I had vague memories of the first 3 books of The Queen’s Thief series, which I read way back in 2006. I think I’d listened to the audiobooks, which I hadn’t liked very much, because the narrator made the characters sound too old.
When Mythothon #4 came up, I realized that this 6-book series would manage to chop off several prompts from that challenge. And that’s how I started off on this clever and wonderful adventure. A strange, miraculous thing about this series is that each book can be read as a standalone, but when the books are read together, the sum becomes greater than the whole.
In The Thief, we meet Eugenides, the wily and ultra-whiney trickster who is out to steal a mythical kingmaker stone for his cousin, the Queen of Eddis. He seems young and spoilt, but he has unexpected layers, and the gods have major plans for him.
Rating: 7 of 10 // B+
In The Queen of Attolia, he is caught for thieving and loses his arm, as is the traditional punishment for thieves in the kingdom of Attolia. He also ends up marrying the Queen of Attolia, the very woman who ordered his amputation. Turner takes this plot to strange but ultimately rewarding outcomes.
Rating: 8 of 10 // A-
In The King of Attolia, Eugenides wins the loyalty of the Attolians, by slow, tortured degrees. They think a thief is not fit to be king, and Eugenides shows us how to win their loyalty. Make a call on their conscience, persuade them with speeches, pardon their offences, and finally browbeat them with wooden swords.
Rating: 9 of 10 // A+
A Conspiracy of Kings takes us to Sounis, a neighboring kingdom, where the king has died and the local barons are in revolt. The king’s nephew, Sophos — who is also Eugenides’ best friend — has been taken as slave. But even as slave, Sophos is more of a king than most men and wins his followers with endurance and loyalty.
Rating: 7 of 10 // B+
Thick of Thieves is a bit of a detour, as we look at the politics from the eyes of Kamet. The cunning and wise Kamet is a slave to the Medes (the archenemy), but Eugenides decides to save him. An important puzzle piece to the series, but possibly the weakest book.
Rating: 6 of 10 // B-
Finally, in Return of the Thief, matters come to a head because the Medes decide to invade the triumvirate of Attolia, Eddis and Sounis. It’s up to Eugenides, as Great King of the triumvirate, to save them all. He does manage to do that, protesting and whining all the way.
Rating: 8 of 10 // A-
Is Middle Grade fiction always this way? So hopeful, feel-good, so much fun? There were times when I felt that teenagers were trying to act as adults, but those moments were few. Turner made the political intrigue and the grim realities of war more subtle, but it’s all there.
It’s just that the characters grow so well on the reader that everything becomes easier to bear. We want these underdogs to win, we want them to defy odds and still retain their goodness. And in Eugenides’ case, we want him to keep on whining, because he’s fooling NOBODY.
2 replies on “The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner”
Ooh the header image of Santorini (is that Santorini? Whitewashed Greek location anyway 🙂 ) caught my eye! This sounds like a nice series though. I haven’t been reading as much MG lately but I do love a good MG series…
That Thick As Thieves cover BTW is very nice.
Yes, that’s Santorini. The author gave the series a very Mediterranean/ Greek setting — that’s why the header image! 😂 And yes, those covers are amazing. This series has such a huge fan following, they’ve made all kinds of wallpapers too on the series.