ARC Review: Little Thieves #3

Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen

Publication Date: April 1, 2025

Summary from NetGalley:

It’s been nearly two years since Vanja brought down the cult she started, and she’s still paying the price. As the Pfennigeist, she bucks the law in order to help the desperate and haunt the corrupt all across the empire—and no matter what, she works alone.

But an impossible killer is tearing through royalty, and leaving Vanja’s signature red penny on every victim. Suddenly the Pfennigeist is no longer a folk hero but a nightmare. When even the Blessed Empress falls, the empire’s seven royal families must gather to elect her successor within a matter of weeks, or risk the collapse of reality itself… even though it puts every house in the killer’s sights.

Vanja tells herself she’s wading into the royalty’s vicious games only to save the name she made, and the loved ones also in jeopardy. But the Order of Prefects has also put their sharpest official on the case, the one who swore he’d always find Vanja—until she broke his heart. Journeyman Prefect Emeric Conrad may no longer be the boy Vanja knew, but they’ll have to work together one last time to have any chance of surviving the deadly catastrophe coming for them all.

With bloody conspiracy, sinister magic, and old adversaries closing in, it will take everything Vanja has to save not just the people she loves, but the future she’s fought for. In this thrilling final chapter of the Indie Next series Little Thieves, New York Times-bestselling author Margaret Owen shows us the pain and beauty of choosing which demons to face, and which to forgive.

ARC provided by MacMillan Children’s Publishing Group via NetGalley for an honest review.

Confession:

So while I liked and appreciated this final book in the trilogy, I do think that I am going to go back and reread the first two books and the short story collection that I just found out about, called The Fallow Year, and then reread this one. There were many times while I was reading this that I just felt confused and wondering who some people were and how they fit into the whole story as I remembered it, especially at the start of the book. I also struggled with all of the political intrigue in the middle of the book and really struggled to remember all of the people involved and what their motives and secrets were. The ending was also very complex and at times confusing although I was happy with how it ended. I think that I am going to keep the rest of this review pretty short and then write a new one when I have had a chance to reread it.

Vanja and Emeric were both great in this book and showed a lot of growth both apart and together. I loved how their relationship evolved over this book and also over the course of the whole series. It makes me sad that this is the final book in the series. Their banter, even when they were mad at each other was wonderful.

The plot of this story is very complex and was almost too much for one book. The story got really bogged down in the middle with all of the intrigue surrounding the election of a new emperor or empress. To many characters to keep track off, and I eventually gave up trying. Just eventually went with the flow. Much of this felt unnecessary as it also didn’t seem to impact the final end of the story much.

So as usual, please take what I have to say about this book with a grain of salt. All of the reviews I looked at had nothing but glowing things to say about it. And I agreed with many of the things they had to say, but my overall feel of the book was just that it was too long and too confusing for me. I am really hoping that a reread of all of the books together will help and that I will come back soon and give this book the wonderful review it deserves.