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A review by newamsterdame
Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner
5.0
Megan Whalen Turner's books have always seemed like complex puzzles to me. There's a moment in each of them that completely turns your perception of events on its axis, and so you can never read the book the same way twice.
I read Thick as Thieves when it originally came out, and hadn't reread it until this year, and reading it a second time really feels like reading an entirely new book. Part of it is the limits of first person narration, which Turner delights in telling you about-- we know Kamet is biased, we know he's nearsighted, we know he's prideful, all often to his own detriment. But you don't know exactly why these things matter until the closing events of the book, and at that point everything comes together to slap you in the face with revelations that change everything and lead into the next book.
In many cases, I find "big reveals" to be tedious and gimmicky. But that isn't the case here. The book certainly changes once you've read the entire thing, but that doesn't erase the impeccable character and relationship building that was done beforehand. This is the first book in the Queen's Thief series to focus so closely on one single relationship. (I'd argue that even the Queen of Attolia doesn't do it quite the same way, because there's too much else going on to focus just on Eugenides and Irene). Kamet and Costis are very different characters, and Kamet's biased viewpoint of Costis does a lot to reveal his own character (especially because readers of the series are otherwise familiar with Costis outside of Kamet's view of him).
The bond between these two characters is genuine, fraught, and impacting. I love how this book fits into the larger plot and worldbuild of the series, but I love it most for how complex that relationship becomes, and how simple it is at its core.
I read Thick as Thieves when it originally came out, and hadn't reread it until this year, and reading it a second time really feels like reading an entirely new book. Part of it is the limits of first person narration, which Turner delights in telling you about-- we know Kamet is biased, we know he's nearsighted, we know he's prideful, all often to his own detriment. But you don't know exactly why these things matter until the closing events of the book, and at that point everything comes together to slap you in the face with revelations that change everything and lead into the next book.
In many cases, I find "big reveals" to be tedious and gimmicky. But that isn't the case here. The book certainly changes once you've read the entire thing, but that doesn't erase the impeccable character and relationship building that was done beforehand. This is the first book in the Queen's Thief series to focus so closely on one single relationship. (I'd argue that even the Queen of Attolia doesn't do it quite the same way, because there's too much else going on to focus just on Eugenides and Irene). Kamet and Costis are very different characters, and Kamet's biased viewpoint of Costis does a lot to reveal his own character (especially because readers of the series are otherwise familiar with Costis outside of Kamet's view of him).
The bond between these two characters is genuine, fraught, and impacting. I love how this book fits into the larger plot and worldbuild of the series, but I love it most for how complex that relationship becomes, and how simple it is at its core.