Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen

Blurb:

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.

Review:

Two years after abandoning Emeric after she brought down the cult in assistance with his Finding to become a full-fledged Prefect, Vanja hasn’t stopped running. Frightened of the commitment being with Emeric might require and determined to salvage his career from the mentor that hoped to foil him as revenge for his prior mentor’s death, she attempts to evade capture from the man she’s loved while also helping the society the Prefects and ordinary enforcements cannot. Becoming the Pfennigeist, Vanja helps people who can’t help themselves by saving them from life-threatening situations and giving them the hope they need to find and pursue alternative, happier lives. Unfulfilled but mostly content, Vanja promises herself she’ll forevermore work alone to protect those she loves and those she can help.

She doesn’t expect to be caught by Emeric two years after ditching him in the small town where she accidentally created a cult, nor for him to be engaged. Forced to clear her name and regain Emeric’s broken trust, Vanja is thrust into a political world of games played behind uplifted hands, false niceties, and brutal royal schemes—especially when a killer begins attacking figures of importance and leaving a red penny (the Pfennigeist’s signature) in their wake. To clear her name and protect her reputation, Vanja must discover who the killer is and stop them in their tracks, even if it means working with Emeric, his new betrothed, and many of the friends she previously abandoned. That, or risk losing herself and becoming the very killer the true murderer is trying to make the Pfennigeist become.

Much like Little Thieves and Painted Devils, I devoured Holy Terrors within 24 hours of picking up the novel (and shortly after finishing the sequel). Margaret Owen has a particular talent for writing stories that hit the perfect mark in my readerly mind. When I start reading, I can’t stop, nor do I want to.

The Little Thieves trilogy was already excellent by way of the first two books in the series, but Holy Terrors is truly the icing on the cake. Although some of the plot twists were obvious to me (considering I read a LOT of mysteries), I did find there were enough twists and turns to surprise me throughout the entire novel. My teeth clenched, my heart was in my throat, the pages flew by, and I didn’t want the story to end just as much as I wanted to find out what happened next.

Owen is truly a harbinger for the mystery-fantasy genre mashup and has inspired me to become a better writer as well as some of my most favored book ideas. She has a grand skill for prose, for authentic and raw characters, and for endings that leave readers fulfilled even if they’re bittersweet. It’s easy to forget reality and think of her works as the new “world”, because these books are so vivid and grand without being overwhelming to readers who are just diving into her works.

I’ve already said much of what I love about Owen’s Little Thieves storyline over the years and in previous reviews, but this trilogy will forever be one of my favorites. I can’t wait to read The Merciful Crow and The Faithless Hawk, her original debut duology, and to fall in love with more of her stories and her characters. She has truly become one of my favorite authors, and I cannot wait to see what she writes about next.