Review: A Pocket of Lies by R.A. Sandpiper

Blurb:

BLOOD BOUND AND PENNILESS. EXILED INTO CURSED LANDS. HUNTED BY DEATH.

When the thief Suri suffers a humiliating robbery, she has one day to pay off an ugly debt. Her solution: abduct and impersonate a foreign princess at the royal ball. But the wickedly handsome fae lord of the wasteland, Kol, has gatecrashed the party to find the princess she’s pretending to be. And worse, his bodyguards are the same ones who robbed her the night before.

With Suri’s knife lodged in Kol’s right-hand man, stolen trinkets in her pockets, and now her kidnapped princess missing, she can't outrun the law. The King exiles her with one condition: assassinate Kol, and all is forgiven. But Kol has promised his own brutal revenge against her—if his wastelands don’t kill her first.

In this fast-paced fantasy debut, expect a powerful adventure, lots of twists and turns, and the start of a slow-burn romance.

Review:

Betrayals, enemies to slightly less of enemies, twists and turns, schemes, and lies. So many lies.  Well-written, fast paced fun with hints of a slow burn.  A Pocket of Lies is a fantasy with romance, though the romance is more hinted at in the first book of the trilogy. I assume there will be more romance as the series progresses, but as for now, it’s firmly a fantasy adventure. Something fans of fantasy, romantasy, or romance would enjoy. 

We follow Suri, a young thief who has made some horrible decisions. Suri is not great and figuring out the right thing to do, and puts herself in scrape after scrape. She thinks she’s self-sufficient and worldly, but events continue to show just how out of her depth she is. 

Suri, as any young thief would, decides to kidnap a noblewoman and masquerade as her at a ball. As you’d expect, things don’t go well, but she does meet Kol, the Lord of Death, who can kill someone just by pointing a finger. And it’s possible that she’s the next person he wants to kill. 

Characters: 

Suri: Suri is the single POV of the novel and Sandpiper does an excellent job with her. We get deep into her head and understand her motivations. She’s a very angry young woman, and that comes out well in the novel.  Suri is not the typical romance heroine who is small, not like other girls, and the best fighter to ever exist. She’s small, sure, but she’s not that great of a fighter.  She uses her wits to escape situations, but let’s just say her wits let her down a lot. Like, so much. Suri goes from bad situation to bad situation, and often manages to escape death not because of her own abilities but because others help her along the way. 

Kol: The Lord of Death, a morally pitch dark character who, as his name suggests, kills people. I found myself rooting for him as the novel went on, and I feel like he hates Suri less than she hates him. Because, yeah, she hates him. 

The Supporting Cast of Scheming Nobles: Several nefarious jerks who need to get punched. Sandpiper does a good job of making almost everyone in the world a self-centered schemer who can’t be trusted. 

Worldbuilding/Magic System:    Traditional fantasy cities, a very cool desert landscape where Kol lives, royal courts, filthy alleys. The story moves through several different settings, all of which are well-realized and nicely described.  The magic system is elemental after a sort, but it’s more than just your Avatar: the Last Airbender system with fire, water, etc. This is one area where I think we could stand to learn more, but it makes sense that it’s not overly explained in this novel, as Suri is not an expert on the magic system. 

Story/Pacing:

Gets off to a quick start and doesn’t let up. I devoured the whole story in two days. The plot is intriguing and pulls you toward the finish excellently, especially for a debut novelist. 

There were times where I felt Suri got out of conflicts a little too easily. Where she’d be in one of the aforementioned bad situations and something would happen to save her. She’d move into another bad time, and again, an unexpected event would happen to keep her alive. Some of this is explained toward the end of the novel, but it did take a bit of suspension of disbelief on my part.  Suri has a bit of a semi-charmed life, except for the whole constantly on the verge of death thing. 

Overall:  This was a super fun read, fast-paced and enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone who likes plucky heroines, fantasy adventures, fantasies with romance, enemies to lovers, and angst. Oh Suri. So much angst.  Check this one out!