The Thief (The Queen's Thief, Book 1)

The ThiefThe Queen of AttoliaThe King of AttoliaA Conspiracy of KingsThick as Thievesby Megan Whalen TurnerThis is one of those series of books that you really ought to read in order. While each book can and does stand alone, this is a tale that unfolds like a flower, one petal at a time, and you owe it to yourself to let yourself enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Take Humpty-Dumpty’s advice. Begin at the beginning, go on to the end, then stop — and then wish that there was more to the tale!So: Imagine a land that looks like Greece but isn’t, inhabited by a people with Greek sounding names, who worship gods with Greek sounding names, but who have pocket watches, window glass, and flintlocks. They speak a common language, worship common gods, but have divided themselves into three separate states: Sounis, Eddis and Attolia: The queendom* of Eddis is both protected and trapped within its mountainous geography. It is sandwiched between the kingdom of Sounis on one hand, and the queendom of Attolia on the other. The king of Sounis covets Attolia, Eddis, and especially Eddis’ queen. The Queen of Attolia is struggling to keep her throne and her power against the machinations of the large empire of Mede across the sea to the south. Like the wolf at the door, Mede is hungry to get a foothold on their shores by using intrigue and influence to gain control of all three states, and another powerful empire to the north of them is equally determined not to let this happen.This is the book that begins the tale of Gen the thief, one of the most interesting and engaging characters I've run across in a long time. As the story opens, he has been locked in the palace dungeons of the king of Sounis for being what he is, a thief. It’s a heist tale, suspenseful and exciting; it sets the stage for everything that comes after. By the end of it you will understand the where’s and why’s of the story, and have met all the important who’s but one.The second book continues the career of Gen the thief, and introduces us to the last of the key players, The Queen of Attolia, a woman who must walk a tightrope to stay one step ahead of the machinations of the Mede ambassador who already sees himself as Attolia’s next king. When Gen falls into her clutches, she takes something important from him, but he steals something much more important from her.In The King of Attolia, the third book, Attolia gets the king it needs but doesn’t want, and in order for Gen the thief to obtain the one thing he wants most, he also has to take what comes with it — which is the last thing he wantsI think the story was originally supposed to end here, but I can see how Ms. Turner couldn’t let it go. There was still one person who needed to tell his story.In the fourth book, A Conspiracy of Kings, the chief advisor of Sounis’ young apprentice, whom we met in The Thief, gets to tell his tale. It is the story of how a boy becomes a man, how a man becomes a king, and how the young apprentice puts the heir of Sounis on his throne.I suspect that Ms. Turner succumbed to the plea that every story teller hopes to hear, “Just one more story! Please!” That “one more story” is Thick as Thieves. In it, the chief slave of the former Mede ambassador to the court of Attolia tells how Attolia’s king enacted his revenge on both master and slave.I was lucky that the first three books were already out when I started The Thief. I only had to wait two days for the second and third books to arrive from Amazon. I read them again when the fourth book came out, and have just finished reading them all again now that the fifth book is out. I know at some point I’ll want to read them all again. Yes, they are that good. By the end of the first chapter of The Thief, the characters had stepped off the page and into the miniseries that was playing in my head as I continued reading. As I said at the start of this, do yourself a favor and read the books in order. Just when you think you know how the tale is going to go, the tale takes an unexpected twist. Things are not what they seem, and people are not who you think they are.Oh, and did I mention the volcano?*Don’t tell me a queendom isn’t a thing. If a country ruled by a king is a kingdom, then a country ruled by a queen is a queendom. Sit down and hush.

