by Sarah Beth Durst
Synopsis:
In Sky Hawkins's family, leading your first heist is a major milestone--even more so than learning to talk, walk, or do long division. It's a chance to gain power and acceptance within your family, and within society. But stealing your first treasure can be complicated, especially when you're a wyvern--a human capable of turning into a dragon.
Embarking on a life of crime is never easy, and Sky discovers secrets about her mother, who recently went missing, the real reason her boyfriend broke up with her, and a valuable jewel that could restore her family's wealth and rank in their community.
With a handpicked crew by her side, Sky knows she has everything she needs to complete her first heist, and get her boyfriend and mother back in the process. But then she uncovers a dark truth about were-dragon society--a truth more valuable and dangerous than gold or jewels could ever be.
(cover image and synopsis lifted from Goodreads)
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: December 4th 2018
Source/Format: eARC/Netgalley
Purchase links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Book Depository
My Rating: ★★★★☆
My Thoughts:
The author’s pitch for the book is “Ocean’s Eleven with were-dragons”. What should I have in mind with something like that? Surely, I wouldn’t expect it to be a lofty promise of a catharsis. At the most, I would expect to be kept amused by fire-breathing thieves. And that’s about it with “Fire and Heist”. It is a ton of fun while it lasts.
What drew me in is the snarky voice of the protagonist. Even when moping from having dumped by her boyfriend, Sky Hawkins’ wry narration is entertaining. Her personality matches with everything I imagined a teenager dragon’s personality would be: confident to the point of recklessness. I like that she acknowledged that she is a self-absorbed privileged rich girl. I probably cannot stand being friends with her in real life but she fascinated me just as I am sometimes weirdly fascinated with the Kardashians.
The not-so-secret society of wyverns are filthy rich were-dragon families who can once shape-shift into real dragons. They openly live among humans but they have their own set of rules and inner social hierarchy. Their kind have a natural tendency to hoard gold. They have their own version of “honor among thieves” code in that they may steal from each other as long as they don’t get caught. Humans are naturally intrigued by them and they have a quasi-celebrity status with their private lives occasionally leaked in tabloids. Sky’s family is recently disgraced by her mother who went missing after a botched heist. Wildly overcome by her emotions from her first heartbreak and from losing a mother, Sky decided that it’s time to lead her first heist.
Though aware of her incompetence as a young wyvern, Sky’s is fired up by her motivations. She wants to restore her family’s honor and discover why her mom went missing. She might even win back her ex-boyfriend in the process. Disowned by her wyvern friends and forbidden by her family to do anything drastic, her assembled crew consists of (oddly enough) her ex-boyfriend Ryan, a human classmate, Gabriela and a full-grown adult wizard who often doesn’t act his proper age, Maximus. I enjoyed the banter among Sky and her crew. The plot is a series of actions that actually go somewhere. Without revealing too much, it follows the template of a hero’s journey. A there and back again kind of thing happened. The heist is arguably elaborate at first (they even have to do lots of practice, not without funny banter and bloopers) but Sky has to redo the same level of heist thrice over the entire course of the book that it eventually felt repetitive. The heist lost its steam in the end with the diminished excitement from all the repetition.
My actual rating of the book is more than three stars but not quite four stars. I rounded it up to four stars because I decided that it would benefit no one if I rob a fraction of a star rating from a book that I really enjoyed. The plot is flawed and familiar but still, “Fire and Heist” is an undeniably fun read, with it’s pleasures coming not exactly from the heist but from reading about its protagonist hanging out and doing stuff together with her family and crew.
Diversity Watch:
Setting: Aspen, Colorado, U.S.A.What drew me in is the snarky voice of the protagonist. Even when moping from having dumped by her boyfriend, Sky Hawkins’ wry narration is entertaining. Her personality matches with everything I imagined a teenager dragon’s personality would be: confident to the point of recklessness. I like that she acknowledged that she is a self-absorbed privileged rich girl. I probably cannot stand being friends with her in real life but she fascinated me just as I am sometimes weirdly fascinated with the Kardashians.
The not-so-secret society of wyverns are filthy rich were-dragon families who can once shape-shift into real dragons. They openly live among humans but they have their own set of rules and inner social hierarchy. Their kind have a natural tendency to hoard gold. They have their own version of “honor among thieves” code in that they may steal from each other as long as they don’t get caught. Humans are naturally intrigued by them and they have a quasi-celebrity status with their private lives occasionally leaked in tabloids. Sky’s family is recently disgraced by her mother who went missing after a botched heist. Wildly overcome by her emotions from her first heartbreak and from losing a mother, Sky decided that it’s time to lead her first heist.
Though aware of her incompetence as a young wyvern, Sky’s is fired up by her motivations. She wants to restore her family’s honor and discover why her mom went missing. She might even win back her ex-boyfriend in the process. Disowned by her wyvern friends and forbidden by her family to do anything drastic, her assembled crew consists of (oddly enough) her ex-boyfriend Ryan, a human classmate, Gabriela and a full-grown adult wizard who often doesn’t act his proper age, Maximus. I enjoyed the banter among Sky and her crew. The plot is a series of actions that actually go somewhere. Without revealing too much, it follows the template of a hero’s journey. A there and back again kind of thing happened. The heist is arguably elaborate at first (they even have to do lots of practice, not without funny banter and bloopers) but Sky has to redo the same level of heist thrice over the entire course of the book that it eventually felt repetitive. The heist lost its steam in the end with the diminished excitement from all the repetition.
My actual rating of the book is more than three stars but not quite four stars. I rounded it up to four stars because I decided that it would benefit no one if I rob a fraction of a star rating from a book that I really enjoyed. The plot is flawed and familiar but still, “Fire and Heist” is an undeniably fun read, with it’s pleasures coming not exactly from the heist but from reading about its protagonist hanging out and doing stuff together with her family and crew.
This is my Review of the Month for the review collection on LovelyAudiobooks.info
Diversity Watch:
Sky Hawkins and family are racially indeterminate.
Ryan Keene is Sky's ex-boyfriend, racially indeterminate.
Maximus, a wizard wyvern, is described as “a very handsome, very tall, and very dark-skinned man”
Gabriela Marquez, Sky’s human friend, is Latina. Her family speaks Spanish in their household.
