The Magic Thief
The Magic Thief is a fantasy trilogy for children written by Sarah Prineas and featuring illustrations by Antonio Javier Caparo. It's published in the United States by Harper Collins.
The three books in the trilogy are:
- The Magic Thief, published June 2008
- The Magic Thief: Lost, published June 2009
- The Magic Thief: Found, published May 2010
The author has said that she is working on a fourth installment to the series, though it has yet to be published.
The Magic Thief follows Connwaer, a young pickpocket in the city of Wellmet, who makes the mistake of stealing a “locus magicalicus”, a stone that holds a wizard’s power. Touching a wizard’s locus stone is an almost-certain death sentence, but Conn somehow manages to survive. Curiosity convinces Nevery, the owner of the stone Conn tries to steal and recently returned to the city after a decades-long exile, to take Conn in as a servant, though Conn thinks he’s going to be the wizard’s apprentice. Nevery has been allowed to returned to Wellmet in an effort to help stem the leak that seems to be draining the city’s magic. Conn seems to know more about it than anyone gives him credit for, but will he be able to convince anyone in time to save the city’s magic?
- Amnesiac Hero: Conn lost his memory for a while. He got it back by the very end of book 3.
- Cain and Abel: Black Maggie, Conn's mother, was killed by Underlord Crowe, her brother.
- Captured Super Entity: Wellmet's magic being contained in a machine to weaken it by Underlord Crowe.
- The City Narrows: The Twilight. (No, not that one.)
- Conveniently an Orphan: Connwaer.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Conn's mom is dead before the series starts, and his dad never appears.
- Delayed Explosion: What happens when Conn and Nevery try a locating spell to find Conn's locus stone.
- Dying Town: Quite literally.
- Evil Uncle: Conn has one of these. It's Underlord Crowe.
- Give Me Back My Wallet: Conn catches another pickpocket trying this on him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Connwaer. Twice.
- Hey, You: Conn always refers to his mother as "Black Maggie."
- Sentient Phlebotinum: the magic beings
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nevery. One of his defining traits according to his character bio is "Kind, but would never admit it."
- Justified Criminal: Connwaer steals so he can eat.
- Land of One City
- Language of Magic
- Master of Unlocking: Conn.
- Meaningful Name: Nearly half the cast has them, and certain names even become a plot-point.
- Not to mention the fact that the boy-thief protagonist is named Conn.
- Modest Royalty: Rowan Forestal.
- Our Dragons Are Different
- Parental Substitute: Nevery and Benet to Conn.
- Platonic Life Partners: Conn and Rowan. They're the best of friends and always stick up for each other, but there's nothing romantic about their relationship, even hintwise. Though Argest may be jealous of Conn.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Benet is incredibly domestic, but terrifying if you get on his bad side. He doesn't work as Nevery's bodyguard (and stand-in housemaid and cook) for nothing.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Rowan is the daughter of the Duchess of Wellmet and later becomes Duchess herself. She travels to foreign cities, fights evil magic-beings and saves Conn more than once when he gets in over his head.
- Rules of Orphan Economics: Conn starts off with type 3, but meeting Nevery moves him to type 2.
- Stuff Blowing Up: ...Makes a great way to cast magic, as it happens!
- Theme Naming: All of Crowe's family have bird-related names. Such as his sister Black Maggie (Magpie), his son Embrewing, Conn himself...
- Trilogy Creep: The author has said that she's written a fourth book in the series, though it hasn't been published as of yet.
- Victory-Guided Amnesia: Conn giving himself to Wellmet and Arhionvar causes this. He gets his memories back, thankfully.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Nevery returns from a twenty-year exile at the beginning of the series, and in the second book, Connwaer gets exiled for the same reasons Nevery did.