The Magic Thief

This is an okay book written by Sarah Prineas. When he’s caught pickpocketing one foul night, Conn – a young street urchin – becomes apprenticed to a down-on-his-luck wizard Nevery Flinglas. It seems that Nevery is just returning to the faraway and long ago land of Wellmet after a 20-year exile. Taking a muscle-bound minion and the lock-picking Conn with him, Nevery enters the terrifying lair of The Underlord. Following a secret meeting with this dreaded one, Nevery somehow emerges unscathed – with his lackeys in tow. His next visit is with the Duchess who banished him. Because he promises to rid her realm of the decay and decline caused by a lack of magic, she lets him re-enter Wellmet.

This is the first book in a trilogy. Prineas wrote the first chapter for Cricket, a literary magazine for young adults, and later decided to expand it into a novel.