West, Michelle -- The Hidden City
Grumpy old thief (tomb raider, not burglar) takes in street waif.
Street waif learns to trust him; also shows alarming propensity to
adopt more strays. This is an odd remix of the tropes of the author's
Cast In... series (city with hidden magics; politics and petty
nobility; orphans) with the Gang Of Girls Don't Need No Boys Here that
more than one author has concealed in her trunk of teenage first
novels. (Sherwood Smith even published hers.) I'm not sure whether
this is indulging in juvenilia, subverting it, or re-imagining it with
an adult perspective. It works, so far. Not sure where sequels will
go.
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