TITLE: The Thief and The Queen of Attolia
AUTHOR: Megan Whalen Turner
RELEASE DATE: 1996 & 2000
RATING: ★★★★
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(I decided to write these two reviews as one since I read them back to back and they belong to the same series)
To be honest, I've seen this series everywhere for several years. In fact, I believe most of my friends on Goodreads have read this one and reviewed it, too. All to raving reviews, I might add. I have to admit that despite all this positivity, I was sort of scared to pick this series off. Mainly because it's quite long (I believe seven books, with book #7 coming out later this year). Also because whenever something's been raved about enough, I fear I won't like it, especially this series since I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy in general.
I have to admit I was wrong. This series is a solid 4 star series for me (so far, at least). It's entertaining enough, complex enough, exciting, and contains very little romance which is a yay for me (I mean, I like my romance as much as the next person, but a fantasy novel's gotta be a fantasy novel, you know?).
In this series you're following Eugenides, or Gen, the Queen's Thief. The Queen's Thief is a title you inherit in the landlocked country of Eddis, which is constatly at war with the other surrouding coutries; Attolia, Sounis and The Mede. Loosely inspired by the Medditerean and the wars happening there a very long ago, The Queen's Thief is a rather complex high fantasy series. The actual world isn't explained that much at all; rather, it's shown which works wonderfully (and it's a way of telling a story that I think YA fantasy should employ more often). He's being sent from the prison he's kept in (which he ended up at because he bragged about stealing something and someone overheard him) on a heist together with some other people, including two youngsters he's very lovingly dubbed Useless #1 and Useless #2.
Now, since this is a review of two books I guess I need to find a way of actually combining the reviews, which might be hard considering how very diffrent these books are. The first book is so much fun, you're basically following some characters during a heist (in a Six of Crows kind of way!), and it grips you from the very first page. That book, while it is good fun, isn't too different from other YA fantasy I've read. The second book is at first like it should belong to a different series. It's very slow paced at the beginning, it's suddenly a lot more political and now it just randomly follows more characters too. It takes a while for it to pick up, but once it does, it's really hard to put down. Honestly, it does contain some actions too and some battles but unlike the first book, this one definitely has some build-up preceeding the action.
As for the characters, the only you've only gotten close to is Eugenides, whom I LOVE. I too am bitter and petty, just like him. Also, he's hilarious! And he's allowed to be "weak", to be scared and frankly traumatized which only makes this series even better.
I need to read some of the books I chose for my 19 in 19 challenge but once I've done that, I'll definitely request more books from this series from my library.
