Book Blog and Candle
In The Identity Thief our protagonist is Cassie, a twelve year old who is trying to navigate the social struggles of being popular. She lives in a version of London where magic is real but forbidden. However, what happens behind closed doors is another matter and a notorious criminal mastermind is targeting those secretly affiliated with the magical community intent on collecting a series of magic tomes in order to build a weapon that could change everything.
The characterisation in this book was amazing! Cassie and her friends actually acted like the twelve year olds that they are. Plus, I thought Cuttlefish was a really good villain. He has the ability to be able to mimic anybody and it was so comedic how we kept getting little chapters of him fooling people and they're none the wiser. It's a good commentary on real life because sometimes we don't take things as seriously as we should because we don't think it would ever happen to us!
I love the fact that we don't get an actual description of Cuttlefish throughout the book. We get to hear about what he has done and about the identities he has stolen but never actually what he looks like. I found that it made him even more ominous and you're never sure who you can actually trust in the book. The only constants being that he is charming, clever and ruthless.
"In my experience, madness and divine insight are much the same thing."
The magical system in this book was so original and definitely one of the most interesting ones I've come across! I was really intrigued by the fact that magical injuries in the book are only in the persons' head - so if they die by magical means then they don't actually die in real life but are put in a kind of magical coma. When they wake up they don't remember anything about the incident but of course it still has its' dangers as it can leave a person brain damaged. This was so unique and I would definitely love to explore it further.
Additionally, I also loved the unconventional layout of the book. It really reminded me of The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg where some chapters would be normal prose but there are also newspaper clippings, mind maps and sections of a textbook. I always find it really interesting when books do this and it is such a great way to give an extra layer of worldbuilding, it really sweeps the reader up into the world.
All in all, The Identity Thief is a dark, gripping and action filled story that will keep you hooked! I can't wait to delve even more into this world!