens.
The main star of the book is Kef Cutmark, and let me tell you she owns the story. She swaggers her way through the plot, and I liked her a lot as a character. Additionally, Jed Herne gives her a little bit of a steely edge that adds to her character and just enough self-doubt to make her seem realistic rather than a nihilistic parody.
So, if you are in the market for a sparky fun read that delivers its punches, you can’t go far wrong with The Thunder Heist.

Kef has a plan, one fifteen years in the making, and nothing is going to stop her from seeing it through.

This was an intense, read, utterly gripping, and action-filled from the get-go! Said action is always fantastically described, such that I was able to fully picture every moment of each fight as if I was watching a film, and never feeling like too much. The world-building was equally amazing: Information is never spoon-fed to you and yet you find yourself quickly grasping the finer points of life on these city-ships, with many hints and allusions to the greater world and its many people and creatures. Enough is spoken about Kef regular crew to keep me interested in her next adventures as well. As for the heist itself, it is masterfully orchestrated by the author, with Kef spending the first two thirds of the book gathering up a 'crew' and preparing, and the execution going flawlessly, which doesn't feel cheap at all given we are told she has returned to the city many times to do reconnaissance over the last fifteen years. I have to admit, I'm curious as to what her plan would have been if she hadn't met the rich and greedy Nicholas and gotten him to handle the tattoos portion of the plan. Finally, while Kef is a very smart and strong charactrer, almost Jack Sparrow-esque at times, her characterisation, and that of every character is always consistent, even down to her unrefined language even when pretending to be a spy for the High Captain in front of Nicholas.

My only gripe with this book, and sadly it is a significant one, is the death of a key cahracter. While I can understand that their death was most likely a way to amp up the tension and tease the threat of betrayal to make the threat at the end more real, which admitedly it probably did, it felt more like a cheap way to get drama, or to feel daarker/grittier. After everything Kef goes through to 'recruit' them, all the importance that was assigned to their role, they were very easily replaced in the end, with barely a dent in the plan, especially thanks to Nicholas' somewhat preemptive recruitement. The tension and threat of betrayal could've been achieved differently, andthey very much felt like exactly what they were: a throaway character. This is unfortunately a pet peeve of mine, and I have to remove a star from what would have been a perfect review. Given, however, the importance paid to them after their death (a whole chapter!), I am willing to hold out hope that it actually becomes relevant in the sequel. If it does then you may feel free will ignore the above.

In all, a brilliantly executed heist story set in a dystopian, water-logged society, with some intense scenes and themes. I would very much recommend it to older/YA readers, though would be more careful with younger readers.

Now I love good heist story, and when I saw this book on NetGalley, I was immediately intrigued because I am someone who has grown up loving movies like Ocean's 11, The Italian Job, Now You See Me (just the first movie) ,and I'm a lover of just the heist genre in general. So when I got the opportunity to read another fantasy heist novel, I jumped at the opportunity.

Now this is unlike the other fantasy heist novels that we usually see like Mistborn, and Six of Crows because this is, at its core just a good old heist story.
Ok, if I talk about the things I like about this book, first of all- it starts off with a BANG! It's a very cinematic opening. It reminded me a ton of heist movies, just like that first scene that throws you into the action and sets you up for the whole ride. I really liked seeing that, since it set me up for what the rest of the book was going to be.


Also I loved the world building in this. It's very cool. It's just while idea of cities at sea. The land is filled with monsters and it is un-inhabitable. No one can go on it, so the people have created City Ships by latching together a ton of ships, so it became just like, cities floating around.

And I really liked that. I thought it was very cool. Even if you're not a big urban fantasy gal, I think this type of world would still appeal to you.
This is obviously a non-spoiler review so I won't get into any details, but there is this one scene right at the end which I like to call a classic heist shenanigan, and I mean that in the best possible way! There's just this moment between two characters and they’re talking, and I am like, “Yes! this is what I'm talking about. This is what I'm here for!”

Things just clicked for me in that moment. There was this fulfilment of expectations, which is not burdensome or predictable in any way, but just a genuine, good pay-off of what makes heist stories what they are. And I really enjoyed that!

I also really liked the female representation in this book. The main character is female, but beyond that as well, the rest of the crew is half and half...there is a female mob boss, and a lot of roles that are associated with males were kind of flipped on their heads.
If we talk about other books, there are often complaints about how there is only one female character in Mistborn, and even in movies, other than Ocean's 8, there aren't really many female leads in any of the heist movies I love. So I appreciated that this book changed it up a little bit without feeling force or trying too hard.
It's a great first entry into a series and I also appreciate that it is a pretty contained story.

