As the Crow Flies (Tales of a Thief) Paperback – May 10, 2013

I was very excited to read this book, because I am absolutely drawn to stories about thieves and assassins. The blurb for "As the Crow Flies" drew me in, and the preview for the book hooked me, so I decided to give it a try.The story is about a thief named Crow, who is blackmailed and tasked with fulfilling a mad wizard's demands of stealing a Dragon's egg. It's certainly no easy feat, and the wizard knows that Crow is the only one who has the adequate skills to do it. The premise of this story sounded like a fun adventure waiting to be had, and I couldn't wait to dive in.Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed and underwhelmed with this book.First of all, there was waaaaayy too much monologue. The story was told from Crow's point of view, and much of the narration often went off on tangents and things I just didn't care about. Even in the height of the scene in an earlier chapter when he's sneaking through the wizard's mansion to find his lover and his friend, Tanris's wife, the continuous monologue and tangents brought the tension and pacing of the scene to a grinding halt, and I found myself having to skim those parts, because I just didn't care. I wanted to actually see how he got to point B, instead of him giving us a long backstory about it. This was how the story often was throughout, and I had to speed-read/skim through parts to prevent myself from putting the book away. But I continued through the story, hoping it would get better, and it did, somewhat, toward the end, where the monologue wasn't as frequent.I could not get into the characters much. I wanted to like Crow, but I couldn't get past his strange quips and dry humor at certain situations. To me, he did not really come off as the witty character that I think the author intended. I didn't like Tanris because he was just too unreasonable and argumentative in most situations they got in. His and Crow's heated relationship was enjoyable in the beginning of the story because I was able to get a feel of the two characters' personalities and their relationship toward each other, but as the story went on, that quickly got monotonous and exhausting. Almost every chapter the two of them argued about something and/or brought up old, irrelevant issues that hindered the story's pacing. As if the dead horse hadn't been beaten enough. I especially did not like Girl (yes, that was her actual name. More on that, later). I felt that she was pretty much a useless character to the story. Girl was a mute that cried ALL the time. She had no motive or purpose to make me want to care about her. In a later chapter, however, Crow does teach her some thieving skills, and she apparently learns how to use a crossbow surprisingly well, but that was practically the gist of her character. All in all, I felt as though the author simply stuck her in there as the token female character of the group.Another thing bothered me about how they acquired Girl. During the 3-4 chapters they spend in a cave (which I thought was melodramatic, because there was so much build-up of angry ghosts in the cave, and all that happens is Crow gets possessed, but not necessarily in a bad way), they encounter Girl all alone there. They had recently rescued Girl and brought her to the village that was now currently BEHIND them. So the question was, how in the world did Girl get there before them? It bothered me throughout the rest of the book.I (still) don't understand the purpose of the Ancestors and why they kept talking to Crow. What was their purpose? Why did they choose Crow? I couldn't understand their reason for even being in the story other than to cause strange anomalies like creating sudden wind gusts and other haunting things. And almost every time they whispered things to Crow, they spoke in riddles, so it was hard for me to understand the point of the ghosts at all.My only favorite character? Surprisingly, the cat. Crow hated him, but the cat ended up saving him from getting killed by a bandit back in chapter 6. That is one of the few scenes in the book that I really enjoyed and thought was entertaining and well done. But after about chapter 21 or so, the cat pretty much drops out of the story. I don't know if he really died or ran away or what. It disappointed me, because the Crow and the cat made a very humorous pair that kept me reading.This book could have easily been 100 pages shorter (at least), if not for the fluff of monologues, and spending so may chapters in only two places before getting to point B. I felt that Chapter 26 was when the story really started to get interesting for me, because that is when he reaches point B (the Dragon's lair). I thought it was entertaining how Crow goes about sneaking around to acquire it without alerting Mama Dragon. And when he manages to steal it, he has to go through great lengths of hiding it, which after several experimentations, ends up hiding it under his shirt.One of the big problems I had with this book, and I thought was absolutely annoying was the naming conventions. Here are some of the names the author used for the characters: Girl, Horse, Egg, Not-An-Egg, Too. I don't understand the reason for doing it. Was it intended to be funny? Because it annoyed me than anything to see these simple cliche names as characters and try to take them seriously. Crow and Tanris could have simply asked Girl to write her name or something for them to find out what her name was. And if she couldn't write, then they could've simply gave her a name that she thought sounded nice for them to call her. "Horse" was the name of Crow's horse. Why couldn't Crow give his own horse a name? I don't understand this. And Too was another horse's name, which I don't know how or why it was called that. Egg/Not-An-Egg was the name of the Dragon they discover. Again, I did not find the odd naming very amusing if that's what was intended.Another problem that confused me more than anything was the issue with Crow's lover, Tarsha. She apparently betrays Crow, but I don't understand her motives for doing do. What reason(s) would she want him dead? That whole ordeal was confusing.There were a lot of things I didn't like about the book, but I managed to stick it out to the end. This book may not be for everyone, but as a lover of fantasy and all things thieves and assassins, I was hoping for a much better execution of such a promising story.

