Thief Of Corinth By Tessa Afshar

Ariadne comes from a stellar family background.

Her mother is verbally abusive and left her father for reasons Ariadne still doesn’t know. Her grandfather is just the same, and all too willing to marry Ariadne off to a man who drinks too much and regularly beats any women he comes across.

There is the bright spot of Theo—the adopted son whom Ariadne’s mother always hated. At her father’s wish, he accompanied Ariadne when her parents split. And despite beatings from Ariadne’s grandfather, he has stayed with her.

And he is the one who helps disguise Ariadne as a boy, helps her escape her grandfather, and brings her to her father’s home in Corinth.

But once in Corinth, Ariadne discovers her father isn’t the hero she always thought. Or at least not in the way she always thought.

Her father is the infamous Honorable Thief, known for robbing nobles in the name of justice and writing humorous letters exposing them to be read in public.

Ariadne was a very interesting character. Outspoken and daring, she made her own decisions and moved the plot forward in the book. She didn’t have any of the normal hobbies of girls—instead being drawn to athletics—but she was still shown to have her feminine side. As well as another side broken by the divorce of her parents and the abuse she has suffered.

The family dynamics were so intertwined and kept the story tangled up in knots I was interested to untie, while also being sensitive to hurting families in real life. It explored each character’s perspective and the hurt they suffered, but never excused their wrong and sometimes downright evil actions.

I was super intrigued by Theo and wanted to know more about his backstory and how he was processing his own hurt. I was rooting for him in the love triangle. And I mean, really, that shocker secret at the end of the book? He has to have his own novel sometime.

The climax rocked. All I can say without spoiling it, but that villain got what he deserved but in all the right ways. And the protagonists were clever in all the right ways.

Not as much of the book as I thought was actually about the thief thing, though. Which was a little disappointing. That was the premise I had picked the book up on and the one I was hoping to see carried out. Or maybe I’d just watched Aladdin way too close to picking up this book.

But that’s really the only complaint I have about this book (especially since Biblical fiction isn’t something I read as often as other historical fiction). Thief of Corinth is not a thief of your money, nor your time, nor your reading pleasures.