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The Thief (The Queen's Thief, Book 1) Review

Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief is a novel both broad in scope and minutely personal. It is the story of Gen, a talented thief that at the story's opening is captive in the king's prison, victim to his own bragging. But when the king's magus wants to steal a fabled relic from another kingdom he needs a master thief, and none is more skilled than Gen. So begins Gen's adventure, as the magus and his companions set out on a journey to steal the unstealable.

Turner fashions a well wrought web of history and political intrigue, painting it on a canvas of half-forgotten gods and myths. The first half of the book is relatively slow as we learn about Gen's companions and the kingdoms they inhabit, but I was never bored. The world, based loosely on ancient Greece, is lush and interesting, and the characters are all deeper than they first appear.

Unfortunately The Thief suffers from one major flaw: the story is told from Gen's point of view, but we know next to nothing about his personal history or motivations until the very end. Gen isn't an unreliable narrator which, handled well, can make for a clever twist; he is a deficient narrator, simply omitting key pieces of information until he springs them on the reader with self-satisfied relish. It makes an otherwise thrilling story somewhat flat; Gen could have been a lot more interesting and sympathetic a character if we had known his plans all along.

Despite my complaints, I did enjoy The Thief. I have it on good authority that the following books are better, so I'm looking forward to reading those too. Megan Whalen Turner has created a vivid, fascinating world, and I can't wait to see what else happens there.

The Thief (The Queen's Thief, Book 1) Feature

ISBN13: 9780060824976
Condition: New
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The Thief (The Queen's Thief, Book 1) Overview

"I can steal anything."

After Gen's bragging lands him in the king's prison, the chances of escape look slim. Then the king's scholar, the magus, needs the thief's skill for a seemingly impossible task -- to steal a hidden treasure from another land.

To the magus, Gen is just a tool. But Gen is a trickster and a survivor with a plan of his own.

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Customer Reviews

Great idea, but needs a little work - lpgeorge123 -
I've been craving a good fantasy book lately, and this one sounded interesting. It has a good plot, with several nice twists that make the story more interesting. I only have one big complaint about the book, and that is on how the story and dialogue is told, especially in the first half of the story. Instead of having dialogue between the characters, everything is relayed by Gen, as if he's telling the story to someone else and skimming over those details. At the end of the book the reader realizes that he is retelling his story, but considering that the entire book is told in the moment, that style issue drove me nuts. It helps show that Gen is kept distant from his companions, but it also has the effect of distancing the reader, and making the story seem more boring.

I haven't decided yet if I will be reading the next books in the series. My favorite part of this book (SPOILER ALERT) was the hidden temple, and I would like to see more interaction between the gods and the main characters.

Wow! What a great find! - mztreus - Sunnyvale, CA
I STRONGLY recommend all of Turner's books. After reading The Thief in two days, I had to read more of Megan Turner's books. I have now read all of the books of this series except the latest, Conspiracy of Kings, (to be ordered on next order)and each book has left me wanting more. The books are not repetitive nor get out of control in some crazy plot of desperate ideas. Turner absolutely has the gift! You won't be disappointed if choose to get captivated by this author!

A great read! Finally... - Michael Cochran - NC
What can I say? I've been looking for well written, engrossing fiction for awhile now. And I believe that I've found it. The story doesn't seem to be derivative of other work and the faux-Byzantine empire adds a nice touch of fantasy yet familiar.

Our hero is thoroughly like-able and thoroughly a jerk. And yet all of this isn't even cookie-cutter anti-heroism. I don't want to give anything way so I'll leave it with this: this is a well written yet economical book (in that the author doesn't spend needless time expounding unpronounced flora and fauna).

I'm already enjoying the second in the series. I can't recommend it more highly.

Kindle edition: perfect as far as I can tell. I got it when it was priced more reasonably though.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 28, 2010 19:58:05

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Saturday, August 28, 2010