This review is spoiler-free!
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Series: The Queen’s Thief #1
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Adventure
Release Date: September 2nd 2009 by HarperCollins (first published 1996)
Format: ebook, 304 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆
Find it here: Goodreads || Book Depository
I knew absolutely nothing going into this book when I picked it up, I only decided to read it because my little reading group (there are only three of us) decided it to be our November read, but I am so glad I read it.
The story itself takes place in the point of view of a thief by the name of Gen, who starts off in the king’s prison for making what everyone else considers to be a very stupid move — bragging in a public place about something very important he had just stolen. The magus, a man working under the king as his scholar, frees Gen from the prison on the condition that Get works for him and steals something the king needs, and the story goes from there.
Turner’s writing and world read a lot like Tamora Pierce’s do, and I think that’s what got me so hooked into the book barely a chapter into it. I adore that kind of writing style and atmosphere, so when it shows up I’m pretty much a sucker for whatever it is I’m reading. Because of this, it also made it a super fast read, and I really needed that for my Goodreads goal, which is lagging quite a lot at this point. In addition to an addicting style, the twists Turner gives us are pretty good! I saw only one coming out of them, and that’s only because I had a feeling something about what was going on was a little too perfect. But I won’t go further into those details.
Another thing that was so nicely done was the slew of characters we were given to read about. There wasn’t a single character I disliked by the end of the book (despite some of the happenings), and watching them develop throughout the story was, I think, my favorite part of the entire thing. You could blatantly tell how close they were becoming to one another based on their actions and words, and it was nice to see that happening. It definitely made the characters more human than I was expecting them to be upon first look.
I’m totally ready for the next books in this series, and, honestly, it might have just shattered my reading slump for me. Here’s hoping!
