The Thief (Queen's Thief, #1)

by Megan Whalen Turner

Newbery Medal winning fantasy, set in a world not unlike Ancient Greece, complete with interfering Gods and Goddesses.

The King's magus believes he knows the site of an ancient treasure - Hamiathe's Gift. To attain it, he needs a skillful thief and he selects Gen from the King's prison. The magus is only interested in the thief's abilities; what Gen is interested in is anyone's guess.

A likeable rogue, Gen endures the difficult trek with much complaining and little grace, but shows his mettle when he steals the Gift twice and risks his life for his companions.

The Thief is an exciting and compelling 'road-movie' story, with a cracking twist at the end which surprises both the magus and Gen's travelling companions - not to mention the reader!!

• ISBN10: 1417748362
• ISBN13: 9781417748365
• Publish Date: 27 December 2005 (first published 31 October 1996)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 April 2021
• Imprint: Turtleback Books
• Edition: Turtleback School & Library ed.
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 280
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

[first review, 2015:]

This was so interesting! Sometimes when authors try to set up a history or myths or gods for their world they end up shallow and very annoying, but in THIS every story is so interesting and I want to learn so much more about the Gods and the history of these places. The characters were such a big highlight to the story! And the conclusion is so twisty and satisfactory. Though more than half of the book consisted of the descriptions of their travels, the characters and stories that were told prevented it from being boring in any way. I can't wait to read the second!

[second review, 2021:]

It’s always wonderful when a book you loved when you were younger still stands up years later! The Thief is definitely one of those. I’ve been meaning to reread it for a while now, but fear has held me back. I shouldn’t have worried!

Content warnings:
- ableist c slur
- fatphobia

Gen, a thief caught after bragging about stealing something in a pub, is temporarily released from prison by the king’s scholar on the condition that he makes one very important theft: a legendary stone rumored to be the key to the throne of the neighboring country. They make their way into the heart of that country’s mountains, along with a few others for company and protection, spinning tales of the old gods and goddesses.

This seemingly little novel contains such a great adventure story full of mythology, great character relationships and arcs, and beautiful scenery. I think this story has what I find missing in a lot of more recent books: moments of stillness and prose in which description is just as important as the banter/dialogue. You could describe the first half of this book as “people traveling through the mountains”. While that’s true, it’s also never boring: the scenery is vivid, the stories about the old gods are interesting and engaging (especially if you try to think about how they relate to the story), and the character interactions are so well done.

I honestly really don’t have anything critical to add. It’s a great book.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

My initial thoughts in starting The Thief were that Gen was a bit of a prick and I was not that altogether in love with the world, but something kept tugging at my curiosity. There was something about the way this book was written, or perhaps Steve West’s excellent narration (I raved about his reading of Strange the Dreamer as well) that sucked me in.

I have no idea how I devoured this book as quickly as I did. There were many points early in the novel where I found myself bemoaning the constant mythology and the travelling. And listen y’all – I’m an epic fantasy girl. I’m used to reading long travelling sequences. The Lord of the Rings excels at this, and The Wise Man’s Fear does its fair amount as well. The pacing at the beginning of the book wasn’t so slow that I wanted to stop reading, but yes, I was rolling my eyes and wishing it would get on with it already.

If not for the ending, I’m not sure I would have liked the book as much as I did. I’ve read other reviews claiming how obvious the ending was, and if I’d been paying better attention to some really obvious hints, I would have picked up on things, but I have been distracted and I only absorbed the story and when it all came together, I found myself thinking OF COURSE. IT ALL MAKES SENSE. So for me, it was a twist ending, and I thoroughly enjoyed the twist.

While the depth of worldbuilding was good, I wasn’t always crazy about the way it was fed to the reader. My recent read of Watership Down reminded me that I don’t always enjoy a story-within-a-story, particularly when they permeate throughout and interrupt the story. They’re a common way to break up travelling sequences, but they need to be done cleverly to keep from feeling like filler. While the mythology on its own was interesting enough, I’m not sure Turner quite avoided the feeling of time wasted. The gods have their role in The Thief, but the stories told did not align quite as relevantly as I, the reader, would have liked. Others may feel differently.

