Have you ever had a book that you know is supposed to be good but you just can’t get into it?  These two books both came up in Amazon’s “Customers who bought this item also bought” which works for me about half the time.  Sadly these two both fell in the “didn’t work” half.

Den of Thieves: The Ancient Blades Trilogy: Book One struck me as trite. The main character is a thief in a city where thieves are executed and set in a land where a poor man is fair game for enslavement.

We all know how these books go, don’t we: Boy steals something he shouldn’t which kicks off a series of adventures and misadventures. That’s the plot here. I could see that the book could be good if I were able to get into it or was more in the mood. Or something.

Maybe part of the trouble is this is the first book in a trilogy. Sometimes authors take way too long to set up the story. All I know is I got to about page 50 and took it back to the library.

The second book, Taming Fire (The Dragonprince Trilogy, Vol. 1), has a more unusual premise and parts were quite good. The hero is the son of a now-dead thief, who hired himself as a shepherd to a noble. He taught himself to use a sword and knows a few small magics. A wizard finds him and takes him to the academy.

Yes this book has more promise and was far more interesting. Now that I think about it, maybe I’ll keep this one home a few more days and try once more to get past page 20.

Update:  Nope, still couldn’t get into Taming Fire.