Thief By Matthew Colville

Thief

By Matthew Colville

Matthew Colville is an American game designer, editor, Youtuber, and most importantly for us, writer. Among the things he has written is the Vox Machina Origins Volume I comic, a Dungeons and Dragons supplement called Strongholds and Followers (which I honestly love), and a pair of novels called Priest and Thief. I reviewed Priest, the first book in this series, last year in September and I encourage everyone to go and read the book. You should also read the review of course. Quick warning, I will spoiler the hell out of Priest in the material below so if you haven't read the book and intend to, you should stop here. Don't say I didn't warn you.

In Priest, the main character of our series, Heden, a man riding the ragged edge between the full blast of PTSD breakdown and functionality, was sent into the Ye Olde Enchanted Woode to find a knightly order known as the Green (I didn’t edit that review but Oh Boy…). He was sent because the commander of the Green died under strange circumstances and in addition to that the Knights stood as having broken their oaths. Heden's job was to find out what happened, and if possible conduct a ritual of redemption and cleansing for the knights. He was sent because Ye Olde Enchanted Woode is a death trap of ancient magic left over from prehistoric times, monsters, and various nonhuman groups who regarded any human as an invader to be slain, and he was one of maybe six people who could survive long enough to do the job. Heden did survive but pretty much no one else did, including over a 1000 innocent people who trusted in the Knights to protect them (Ouch…). So to put it bluntly, Heden failed, the Knights died, the order died with them; and a whole town was destroyed to the last man, woman, and child because of it. Worse, it is all but certain that such was the desired goal of the people who sent Heden on the mission the whole time. One of them being the Bishop of the Church of the god Cavall. I should note real quick that this is a monotheistic world but Cavall interacts with the world through his Saints: people who were once mortal but because of actions in their lives were granted divine power after their deaths. Instead of being broken by his failure, however, Heden has learned from it, grown from it. In a way, he's been almost reforged by it and now he's a man on a mission. To find out why the Bishop set him up to fail and extract punishment if necessary, but first, he's got a bit of an issue that needs clearing up.

In Priest, Heden was also sent to kill a girl named Vanora. Vanora was a whore, who suffered from fits that could be a sign of epilepsy or something like it or could also be a sign of demonic possession. This isn't superstition either, in this world people who are possessed by an unclean spirit suffer fits that are perfect replicas of epileptic fits. So that nice boy on the street who falls over and twitches could just have a disorder, or his body and mind could be slowly being overtaken by a malign being who will use it to murder, torture, or worse, anyone it can get a hold of before being put down. As a result of this, pretty much anyone who has a fit is killed, often by drowning or worse ways, as demons can have powers that have to be overwhelmed (Oh sweet mother… Um, so yeah, be very careful with head injuries too!  Do they at least make exceptions for head injuries?{No idea}). Heden, however, tripped over a treatment that would work on anyone who wasn't demon-possessed and Vanora is the first person it's ever worked on. That's not the issue though, see the problem isn't that Vanora was having fits, or that she was a whore. It's that she was the personal toy of a crime boss known as the Count, leader of one of the three criminal guilds in the city. As if that wasn't enough, the Count is an unrestrained sadist and was training Vanora to be able to stand up to higher and higher levels of pain so he could have an incredibly long weekend torturing her to death (Ah, someone who needs to die very messily...). Until he decided that she wasn't working out and he could use her illness to have her killed. Thankfully, this is something that Mr. Colville tells rather than shows, having Heden work it out and discuss it with Vanora.  There are, after all, things we don't need to have described in graphic detail I think (Yes, can we maybe not?  Like, I write some fucked up shit but I don’t show the fucked up.  I describe the reaction to it because I am not writing to titillate people who need to be in a glass box.).  Since everyone knew Vanora was doomed, no one was especially careful about information discipline around her and now Vanora is out, cured, and carrying the kind of information that could destroy a third of organized crime in the city (HAHAHAHAHA!  Always maintain opsec, you fools!  I learned that the hard way!  SAY NOTHING FRIGID! {*smirks*}). So the Count wants her back. Heden however did not go through all the trouble of saving someone to throw their life away. Vanora for her part isn't content to be an object to be fought over and is struggling to move past her own past and decide what she wants for her own life. But she is certain she wants her own life and not to die under the Count's knife (It’s a start!  And she does deserve to have her own damned life!). So now Heden has to deal with the Count before he can attend to his main business with the Bishop. Isn't it annoying when your to-do list gets away from you? (Yes.  Yes it is.)

