Take a Thief is a standalone novel that functions as a biography for Skif, one of the supporting characters in Lackey’s Heralds of Valdemar series. It’s a return to a previous time in the Valdemar universe, filling out events and characters previously only hinted at. Both the characters and the events benefit from a fresh look by a writer whose skill has grown substantially since the Arrows of the Queen trilogy, and fans of the series will enjoy a look at Valdemar’s criminal underclass – something which the majority of Lackey’s books mention only in passing.
The biographical format works quite well, now that the resolution of the overall story arc seems to have been reached; it has also been applied to Alberich, in Exile’s Honor and Exile’s Valor. None of these books sheds new light on the overall arc, remaining self-contained explorations of single characters previously featured with only minor roles.
There’s not much else to say about Take a Thief; Skif is a lovable, if somewhat unlikely, rogue whose background of poverty and prior profession make him an unlikely choice for a Herald of Valdemar. Lackey’s writing has improved enough to generate a convincing dialect for the poor quarter, and manages to throw away that hard work by introducing honorable thieves to live in it. Real thieves tend not to practice class warfare by stealing only from the rich; instead they tend to steal from those most convenient to them. But if your suspension of disbelief can survive for the whole trip (and that tidbit is far from the only unrealistic thing about Valdemar, so if you’ve gotten this far), then it’s a good read.
As with most of the other Valdemar books, there’s no deep meaning here, just a few hours of escapism.