Still, the story itself was good once wrapped tidily in a bow, and while Gen annoyed me a lot at the beginning (there was an excessive amount of whining about food and naps) by the end, I found myself begrudgingly respecting him. I also enjoyed the tone of the novel, which never felt quite as serious as adult fantasy, but passed by the whimsy of YA which can be trying at times. All in all, this is definitely the type of book I would recommend to the right person, and I think those who enjoy Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle may also enjoy The Thief.

[bonchcronch]

could have been gayer.
I thought i was reading slowburn m/m. i expected every next chapter for a drop or hint of the characters inner thoughts. and was thoroughly disappointed in the ending. that being said.

it was alright. i won't read it again or finish the series. there was a lot going on. which could have been played better other then a murder mystery showdown in the living room. it felt rushed or really just thrown together to make it all work.

[sa090]

I didn’t actually plan to read this series now, but since I needed a lot of breaks with a quick book to read at work while I read the last book of my TBR at home, this one was more than enough to fulfill the vague requirement.

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If I had to describe the book in the shortest way possible, it could be easily summarized like this: “Set up book.” The plot of the book is very simple, and very straightforward. At first I assumed that the slow-ish start was going to be a buildup towards a faster middle and a strong finish, but I think that this book doesn’t really follow that basic formula. Instead, it’s basically a journey to fulfill said very simple plot line. Given the approach, a strong lead would need to fill the gaps and this book does it in a way with the existence of Gen and his sass. Since the cast of significant characters is also pretty small, his amusing way of taking everything around him and more importantly the witty comebacks makes almost every conversation an interesting one... Even when it sometimes backfires lol.

That being said, there were multiple times when I thought that it would’ve been so much better if there was a bigger plot line to follow than this one. To me personally, his personality and the fact that his sass is masterfully done makes me want to see him in different situations that will surely have me see more of that side. In clearer words, Gen is an interesting and amusing character, but the situations where that side of him is shown are very similar to each other than I hoped to see him in different ones from time to time.

I think to compensate for that, the stories of their deities being retold several times in the book was a necessity. On one hand, it will break the somewhat repetitive way the story is following in and on the other hand it will be building Ms. Turner’s world. I found the stories pretty interesting, some more than others of course but none of them were actually boring to read for me which is a definite plus. The political side of things is another aspect the book delves into and personally I do want to see what one of the sovereigns will be up to in the upcoming books based on what happened here, although I can imagine a few possibilities.

The book is incredibly difficult to discuss without spoiling what happens in it, given the format it was told in. I do think that it was an interesting introduction to the world, and the length makes what happens in it understandable, but throughout the book I kept hoping for something “more” which will surely (and hopefully) be coming in the sequels; given how much of a foundation setting this one felt like, so hopefully it’ll be an interesting journey whenever I find the time to pick up the rest of the series.

Final rating: 3/5

[Angie]

The Thief was really disappointing, even though I knew going in that it would be slow, and apparently the worst of the series. But I decided to give it a fair chance, and was let down anyway. Gen is a thief and is being held in prison. Needless to say, he's miserable, especially when the guards mock him since he did say he'd be able to escape. Obviously, that hasn't happened. But then the magus appears and says that the king needs him to retrieve something in exchange for his freedom.

The first half of The Thief is extremely boring. It's just Gen, the magus, and their entourage traveling. Gen complains about being dirty and hungry. They stop for food and rest. Gen complains some more. They stop again. More complaining. More camping. Can they just get to wherever it is that they're going already?! At least it was broken up a few times with stories about the gods. I liked this bit of world-building, even if it didn't really add anything to the story except a reprieve from the monotony. Although I didn't appreciate the story where the demigod gets burnt and his skin is compared to the naturally dark skinned people.

As for the second half of The Thief, it was better but by then my mind had mostly checked out. Gen and everyone finally arrive. Gen is sent into some weird maze to retrieve their treasure. It's much too easy (even though he almost drowns) and is over in a few pages. Then things happen to cause trouble since that quest was far too easy. There's a twist that I didn't seen coming, but probably should if I had been paying closer attention. Then it ends.

