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A review by mollymortensen
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
4.0
When I was a kid I'd avoid award winning books, because I thought they were all boring. At the beginning (really the first half) this book didn't prove me wrong. It starts SLOW with way too many descriptions and tedious travel. (At least the part in the prison only lasted a few pages.) Gen's been in prison for months and he's weak from it, so he spends most of the book eating and napping and complaining about how tired and hungry he is.
I know we're supposed to be getting to know the characters, and the book does a good job of that. All of the characters were well done, even though I didn't like most of them. (Especially Ambiades, what a jerk.)
Gen is a unique main character. I wasn't sure if he was always trustworthy. (I expected a twist, which I did predict, but it was still good.) It's always dangerous to talk up how clever a main character is and I didn't really see it with Gen. He's impulsive and never thinks before he speaks. He's also a coward, but usually feels too bad to actually act smart and be a coward.
In the end, it was worth struggling through the beginning. The book definitely got better as it went and I have high hopes for the sequels because it got really good before the end.
Unfortunately, we only really heard about the biggest battle after the fact, (which was a bit of a let down.) I wish there was more at the end. I wanted to hear more of those conversations!
Do I plan to read the sequel? Yes, and I wish I could now! But I have 28 books to read in 4 months… so I'll have to come back to it.
Spoiler filled summary so I can remember what happened before I read the second book:
The Magus of Sunnis got Gen out of jail to obtain a mystical stone for him, which proves who rules Geddis. (He wanted his king to use the gem to force the Queen of Geddis to marry him, then they'd conquer Attolia.) Sophos was the Magus' young apprentice. Bookish, blushing, a bad fighter, and way too talkative, it turns out he's also the king's nephew and heir to the throne of Sunnis. His father's captain of the guard, Pol, was killed and it hit him hard.
Gen was (briefly) captured by the Queen of Attolia. She tried to get him to work for her. (Unknown if she knew who he really was) He told her he already had a woman. (A lie, sort of. He works for another queen) Who though was not nearly as pretty, was much nicer. (She didn't like that.) He then escaped from her prison and freed the Magus and Sophos.
Gen is actually the Geddis Queen's Thief. He got himself arrested with a fake past to get the mystical gem for his Queen (Who is also his cousin, his dad the minister of war, mom and grandpa were thieves, both dead.) And he succeeded in stealing it from its hiding place, then from the Magus without him noticing. In the end, everyone learned who he really was but they'd become friends so it was okay.
I know we're supposed to be getting to know the characters, and the book does a good job of that. All of the characters were well done, even though I didn't like most of them. (Especially Ambiades, what a jerk.)
Gen is a unique main character. I wasn't sure if he was always trustworthy. (I expected a twist, which I did predict, but it was still good.) It's always dangerous to talk up how clever a main character is and I didn't really see it with Gen. He's impulsive and never thinks before he speaks. He's also a coward, but usually feels too bad to actually act smart and be a coward.
In the end, it was worth struggling through the beginning. The book definitely got better as it went and I have high hopes for the sequels because it got really good before the end.
Unfortunately, we only really heard about the biggest battle after the fact, (which was a bit of a let down.) I wish there was more at the end. I wanted to hear more of those conversations!
Do I plan to read the sequel? Yes, and I wish I could now! But I have 28 books to read in 4 months… so I'll have to come back to it.
Spoiler filled summary so I can remember what happened before I read the second book:
Spoiler
The Magus of Sunnis got Gen out of jail to obtain a mystical stone for him, which proves who rules Geddis. (He wanted his king to use the gem to force the Queen of Geddis to marry him, then they'd conquer Attolia.) Sophos was the Magus' young apprentice. Bookish, blushing, a bad fighter, and way too talkative, it turns out he's also the king's nephew and heir to the throne of Sunnis. His father's captain of the guard, Pol, was killed and it hit him hard.
Gen was (briefly) captured by the Queen of Attolia. She tried to get him to work for her. (Unknown if she knew who he really was) He told her he already had a woman. (A lie, sort of. He works for another queen) Who though was not nearly as pretty, was much nicer. (She didn't like that.) He then escaped from her prison and freed the Magus and Sophos.
Gen is actually the Geddis Queen's Thief. He got himself arrested with a fake past to get the mystical gem for his Queen (Who is also his cousin, his dad the minister of war, mom and grandpa were thieves, both dead.) And he succeeded in stealing it from its hiding place, then from the Magus without him noticing. In the end, everyone learned who he really was but they'd become friends so it was okay.