Little Thieves

Retellings are some of my favorite fantasy stories as they rely on new, inventive ways to spin the same yarn. Little Thieves is a reimagining of the Goose Girl from the perspective of the original villain as our main character. Vanja is the goddaughter of Death and Fortune, two of the goddesses in a pantheon with deities who represent abstract concepts like Time and Justice. 

Vanja has spent her life conning and stealing like when she steals the identity of her former friend, Princess Giselle, and steals from the haughty nobles. She maintains these three identities by using magic pearls… show more.

Vanja Schmidt uses her powers of craftiness and wit for evil, or at least selfish gains. When she is cursed to turn slowly to gemstone for a particularly egregious theft, she realizes her time is running out. I devoured this book because Vanja is fascinating and unpredictable. She is cunning and hilarious, qualities I love in a main character. I greatly enjoyed the clever way Little Thieves retold an unfamiliar story steeped in German folklore and intrigue, and served with a tray of biscuits and laugh-out-loud banter.

This wickedly funny reimagining of Goose Girl, a lesser-known fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, is dripping with gritty German charm. It’s got everything; wonderful queer representation, witty banter, and a “horrible” (seriously, the blurb even says so!) girl named Vanja with questionable morality. After all, she’s living a double-life as a princess and jewel thief, robbing the rich while she tries to outrun a curse literally turning her to stone. This character truly makes fling-your-book-across-the-room-worthy choices. I want to shake her and then give her a hug.