What a surprisingly fun, engaging, and addictive read. I wasn’t planning on liking this book. I guess I hadn’t heard much and my expectation was low. So when I found myself irritated by interruptions, I realized it was blowing past those low expectations.Be warned, the plot isn’t terribly unique. A thief is blackmailed into helping a baron so as to save his kidnapped love. So why did I love it so much?First and foremost, I can honestly say I loved the voice of Crow. That’s what drew me in. That’s what made me want to keep picking this up. So that translates into a very well written book, in my opinion. The voice of Crow was addictively funny and solidly consistent even as his character grew during his travels. I loved the dry, cynical, realistic, clever, selfish, selfless, and sarcastic nature of Crow, which played wonderfully against Tanris’s altruistic personality. The two had a sort of chemistry that worked together. It wrestled quite a bit of smiles out of me.The other part of Crow’s character that I much enjoyed was his vulnerability. He had fears, and I love that in characters. I love to see them break down and not always be the stalwart heroes standard in fantasy books. Tanris had his moments as well.Sadly, I had the plot figured out from the get go. I had already foreseen quite a few turns the book took. I don’t think many jaws will drop at some of the revelations. That’s not to say the book wasn’t enjoyable. Again, it was Crow’s voice that kept me entranced, not necessarily a complicated plot. Also, there were some definite slow parts. The farther along in the book we got, the more I noticed lengthy descriptions popping up. That’s not to say they weren’t there in the beginning, but since some of it is slow, I noticed these descriptions a bit more toward the end. The journey Crow takes is quite long. There’s some adventure in it for sure, but it is long and therefore slow in some parts. But the more addicted I became to Crow, the less and less I could put it down, even through some slow sections.The world isn’t terribly complicated nor explored in depth. For me, I read for characters so it wasn’t a hinderance for me at all. However, those into heavy world building probably won’t find satisfaction in this book. What we were given was clear and simple and fit my tastes just fine.I have high hopes that there might be a sequel. This is not part of a series, but I would love to read another adventure of Crow, Tanris, and Girl (yes, that’s what they call her for reason that would become clear if you decided to pick this up). Speaking of her, I actually quite enjoyed her character. I found her humorous in her own way and she added some comical moments to the book.So overall, I would highly recommend reading the entire sample available on Amazon. If the voice of Crow appeals to you, I can’t recommend this enough. It was long, but fun and witty with a nice dose of adventure.

This was an enjoyable read with a good length. There does not appear to be a book two. There were loose ends in this story that could evolve into a second book. The man Crow met in the woods could have been further explored. Who was Girl? Delving further into Crows self discoveries? How does Not An Egg develop? Crows character was meant to be cocky, but at times it grew tiresome and beyond what was needed in the writing.

An enjoyable read. Good characters. Super plot and complete in itself. RObin can write well. No turgid descriptions of the obvious instead a fun sprightly read.

I have been re-reading books in my Kindle library. I didn’t remember reading this but I’m glad I found it because it was great! Excellent, layered writing, delivered in an accessible and delightfully wry way. Crow is full of surprises and the characters around him are subtly engaging. Looking forward to Book 2 which I just bought (got the first one free).

At first, I was a little lost, trying to understand where the story was going, but I think that was only because I'm not used to the fantasy genre. I soon got caught up by the story and enjoyed the changing relationship between Crow and Tanris. I liked the fact that the story was written in the first person and written well. First person stories can fail dramatically, with the author having to fill in the holes in the storyline, but this is so well-written that it succeeds. My favourite character, however, is Girl, whom Crow and Tanris both underestimate - not unusual in real life! I would recommend this to any reader and I look forward to reading more by Robin.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - great storytelling, and characters who leap off the page. Crow's thieving is cut short by a trap: a wealthy patron attempts to force him to retrieve a treasure, but Crow has his own plans - although things don't quite work out as he intends. There's a dragon's egg, a slow acting poison, some noisy ghosts, a girl with not much clothing on, another girl who cannot speak, a little biting demon, and a whole lot of people who are irritated with Crow. Some of them are his friends. I'm looking forward to reading more about Crow and his associates - and to finding out whether Girl gets a name.