Series: The Queen's Thief #3
Author: Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: YA Fantasy, Adventure
Publication date: January 24, 2006
Audiobook
Narrator: Steve West
Book description: By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making.
Then he drags a naive young guard into the center of the political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king's caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect. Though struggling against his fate, the newly crowned king is much more than he appears. Soon the corrupt Attolian court will learn that its subtle and dangerous intrigue is no match for Eugenides.
Thoughts:
This is clearly becoming better as the series goes on, the only downside is that it's harder to put my feelings into coherent words. If I had to say it in the least amount of words possible it would be: Fantastic writing style, wonderful rounded characters, an excellent plot with twists and turns that suck you in and make this an amazing ride.
The world-building is done very well, its political intrigue, the rich culture with myths, superstitions, and religious beliefs- it's more details than I normally ex[etc from YA fantasy.
The story is wonderful, it keeps moving and so far I don't feel we have a filler book to the series. I loved visiting Eugenides again and seeing how far he has come and yet he is still the same rascal, arrogant man we met in the first few books, he has changed and matured but continues to be the same good-hearted man who needs to build a charade character to annoy every single person around him in order to stay sane. This is a novel full of palace politics, new friendships, conspiracies, assassins, and a few hints of romance. I wasn't sure how the relationship between the new King and the Queen of Attolia would work out, they do have a lot of bad blood between them. As someone who normally has issues with the immediate lust that wants to be passed as love and secondhand embarrassment that keeps me rolling my eyes; well this was a very good surprise. The way the two rules of Attolia behave towards one another is realistic, we have a bit of PTSD, a guilty conscience, and insecurities about the feelings of the other but they are handled so well. I can honestly say I can totally read romances by Turner from now on.
Megan Whalen Turner is so good at planting and payoff. If a plot element shows up at the beginning of the book, it will become a part of the book further on; within the world, with political elements, with character elements. Element after element is used for plot twists and it is always so satisfying and compelling. It feels so purposeful, everything is thought-out, and we do not see a wasted page here. And perhaps even more importantly, the character work here is incredible. Gen is a fantastic mastermind. Gen and Irene are an endearing couple even if their interactions are limited and most of their romance is off-page, we do not see any sex on page which makes sense considering it's a YA but it just works so well. Also, I absolutely love and adore the dialogue. It’s glorious and adds so much to these characters.
Now to describe a bit more of the plot itself.
Gen is not Attolis, that's the title the King receives after the coronation. He is disliked by the common people, the palace staff, the guards, and the nobility of the whole nation. He is believed to be a weak-minded man, lazy, unloved by the Queen, and placed in a place of power so he can be a pawn for the political machinations of his court. Hasting the King, bad-mouthing him, and disrespecting him in any petty way becomes the sport of the palace staff. They do so, discretely, it would not bod well to be too outspoken and shame the Queen.
The whole palace is in uproar, the King continues to play the part of the fool. Eventually, he needs to win over his people. And oh boy are they in for a surprise.
I gave this
This was used for the following challenge:
Continue series.
At this rate, I am going to finish a lot of series, if only I could stop starting so many, it would actually make a dent in my unending list of ongoing series.
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