School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-When Owen sees Bethany climb out of a book, he learns that she is half fictional and is searching for her missing father. While Owen sympathizes, he also immediately sees the possibilities for fame, fortune, and glory. Owen's real life is boring, his mother works too much, his teacher gives him stupid assignments, and his classmates don't get him at all. If Bethany would just take him into the new Kiel Gnomenfoot book, he'd save the day and be a hero. When Owen sneaks into the story and sets in motion a series of really terrible events, he realizes he wasn't ready for fame and glory. Owen learns a lot about how to be a true friend and what courage really is in this fast-paced, action-packed tale. A fun book for fans who enjoyed Riley's "Half Upon a Time" (Aladdin) series.-Terry Ann Lawler, Burton Barr Library, Phoenix, AZ (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
When Owen discovers that his classmate Bethany can jump into fictional worlds, he's desperate to enter his beloved Kiel Gnomenfoot series. Bethany isn't interested in giving Owen a tour: she's busy looking for her father, a fictional character who disappeared into a book when she was young. After Owen offers Bethany a possible way to find her father, she agrees to take him into Kiel's book on the condition that Owen not interfere with the story. As the concept demands, self-awareness plays a big role in the narrative, and the interplay of text and metatext is one of its most entertaining aspects ("This would be huge. Bigger than saving Dumbledore," thinks Owen, marveling at the chance to prevent the death of a beloved character). The plot gets chaotic as Owen and Bethany's actions create a mess of repercussions in reality, and readers face the challenge of intuiting the events of an invented series while its constructs are being pulled down around them. By book's end, though, Riley brings his interwoven levels of story to a conclusion that satisfies both intellect and narrative. Ages 8-12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Everything bores Owen until Bethany, a half-human/halffictional character searching for her lost father, brings Owen into his favorite book. The plan soon backfires and the children find themselves fighting to save both the book world and the human one. With its quick-paced plot, sharp characters, and funny dialogue, Story Thieves opens an enjoyable new fantasy-adventure series. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The fourth wall suffers major breaches as young characters from a popular fantasy series and the "real real world" join forces to battle threats in both. Born of a real mother and a fictional dad, Bethany has been searching for her father ever since he disappeared into a book on her fourth birthday. When classmate Owen sees her materializing out of a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, she unwillingly acquires a gobsmacked ally who persuades her to pick up a finding spell from the cliffhanger scene at the end of Volume 6 in his adored Kiel Gnomenfoot series. Owen tags along to do the unthinkable: change the plot by saving the Dumbledore-ish Magister from death at the hands of mad scientist and archvillain Dr. Verity. Crises snowball as Owen finds himself caught in a climactic battle between Magic and Science in the yet-to-be-published seventh volume. Meanwhile, Bethany is left on this side of the printed page to somehow prevent the Magister, enraged by the revelation that he's fictional, from freeing all made-up people and creatures and exiling their creators into a storybook to see how they like having no free will. Riley concocts a tasty mix of familiar tropes and truly inventive twists for his Gnomenfoot scenario plus a set of broadly rendered scene stealers for a supporting cast. For a plot, he dishes up a nonstop barrage of situational pickles for his increasingly desperate protagonists. A droll and clever opener likely to leave readers breathless both with laughter and anticipation. (Fantasy. 10-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Here's a whole new look at getting lost in your favorite book. Bethany is half fictional and has the ability to jump into any book. Her father was lost in a book years before, and since then Bethany has been trying to figure out which book it was. When her classmate Owen discovers Bethany's secret, he wants nothing more than to jump into his favorite fantasy series, Kiel Gnomenfoot. Though Bethany is reluctant to share her ability due to her self-styled rules (no messing with the book's story, no talking to characters), she relents, believing in a spell that might help locate her dad. Of course, things go wrong, characters come out of the book and into the real world, and their fictional adventures become all too real. Aimed at avid readers (the Kiel stories are a spoof of the Harry Potter books), this series starter is packed with humor, adventure, and twists, and it bodes quite well for the second volume. Giddy, book-based fun.--Thompson, Sarah Bean Copyright 2014 Booklist