I find that to be a positive actually because as I was reading, it it felt very complete. It felt like the series is maybe gonna be a bit more serial in nature, like the Dresden Files. It didn't feel like it had a ton of loose ends, like in a trilogy, and that's turned out to be a positive for me as sometimes I enjoy reading a book where I don't have to worry about getting through 5 more books to know what happens.
So overall if you or someone who likes heists, s and particularly really action-packed and fast-paced stories, you’re really gonna love this book.


I do have some negatives to talk about though. So I'm just gonna mention a few things that didn't work for me as much.

Honestly, the biggest criticism I have about this book is the main character. My biggest problem was that I couldn't really get a grasp on her. I never really understood who Kef Cutmark really is. It wasn't really like a journey or discovery with her. It felt like she was two different characters merged into one. The front that she put up in front of her crew members went up and came down in ways that didn't necessarily make a lot of sense to me.
Another thing that I felt was lacking was that, unlike the usual crew leaders in heist stories, Kef wasn't charismatic. I mean, there's Danny in Oceans 11 and Kelsier in Mistborn who are essentially known for that; but Kef was I think intentionally made an unlikeable character. And yet unfortunately it didn't work for me.

Moving on, this point actually gives way for my second problem, which is the camaraderie, or lack of it there of, between the crew members. One thing that I’ve reali about myself is that one of the reasons I like heist stories so much is because of the banter and the camaraderie between the characters.

There’s also the saying that “a crew is as good as its weakest member.”, but this book didn't really have that and it's something I sorely missed. All the characters are strangers, they don't have any team feeling or camaraderie among them, which really bummed me out.
I’d also like to take a moment to appreciate the cover art and the supplementary illustrations sprinkled throughout the book. They’re so fantastic, and they just give the story a whole new life!

"You had to play with the cards you had. And even down to her last card, Kef was a better player than most"

It's like if Six of Crows and The Mortal Engines had a child IN HIGH SEAS!
This one was so good!
An entertaining fast paced story about a heist impulsed by trauma and vengeance with likely characters, plot twists and a very cool and original worldbuilding!
We got ships that form cities and enhanced beings and so much action!
I really enjoyed it and cannot wait to see what's coming next !

Thank you to Netgalley and the author, Jed Herne, for providing a copy of The Thunder Heist (Twisted Seas book one). I have reviewed honestly.

The Thunder Heist features, but is not limited to, the following themes:
○ Pirates
○ Anti-heroes
○ Magic
○ Mutants
○ Heists
○ Prison breaks

My overall rating for The Thunder Heist is…

4.5 Stars!

With a setting combining the likes of Waterworld and Mortal Engines, and characters for fans of Throne of Glass and Daughter of the Pirate King, The Thunder Heist is intoxicating! And let's not forget the heist in itself! Think Six of Crows, but add the afore mentioned qualities. This book is go, go, GO from page one, which kept me riveted and excited as the tale developed. The characters were unique and quircky, but that world building was just perfection! Fans of pirates, heists and snarky female leads will devour this book.

I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would. The authors writing style was smooth, and despite the violence that was described it would be suitable for young adults. The main character is hard as nails, but is not infallible, and in fact she has many flaws that others use to their advantage. It makes her a good protagonist. A great book, and I can not wait for the next in the series!

I received an eARC of this book in return for an honest review; thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

When I began to read my copy of the book it was very heavily advertised Theron that there was a prequel short story available from the author. I finished that before reading The Thunder Heist and in retrospect I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the prequel short story was a great sample of the author’s writing style and a fantastic character study and world building opportunity.

The prequel and actual novella both were suspenseful, violent, and full of action. I would say that the series holds a lot of promise, although I really didn’t like that a lot of the main character’s actions often conveniently helped the plot but defied the pre-established “moral code” that had been modeled, such as it was.

The relationships between characters felt real, and I liked that this YA story was about a female protagonist’s journey which was not centered on a romance.

The author also seemed to like to tease out important plot elements until almost the last moment- which makes a given character’s motivation suspect; and the reader definitely learns that no character is to be trusted and surprises abound.

Overall a solid read if you’re in the mood for Waterworld meets Divergent with a solid dose of vengeance and violence.