This year's (2017) Mark Twain Award nominee list seems to be better than those of previous years. That said, Jude Watson's Loot fails to live up to the quality of the others I have read so far. There is potential here, and it might come down to my personal preferences: I take issue with book outside of Watson's writing ability.
My main reason for disliking this one is not that the characters are thieves, that they lie and cheat, sneak around, trespass and break into places; my reason for disliking it is that the characters remain thieves, etc. They don't make the changes necessary to comply with society, morality, or basic human decency. In fact, they are rewarded for their deceptions and illegal activity. Watson ends the book by having his characters plot revenge against other people who made their own quests difficult.
My main reason for disliking this one is not that the characters are thieves, that they lie and cheat, sneak around, trespass and break into places; my reason for disliking it is that the characters remain thieves, etc. They don't make the changes necessary to comply with society, morality, or basic human decency. In fact, they are rewarded for their deceptions and illegal activity. Watson ends the book by having his characters plot revenge against other people who made their own quests difficult.
 | From the author's website: The idea for LOOT came from a simple question: what if you were the son or daughter of the greatest jewel thief in the world? When I asked myself that, a story started to spark in my mind. There was only one thing I knew before I started: I wanted to write a book where kids use mad skills to do bad things for good reasons… and get away with it! |
Watson claims to have "wanted to write a book where kids use made skills to do bad things for good reasons...and get away with it." The "good reasons" here are to save themselves from a superstitious curse, and the rest of Watson's statement is just not something I want to encourage. Personally speaking, I still believe the ends do not justify the means; I only wish that were the end result of Loot.
