Book 2: Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

 The final book of the Queen's Thief series!! This one had a lot to live up to by following Thick as Thieves, which I (as predicted by everyone I know who had already read it) absolutely loved. Luckily, Return of the Thief managed to be a completely different kind of book that I ALSO adored. 

I knew things were going to go well when the narrator of RotT was revealed to be a character who, when mentioned in a fairly off-hand way at the end of TaT, I immediately wanted to know more about. Pheris, the youngest attendant to the High King, is an ideal outsider voice to tell the final chapter of the series, which requires the sort of historian overview narrative that I associate with Guy Gavriel Kay books, in particular his books based on similar conflicts in settings that are clearly directly inspired by the same general regions. Pheris being the physically disabled son of one of the main opposing barons of Attolia also adds to that ideal dynamic, where he's close enough to power to understand it, but isn't considered a player himself.

The war that has been steadily building since the first book finally explodes, and all of the various threads in play weave together in a way that's less dependent on the narrator being unreliable and more in that satisfying way of final puzzle pieces finally coming together. We also finally got canon gays, and I will say no more on that topic, other than it is all extremely nice. 

All in all, a lovely end to a series I really, really enjoyed getting to experience over the past couple of months.  

Grade: A

Book 82: Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner

 WELL. A friend who has already read all of the Queen's Thief books was extremely excited for me to read this one, and it did not take me long to figure out why. 

This book takes place in a completely new location, and the point of view character, Kamet, is one we only met briefly in a previous book (The Queen of Attolia, I believe). It turns quickly into a road trip, and specifically a GAY LOVE STORY ROAD TRIP, with an Attolian whose name we only learn at the very end of the book, but the reader is very clearly intended to have figured out who he is before then. It's both a romp and also just a lovely examination of the existing world from a new point of view. As with every book in the series, there's a lot that both the reader and the point of view character don't know, and don't know they don't know, and the payoff of this book is just so delightful. Kamet is one of my new favorites of the series, and the Attolian is now a firm favorite forever. The entire series is a wonderful read, but this book alone would be worth reading four books to get to. 

Grade: A

Book 77: A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

 Book for in the Queen's Thief series! In many ways the most straightforward book so far; it overlaps with The King of Attolia a bit and in general would be completely unclear if you hadn't read the first three books in the series, but Sophos is also a comparatively straightforward point of view character and also personality in these books. Even when he is posing as a slave in order to survive to protect himself and the throne, he is extremely clear-cut as a character. The sleight of hand that exists in the narrative is much more upfront as well; he knows things that his internal monologue doesn't reveal to the reader, but that feels considerably less shocking, narratively, than the reveals in the first three books. 

None of the above is a complaint, however! I still really enjoyed this particular installment, even if it's not my favorite of the series so far. It was nice in many ways to read something this direct in its storytelling, and I'm still loving this entire world. 

Grade: A

Book 76: The King of Attolia by Megan Whelan Turner

 Boy!!! The third book in the Queen's Thief series, this one has the most DELIGHTFUL point of view character, Costis. He is a guard for the palace in Attolia, and his unreliable narrator is great in a totally different way to the first two books: because we know more about Gen and his relationship with Irene than he does, and so the dramatic irony of his interpretation of what's going on versus our suspicions makes the entire story fascinating. This is especially true because Costis is just so darn likeable, which means that even when he's completely wrong you still sympathize with him, and understand why he feels the way he does about what's happening. 

The plot of this story centers on how Gen can be accepted as the King of Attolia, without destroying the Queen's authority and allowing the barons to ferment dissent against her reign. And of course he goes about it in the most Thief-esque way possible, and makes sure that no one actually sees him for all that he is until it's too late (for them). It is an excellent third book of what I think of as being the first trilogy of two in this series. 

Grade: A

Book 73: The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

The second book in the Queen's Thief series, this one really threw me for a loop! Just. After the shock and disorientation of the unreliable narrator of the first book, the second book really doubled down on that for this one, and I genuinely was not expecting basically any of the twists or turns that got us anywhere. 

After the events of The Thief, Gen is now back with his Queen and in her kingdom, except he's also being sent out on missions constantly. And finally, the Queen of Attolia captures him, after he steals from her one too many times. Rather than executing him, she cuts off his hand, thereby destroying his identity, and things go from there. I am still not entirely sure how we got from that beginning to the ending, but I do know that it worked, which is part of what made it so compelling. I'm currently just getting to the end of the sequel to this book, and it's a trip attempting to put myself back into that mindset again. A great read!

Grade: A

Book 70: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

This is the sort of book that I initially started this blog four and a half years ago for - I have owned The Thief for so long that I can't even remember where I got it. I'm 90% sure that it was a Christmas present, but when and from whom is truly lost to time. But I always wanted to read it, I just...never got around to it. Well, I finally did, and just in time for the sixth and final book in the series to have been published!

So there's this thief, you see, and he's imprisoned in a king's prison, and then released under the conditions that he has to go help someone steal something that's impossible to steal: a mythical artifact. It becomes clear fairly early on that the narrator is extremely unreliable, both in terms of what the narrative omits and also how information is presented, and the reveals are extremely well done and satisfying. I think this is a book that will reward a reread a lot. The setting is very much a pseudo-Ancient Greece, with a mythology that is clearly inspired by the same region, and overall there's a vague Guy Gavriel Kay approach to history here, which to the probable surprise of no one works very well for me. It is also a wonderful first book to a series because while I was very enthusiastic about starting the next one in the series, it also stands alone extremely well, and I really enjoyed having it exist on its own. If you are also like me and have only been hearing abut this series referred to as The Queen's Thief but haven't read it yet, I really recommend it! 

Grade: A