The Thief simply didn't hold my attention or engage me. The characters all lacked personality and I wasn't given a reason to care about them. I also think I started reading too much into Gen and Sophos' interactions, and wanted to get a romance out of it. Oops.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[nitzan_schwarz]

Feb 2017 re read:
I really love this series, and I love how re-reading this one I notice a ton of hints to what's to come :)

2014 cleaning my shelves challenge + 2014 series challenge

Originally published here. Re-reviewed here. 

This may not be a five-star rating, but this book deserves the McGonagall clap. When I decided to read The Thief, it was because one of my favorite bloggers, Christina, talked about the whole series in such a favorable light. I was further encouraged when I saw a few other bloggers talking about its greatness a few weeks later.

It just sounded so effing good, you know? Like it was right up my alley. I didn't jump into it quickly, though. Frankly, I was afraid. I had built it up in my mind so high due to all those reviews. Will it follow through? 

The Thief is a solid book . It's got everything - action, an interesting, unique--and flawed!-- main character, mystery, twists and turns, and a refreshing storyline. It reads almost as an historical for the most part, but it also has gods and some very cool magical touches. The mythology of this word Turner created was just fascinating, and the supporting characters were great, varied and all served a purpose. 

The journey was captivating, even when there wasn't much action. Usually, I have issues with too much journey. Like, there've been plenty of books where I grew tired of the constant travel. But here, I loved watching them grow into a sort of companionship. I loved seeing Gen's opinion change on each person of the group as they traveled. I loved how they grew to care for one another, captive and captors.

And because of all that, I was okay with the lack of romance, even though I usually need at least a hint of it, A ship I could sink into (lol, puns), to be satisfied with a book. 

My only complaint? That it's so freaking short! At first, that seems like a plus. It was why I decided to pick the book up the day I got it. I was like "well, this looks short and quick", and I was horribly behind on my reading, so it seemed perfect. But when I reached page 200, I suddenly found myself extremely sad that it was so short. I wanted more! 

Originally published here. Re-reviewed here. 

[vagasker]

I re-read this book by listening to the audiobook narrated by Steve West. It was my first time listening to an audiobook and it was a very pleasant experience. Since the copies I own of this series are back in my home country I will continue on with this series with the audiobooks! Not only because I enjoyed it so much, but also my library only offers them on audiobook haha.

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I really liked this book! It was a great read and I loved the little plot twist at the end. I'm looking forward reading the next one.

[ladygrey]

[b:The Thief|19063|The Book Thief|Markus Zusak|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320456861s/19063.jpg|878368] was a bit unexpected for me. I kept waiting for the moment when Gen would mention something in passing, some acknowledgement that he's a girl pretending to be a boy to survive in a man's world by thieving. But no, Gen is a boy. You'd think I'd have known that going in. Or, at the very least, that I didn't read so many books about girls pretending to be boys and stealing their way through life that I wouldn't expect it as a given.

Once I got on the right side of the fence about the protagonist the book worked. It's a small cast of characters in a fairly simple plot. But the characters all evolved nicely and their relationships shifted and were interesting. I liked the dynamic between Gen and magus particularly, I think because it was the most complicated.

I also liked the journey they were on and the way it resolved itself. Most adventure-journey books I find to be too heavy in geographic description. It's kind of the nature of the genre, because how do you describe their travels without describing the land their moving through. But I hardly ever find it interesting. I'd prefer more relationships, more dialog, more magic and less trees. But, again, kind of part and parcel of the genre so it's not worth complaining about, much.

I didn't find much of any of the plot surprising, but I'm also not the young reader the book was written for.

The thing that I think worked for this book, elevating it above a middle-grade adventure novel mired in scenic description, was everything running under the surface. In that way it's a little like [a:Robin McKinley|5339|Robin McKinley|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1314406026p2/5339.jpg] because [a:Megan Whalen Turner|22542|Megan Whalen Turner|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1241223424p2/22542.jpg] doesn't explain everything. She doesn't spell out all the intricate dynamics happening between the characters and the politics of the different countries. She explains most of it, but there's still currents under the surface, things understood but left unspoken. It makes the story just a little bit complicated which makes it interesting.