The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Thief (Queen's Thief, #1)

by Megan Whalen Turner

Discover the world of the Queen's Thief New York Times-bestselling author Megan Whalen Turner's entrancing and award-winning Queen's Thief novels bring to life the world of the epics and feature one of the most charismatic and incorrigible characters of fiction, Eugenides the thief.

Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief novels are rich with political machinations and intrigue, battles lost and won, dangerous journeys, divine intervention, power, passion, revenge, and deception. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Patrick Rothfuss, and George R. R. Martin.

Eugenides, the queen's thief, can steal anything-or so he says. When his boasting lands him in prison and the king's magus invites him on a quest to steal a legendary object, he's in no position to refuse. The magus thinks he has the right tool for the job, but Gen has plans of his own.

The Queen's Thief novels have been praised by writers, critics, reviewers, and fans, and have been honored with glowing reviews, "best of" citations, and numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Newbery Honor, the Andre Norton Award shortlist, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.

Reviewed by nitzan_schwarz on

4 of 5 stars

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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. 

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