Ten Likes/Dislikes:1. (+) Gen, the protagonist - By far, the best part of this book for me was Gen, his witty comments, resourcefulness, cleverness, determination, and more, though I'm not keen on revealing much about him so that I don't ruin the story for you. It's no secret that Gen has a lot of secrets. His perspective is not really what you'd associate with "distant" nowadays, but it does feel slightly off, slightly distant, the same sort of trickster and wily humor that you might expect of a thief, and that you see in his interactions with the other characters, embedded into how he describes situations, as if he's laying clues out for you to understand his motives, his personality, his background. And he's one of the most well-drawn, fascinating protagonists in YA literature that I've read.2. (+) World-building - If you are a world-building person, you will love this novel. There are so many details to appreciate. The details of the land during their journey across Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia. The way the land reflects political leanings. The different accents and specialties of each country. The histories, wars and invasions and diseases alike. The ancient Greek inspired culture, with peplos and related mythology stories, though with some historically inaccurate elements like guns, windows with glass panes, pocket watches, and printed books. The details of the treasure hunt itself and the history behind that particular item and how important it is to a certain culture. The details of Gen's thievery and the King's prison and the magus's duties along with the duties of other soldiers and land owners. The customs for the various religions. etc. etc. In some ways, it seemed like The Thief was set-up for the rest of the series because of the very well established world that would later, I bet, have more political intrigue.3. (+) Stories within stories - What I really liked was the way Megan Whalen Turner created her own mythology within an ancient Greek mythology/culture based world (plus some other details like guns) and factored that into the story. The synopsis refers to the tales of "old gods and goddesses," and I couldn't help but think a bit of Scheherazade and One Thousand and One Nights as Gen and the magus inform us and the other boys of creation and thievery myths.4. (+) Characters - Personally, I guessed a majority of the secrets and plot twists, but I don't think that makes the character cast any less worthy of admiration. It's clear that each character's motivations and backgrounds are well-drawn and shown in every action that they take, and the interactions between the guys are complex things in themselves. You're with the guys for a majority of the novel, but even the other characters who get very little time in comparison have ulterior motives and personalities that will certainly intrigue as they did to me.5. (--) The Beginning - The beginning pages are reminiscent of some other books that I've read lately that also haven't eased me into the fantasy world as well as I'd have liked. Just last week, I'd given up on a book for the same reason, but where this book succeeded was in the writing style, which I'll get to later. Still, even with the engaging writing, the info-dumps nearly turned me away.6. (+/-) Plot - Because I was bored for some parts of the novel. Because the plot was clearly fashioned with the series in mind. For about half the novel, the characters are traveling, the details of the countryside astounding but not hiding the fact that there was very little actually going on, no matter the twists that you uncover later. The devil is certainly in the details in this book, and while I loved that and that the book was showing me that I needed to pay close attention, I still wanted a bit more *excitement.*7. (+/-) That Special Spark - So, that's a really general topic, but for me, this book lacked that special spark that makes me want to return to it days later, that makes me continue to think of the book hours after I finish it. Why? Well, although the characters were well-rounded, the only one who I felt at all connected to was Gen, and that happened a lot later, when he really started to pull the guns out, so to speak. And as for the world? Well, it's certainly fascinating and well-drawn, but I probably missed a good deal of it with the beginning info-dumps and unless I actually *care* about the characters a lot, then I'll probably not feel too invested in the world either. So that's all to say, while I sense a great deal of potential in Megan Whalen Turner and the world and characters she's drawn, this book hasn't quite *sold* me on the series yet. I plan on continuing, yes, but it's not a need-it-now kind of priority (though I have been warned that this book is not the best of the series).8. (+) Writing - This prose is simplistic but not sparse. It's beautiful, textured, and evocative with all the details that Ms. Turner adds in to make the setting come alive and to add complexity to Gen's narrative and the mythology that she incorporates into the plot and world.9. (+/-) Pacing - I mentioned that the beginning had a lot of info-dumps and that they're traveling for a good deal of the time. The book doesn't really pick up until about 6/10ths of the way through, and even then, there are a few lulling moments. Still, I can't completely fault the pacing because I honestly don't know what else could have been done, besides maybe adding more plot to this book and cutting back in that first half.10. (+) The Cover - Yes for the treasure. Yes for Gen's dirty hands. Yes for the symmetry and elaborate design. (Though I do wish they'd done something to evoke the ancient Greek culture feel.)This book was recommended to me because I like Shadow and Bone, Graceling, and Grave Mercy. I agree with these comparisons: it's clear that the political machinations of each are echoed in this story, the mention of gods and religion somewhat reminiscent of that in GM, and the simplistic but textured and detailed writing style very similar to Kristin Cashore's style. I would also recommend this book to those who were fans of Throne of Glass but who also wanted that story's focus to be less oriented on the ball/fairy-tale/romantic aspect. The Thief is a promising start to a series full of political intrigue and complex characters that I will be following into the sequel.

This book is as always super good. Can't wait to share this series with my children.

É um ótimo livro introdutório ao universo da saga. Tem alguns plot twists pro final, com detalhes que dão dicas pra você descobrir antes, mas que são bem amarrados no final.

This was a nice book, an easy read. The character of Gen is so wonderful and well written. I really liked this.

何年か前に初めて読んだときは，人名や地名などの固有名詞が難しいことや，最初のほうではこれといった出来事が起こらないことから，なかなか物語の中に入っていくことができませんでした．繰り返し読んで，会話のやりとり等の細かいところの面白さに気づく余裕が出てきてからは，ずっと楽しめるようになりました．登場人物たちによって語られる，この世界独特の神話に関しても，最初は読みにくいと思っていたのがだんだん好きになっていきました．作中で語られる以上に詳しく知りたいと思ったほどです．続編に当たる"The Queen of Attolia"のほうが好きですが，その面白さもこちらを先に読んでこそだと思います．ただ，U.K.版のChapter6で話の流れがおかしいところがあり，U.S.版と比べたところ，段落が1つ抜けていました．これはミスだったのでしょうか．

I have been reading my way through the Attolia books. Started off with “The Thief”, how many books have you read that start off in a dungeon? Shelf loads. The book is certainly geared toward teens and it’s forever since i was one. It is quite nice and simple; the hero seems nice and a bit simple too. However, it gets better and better and better! Order the next book straight away, you can immerse yourself, then wish, please, for a good map. The writing is consistently good throughout; in fact it improves as the books progress through wars and loves, unusual plots, treacheries and friendships.The story continues, sort of, through the books, meandering amongst the protagonists, their lives and adventures. Skilfully brought to breathing life, struggling with their dilemmas, you must love them all and their differences.Fall from one book into the next, hope that Ms. Turner won’t stop writing. Nearly as strong on world and character building as Robin Hobb.Wonderful.....thank you!One gripe;-In the Author‘s Note of The Queen of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner says, quote "The gods and goddesses in my book are not those of the Greek or any other Pantheon. I made them up. The Mede Empire is also my own invention” unquote.I’ll now quote from the Collins English Dictionary, “ Mede n. A member of an Indo-European people of West Iranian speech who established an empire in SW Asia in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C.” unquote.And from Tom Holland’s panoramic book Persian Fire, ( Abacus 2005) I could quote many references, but to mind springs.....“A dark shadow had been caste over the Ionian imagination, and the memory of Harpagus’ coming would long serve to blacken even the most intimate moments of Joy:In winter, as you lie on a soft couch by the fire,Full of good food, munching on nuts and drinking sweet wine.Then you must ask questions such as these:‘Where do you come from? Tell me: what is your age?How old were you when the Mede came? Xenophanes, Fragment 22.And this Quote, “In 610 BC, the Medes swept into northern Syria, burning and looting as they went. In 585, they went to war with the Lydians, a people based in what is now the west of Turkey” Unquote. And on it goes.Having said that, I love these books, they are so well written and the characters well defined, believable and lovable, having hopes and failings with which you can identify.