Little Thieves
#944.21 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2021–2025 Reading commitment Medium Margaret Owen Last reviewed 2026-08-19
Overview
Little Thieves reimagines the Grimm fairy tale “The Goose Girl” from the point of view of its usual antagonist. Vanja Schmidt, raised from infancy by the gods Death and Fortune, steals the identity of Princess Gisele using an enchanted pearl necklace, then lives a double life as royalty by day and a notorious jewel thief, the Red Penny, by night. When an offended deity curses her to slowly turn to gemstones, she has two weeks to make amends or lose her humanity for good. The trilogy follows Vanja across three novels (2021–2025) as her schemes, found family, and an uneasy alliance with the huntsman sent to kill her spiral into a fight against the gods themselves.
Fairy-tale retelling, Comic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Little Thieves Trilogy Margaret Owen
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Little Thieves | 2021 | 1 | core | 4.21 (28,423 ratings) |
 | Painted Devils | 2023 | 2 | core | 4.17 (9,575 ratings) |
 | Holy Terrors | 2025 | 3 | core | 4.29 (4,453 ratings) |
A Grimm's "The Goose Girl" retelling told from the antagonist's point of view; Vanja Schmidt, raised by the gods Death and Fortune, impersonates a princess while moonlighting as a jewel thief. Holy Terrors (2025) concludes the trilogy.
Library / Expanded (1 work)
The Fallow Year Margaret Owen
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Fallow Year | 2024 | N/A |
A collection of ten interlude short stories set between books 2 and 3 of the trilogy; companion material, not part of the Core Canon novels.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Little Thieves? Little Thieves's Core Canon is 3 books, plus 1 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for Little Thieves? Publication order, starting with Little Thieves. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Little Thieves finished? Complete (2021–2025).
- How much reading does Little Thieves take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~1,584 pages).
- How is Little Thieves ranked? #94 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 42,451 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #94?
Ranked #94 of 664 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 4.21 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (42,451 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 3 rated core books rate within 0.12 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #93, Blood and Ash (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 3 books · Complete · 42k ratings · Ranks #94 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length fairy-tale retelling fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- Little Thieves (2021)
- Painted Devils (2023)
- Holy Terrors (2025)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Little Thieves and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Bartimaeus Sequence Urban fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.14
- The Books of Bayern Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.09
- The Scapegracers Urban fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.07
- The Hollow Kingdom Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.06
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.21 across 42,451 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Little Thieves admitted; Core Canon = the 3-novel trilogy accepted 2026-08-19
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-19
Rule: Core Canon is the trilogy's 3 numbered novels. The Fallow Year, a companion collection of ten short interlude stories set between books 2 and 3, is Expanded Canon: a between-books extra, not one of the trilogy's own entries.