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    Thieves, Beasts, & Men
    Thieves, Beasts, & Men
    Thieves, Beasts, & Men
    Audiobook7 hours

    Thieves, Beasts, & Men

    Written by Shan Leah

    Narrated by Carol Schneider

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    "" AMERICAN FICTION AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST NEW FICTION 2021 ""
    For Fans of Emily Fridlund's History of Wolves and Fiona Mozley's Elmet.
    This stunning debut uses the irresistible scenario of a hermit living in near-complete self-sufficiency in the wilderness, and asks the universally relevant question: what is the value of existing within a civilization when it is fraught with evil? Adelaide has lived a long, solitary existence in the Blue Ridge Mountains. On the verge of ending it all, she discovers two feral children raiding her garden and rescues them in a misguided attempt at a new life. Now she must find a way to care for children who are more beast than human. They only communicate with chirps and grunts, and they pine for their feral mother. When dangerous men and a wild woman emerge from the darkness in pursuit, Adelaide faces a grueling choice. She can release the children back to the wild, saving her own life but losing everything she has grown to love, or fight to defend her new family, risking the death she no longer seeks. Thieves, Beasts & Men asks who are the thieves in this story? Who are the beasts? And what, ultimately, defines humanity?

    Editor's Note

    The meaning of life…

    Adelaide lives alone in the Blue Ridge Mountains — a hermit of her own choosing but none the happier for it. She’s on the cusp of taking her life when she discovers two feral children lurking in the woods. Leah’s remarkable debut novel unites fantasy and thriller, exploring the meaning of life (if there is one). “Thieves, Beasts, & Men” will haunt you long after its conclusion.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEverand Productions
    Release dateFeb 15, 2022
    ISBN9781094439525
    Author

    Shan Leah

    Shan Leah is an award-winning fine artist, freelance photographer, and lover/writer of dark literary fiction. Surrounded by an endless supply of pens, papers, paints, and clay, Shan grew up in the Florida Keys and was taught proper wheel-throwing techniques before mastering her shoe laces. She currently lives in St. Petersburg, Fl, with her brilliant son and small herd of cats. She finds beauty dreadfully boring. Thieves, Beasts & Men is Shan’s debut novel.

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    Reviews for Thieves, Beasts, & Men

    4/5

    179 ratings13 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a mixed bag. Some reviewers praise the strong characters, well-edited plot, and immersive storytelling. However, others criticize the lack of key details, confusing plot points, and the portrayal of the female protagonist. Despite the mixed reviews, the book is described as beautifully written and worth reading for its exploration of family bonds and the fears we all experience. Overall, the book offers an exciting and intriguing story, although some readers may find certain aspects frustrating or inconsistent.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      A suicidal hermit finds meaning in life by kidnapping two feral children after seriously injuring and abandoning their feral mother. As the bereaved and weakened mother howls outside the house each night, our protagonist reveals that she has no knowledge of how to care for the captive children. Yet she remains firm in her resolve not to seek help for them or their mother, as in doing so, she would lose her ability to "love" them.

      This is one of the most psychologically demented books I've read in a long time. Yet I get the impression that I'm meant to be rooting for this narcissistic and abusive woman.

      I have to admit, I quit about two thirds of the way into this book. Without offering too many spoilers, I can say that it just got too twisted. I don't enjoy detailed descriptions of that kind of pointless suffering, especially children's suffering.
    • 5/5
      The story telling style is poignant and captivating. It is unusual to be able to tell a story so well with most of it being told in sort of third person. This perspective really worked for this story. It is an original story line, one that is truly thought provoking.
    • 5/5
      Engaging style of writing, great narration, characters, story. I’m glad Henry made it.
    • 5/5
      Exciting episodes that a woman discovers in the course of examining her fears, rational and irrational. We all have the fears that Adelaid experiences and this is what makes us read it to the end.
    • 3/5
      Bizarre story. This is a great example of how some family isn’t always blood relation. It had shades of darkness entwined with family bonds. Picked it solely on title alone and it was worth it.
    • 5/5
      Excellent, tightly wound, deeply felt and well edited. It immerses you from first to last page.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I made a good faith effort to finish this book and was about 75% through it. The main character because increasingly intolerable to me to the point that I’m no longer interested in finding out how the story was resolved.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I rarely make time to write a review. However, this work wildly irritated me. Put it this way: if this were a streaming film as it’s written, everyone watching would be screaming at the screen throughout at the protagonist, Adelaide, “Come ON, you IDIOT!”. Or, “this character’s a complete asshole!!”. Throughout the film . And that’s definitely not how the author intended Adelaide’s character be taken. I could barely get through this drivel lauded as literature. And what’s worse? It’s reprehensible that a 21st century, female author would portray the female protagonist (yes, Adelaide’s supposed to be old, but still of the post-feminist era) who’s supposed to be mentally tough enough to still live off the grid independently after decades, yet is the revolting trope of “little old me, I’m just a weak old woman with no way to defend myself, not even with a heavy object in my house or large knife of any kind… guess I’ll just quiver with a tiny paring knife if menacing male strangers show up (and she’s certain that will happen). Guess I should open the door wide though I know better. Maybe they’ll just leave forever after they insult me.” Learning of Adelaide’s traumatic history, makes her character even more detestable, given her complete lack of compassion and selfishness; it borders on narcissism. Not to spoil too much, but her cruelty to another central character is supposed to be mitigated by her dedication to the children whom she appropriates as her own; hence, we’re supposed to like or maybe feel sympathy for her? Plus, her character development is just flat. Also true of the other characters. The most fleshed out aspect of this character is her staggering idiocy. I don’t think the author intended this. Obviously though, Leah, the author, feels that if the heroine has normal intelligence and reasoning capabilities, hence defensive, strategic thinking, the story would end prematurely. Adelaide continually misses glaring, simplistic solutions. It’s not that she refuses to employ these cartoonishly obvious strategies, (we know by her stupid inner dialogue). So Leah tortures us with this moronic “defenseless” character to drag it out. Note to Shan Leah: it’s possible to write a resourceful, wily female character (even if old) without portraying a female Liam Neeson! I only finished it to find out what happens to the kids.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I think it was supposed to be terror, but the most horrific thing that the books talks about are the awful things we do as a society already, such as rape, domestic violence and the like.
      It was relatively entertaining, yet for most of the time I felt like slapping this woman around, I mean... pppffff....the solutions were very obvious, yet she refuses.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Kinda loved it but also a bit annoyed at Adelaide...
      Spoiler alert:
      Her logic for keeping the kids was inconsistent with her own life choices...
      Think the wild woman could have taken a much bigger role...
      Loved the atmosphere, excellent for making oneself a picture of the landscape and surroundings, just the way she kept the kids bugged me.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Shan Leah is clearly a very talented writer style-wise, but this book was lacking in many ways. For one, it felt like I had picked up the second or third book in a series and was missing key details that explained characters’ motivations, the setting, and especially the “why” of most - if not all - of the plot points. Because of this, I had trouble forming attachments to the characters and spent much of the book just trying to fill in the blanks (unsuccessfully). It became more of a news story that was beautifully written rather than a story that made me want to care either way about what happened. And in the end, I didn’t care. Too bad, because it really could have been a wonderful book.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I leave the final pages with the lasting memories of each of the strongest characters and the plot that is artfully hewn by a talented author. The voice of the characters shines through the excellent reader of this audio production.
    • 2/5
      Story is interesting IF you can get past you can get past the curse of 'gd this or gd that'.