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I've recently finished the Thief's Gamble (and the two books that follow), and here is what I think about the books (where I'm coming from is below in case your intrested). This is a fantasy series w/ magic where the main char. (a woman for 2 of the books) is a thief who is dragged into doing wizard's work - and all the trouble it brings her.
The series is by a woman, and yet it isn't Yang in its "feel". In fact I would have to say that the books are just about dead-on neutral (balances Yin & Yang nicely). If your male don't be put off by a female main-char. in this case.
The world she is creating has a lot of potential. The world's magic sys. is excellent (w/ nice plausible rules - not terribly detailed though). The social structure is very good. The history is excellent. The description of terrain is also very good. The city's descriptions are average to below average. The char.s are above average and sometimes good, (the problem I had w/ them is that I always felt distanced from the char.s, and as a result didn't quite get-into the story.) Action sequences were good to excellent. The plot was above average.
Overall a b-.
If you have read the series what is your take on it?
A flavor as to what I like:
I have read well over a thousand fantasy & SciFi books (prob. close to 2k). I started reading C.S. Lewis (lion,witch,wardrobe) when I was 7, by 8 I finished the Ursula K. (EarthSea) mage trilogy - then progressing onto Tolkien books. Around age 13 I tried a few AD&D books (they simply don't do it for me - but it has been about 2 decades since I last delved into them).
My priority is entertainment. I don't care if the book is big or little as long as the reading goes fairly quickly and is very entertaining/involving (ie. can you step into the main char.s shoes?). A close second is learning - self-improvement by diving into a story's char. development (in paticular the main char.). I look for a main char.s looking to improve themselves (or winding up improving themselves) - as well as char. interaction. Plot (other than char. development) is 3rd tying in with world structure (social/magical/tech.) Every thing else is of lesser importance to me. I will notice flaws in books but can often push them aside if I feel like I'm "into the book". Many of you have read/still reading Jordon's WOT series so it makes for a good ref. here. I think it is one of the best series (entertainment wise) ever written. The books move quickly (I can finish off a 600+ page book like this on a weekend) & they are highly entertaining. I can easily slide into the char.s shoes (male & female, Good & Evil). The flavor is yin for the male char.s and yang for the female char.s. World structure (in all its forms) is excellent & vast. As many have mentioned however the books can become tedious for several reasons. First, because it has multiple main char.s your pref. for yin or yang will almost always force a desire for more of one than the other (this is a tough balancing act for a writer that does a story like this). Second, the books as they progress tell less of the world & its workings (your not going to remain like a child seeing the ocean for the first time). Third, the problems (for the protag.s) that occur will generally be rehashed again & again as you get further in the series (ie. the feeling of same-old-same-old or been-there-done-that). I find that all of these problems can be easily pushed aside/through for the entertainment value. WOT I would rate as a solid A (though some books are def. better than others.)
I often tend toward the "power reader" as you might have guessed from the above, choosing stories that lend themselves to creating gods (at least in comparison to everyone else in the story). This isn't to say that I don't branch out on my tastes, I do like books that start humble and stay humble as well - and even novels that have diff. styles (ie. Histoir type, Modern Classic, ect).
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