That isn't the only thing Heden has to do, see his failure in the forest has led him to confront a lot of his past life and he realizes that he has mending of fences to do. So Heden is also working to make restitution to the people in his life that he's harmed through past actions and failures, realizing it's not healthy to writhe in your own guilt and regret but forgiveness both from yourself and others requires you to at least attempt to admit, address and readdress what you've done to yourself and others (This is very Jewish.  You’re not allowed to ask forgiveness from God until you’ve tried to make amends to the people you’ve harmed.). He's gonna need every rebuilt friendship he can get through, as the Count has weaponized forbidden magic and escalated everything in a war to unify the crime world under his iron rule, and then who knows what happens? (How the hell does a sexual sadist like that recruit goons? {1: He keeps that shit under wraps 2: He has a lot of money in a feudal society 3: He kills people for saying no.  He’s a very silver or lead kind of boss}) Of course, the Count and his right-hand man, an assassin with history and a grudge against Heden named Garth, are making their plans believing they're confronting an isolated, half-broken man. It's never a good time when you're so off base on the nature of your enemy, no matter how many resources or people you have to throw at them (I believe Tzun Tsu had some things to say about that.). That said Heden is still outnumbered and considering that Garth is a better fighter than him, might be outgunned. So no one is gonna have a good time in the old city of Celkirk.

In a lesser role is also the swordsmen Teagan, a gay man who became an adventurer and has become a city watchman because he wanted something safer and more stable as he settles down with his husband, a baker (Aawwwwww!). Teagan might be the greatest swordsman who ever lived but he's utterly unwilling to take risks. In a way, I get why, while the social stigma against homosexuality in Matt's world doesn't seem as big as say... 1950s America or modern-day Saudi Arabia, it's still there and Teagan has faced rejection and scorn because of his orientation and he's finally happy (You know what?  Yeah.   I don’t blame him.  If, after everything I’ve been through, I ever find happiness with another person, I’m not throwing it away easily either.).  So any decision that he makes that takes him out of the bounds of polite society could destroy that fragile island of happiness (I could talk about the concept of Queer Time…{Not familiar with that one?} Long story short, because of The Shit we deal with, between figuring ourselves out, and dealing with society, the normal sequence of growing up gets disrupted.  The kind of Stupid Relationship Decisions a straight person makes in their teens?  Queer people often make them later in life because they never had the opportunity to make them as teens.  That kind of thing.). But how much is your happiness worth if people you respect, people who are trying to do good have to pay for it in misery? Priest also introduced us to the character of Aimsley Pinwhistle, a polder or halfling/hobbit as most readers of fantasy would call him. Aimsley is also a thief and assassin, holding a position in the underworld known as the fixer, a sort of troubleshooter who sits outside the usual hierarchy of one of the guilds to ensure that there are always options available. Aimsley is good at his job and has been at it for years. He's almost as miserable a wreck of a person as Heden was in the last book (Not surprising.). Aimsley becomes a major character in Thief as the novel turns on his decisions in a lot of ways. Will he ignore the fact that the Count is going beyond the depravity and savagery of your usual crime boss? (Is being the sort of sexual sadist who trains a sex worker for slow execution normal in this universe? {Given what we see of the other 2?  No.  I mean they’re not nice people, but they’re focused on money and avoiding the law, they don’t get jollies off of being cruel but they’re also criminals})  Ignore his mounting guilt and despair at the work that is increasingly disgusting to him and driving him deeper and deeper into a bottle until he might never crawl out? Or will he ignore his growing respect and fondness for Heden and his own desire to claw back some self-respect and agency over his own damn life for a change? There's also the wrinkle that even if Aimsely can decide what he wants, will anyone forgive him for what he's already done?

This brings us to the theme of the book in my opinion, as much of the book is an exploration of forgiveness; both of what it means to forgive yourself and being forgiven by others. Now, forgiveness is definitely a celebrated but rarely practiced virtue in our culture. It's also a virtue that is fetishized and deeply misunderstood and Mr. Colville seems to grasp that rather well. Forgiveness might not need to be earned but if you really want to be forgiven, you need to show that you understand what you did was wrong and in most cases, you need to show you understand why it was wrong. This is one of the reasons why you have to ask for forgiveness in Christianity, you have to display knowledge that you did something wrong and you grasp that (Religious diversion.  I’m actually really disconcerted by the concept of asking a third party to forgive the wrongs one has committed against another person.  I feel like it absolves the person of the need to at least attempt to make amends and grapple with what they did to another person.  Christianity broadly considers that good, but not necessary.{Christianity also believes that when you sin you have offended God so he’s not considered a 3rd party} Yes, but the problem is, it takes the emphasis off the… Temporal.  Being Redeemed is important, making amends is de facto de-emphasized. {Given that Christianity argues that we all focus too much on the Temporal…}). Beyond that, if you're honest in your desire for forgiveness you'll seek to provide some form of redress for your actions (We call this a Mitzvah.). Which at the very least means changing your behavior for the better and providing some sort of closure or restitution for the people you've wronged. Nor does forgiveness mean that the consequences of your action go away, you still have to live with those and how you live with those consequences will determine a lot about people's willingness to forgive and trust you going forward. This isn't a magic spell that happens all at once either but is an involved process that will require effort and sometimes pain. It also requires that you let go of guilt in favor of growth. This is hard and most people prefer guilt which gives you the self-satisfaction of punishing yourself so you can feel a bit superior to people who don't feel guilt and is low effort enough for most people in the bargain! Now, forgiveness isn't the appropriate reaction to every wrongdoing of course. Sometimes a crime boss has to be hunted down and killed to keep him from hurting other people. But forgiveness given to yourself and to others who are willing to ask for it and work for it is a powerful thing. Is it more powerful than dark magic and an order of assassins? Well, you'll just have to see.

Thief didn't have the things in Priest that annoyed me, but it's not a perfect book either. The first 100 pages involve Vanora trying to take command of her own life and Heden running about mending his fences instead of advancing the plot which gives it a kind of disconnected and wandering feel from the rest of the book and from Priest. There are also conversations between characters that I feel just recover ground that is already covered in the novel. The book is also in need of an editor as there are several typos and flat-out mistakes. All of these keep me from giving the book an A but what pushes it forward is a combination of great intrigue and character work that manages to reinforce the plot and keep it moving at a pretty decent clip. The punchy and unrepentantly savage fight scenes also help, I'll admit. Mr. Colville also keeps peeling back the world-building, slowly dropping dribs and drabs as if peeling an onion made out of gold. Honestly, I liked Thief more than I liked Priest, although to be fair I liked Priest quite a bit. Thief by Matthew Colville gets a B+ from me, as I enjoy Mr. Colville's willingness to grapple with the themes he's chosen and I find his world and characters very interesting. I'm really hopeful that Fighter, the 3rd book, gets written soon although given that it's been 7 years I'm not sure I should hold on to hope here. Then again given what I've already seen happen maybe we'll get lucky.

I hope you enjoyed this week's review. This was voted for by our ever-wise patrons, for a dollar a month you can to can vote for reviews, have a voice, and a vote on theme months, like last year's celebrated Fangsgiving. If that sounds interesting to you join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads where the poll for May is still wide open! Next week however we're returning to Monsteress with Volume V and then we'll finish the month with A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish.  Until then, stay safe and Keep Reading!

Red Text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders