A really fun, magical and fast-paced middle grade fantasy read.

I found this such an addictive story with really well-developed characters, intriguing and clever world building. I found the politics, mythologies and religions really intriguing and well written. The world that Megan Whalen Turner has created in this book is brilliant and fully immerses her readers in the story. She has built such a strong relationship amongst her characters who will stay with you long after putting down the final book.

This is the sort of book that requires you to accept that the pace is slow, the first half is a non-event, but you'll get to know your characters like they were your closest friends. I'm sadly not that type of reader - I'm greedy; I want all of those things.

It takes about 20% for you to realise that this book isn't going anywhere fast, but until that penny drops it's actually quite a fun read. You're getting to know the characters, you're exploring the land with them and their personalities are really coming through because there's quite a lot of dialogue to work with.

After that however, you begin to realise why this book hasn't sky-rocketed in the market. It just isn't as good as similar books - it has a bit of Graceling about it, but it isn't as compelling, and that's sort of the problem. The book does nothing wrong, it just hasn't been competitive enough or imaginative enough to level up from the fantasy we had to read in the early 2000's.

Having said that, Gen is a likeable thief - the premise of the story requires him to steal something alongside the magus and his colleagues in a quest style adventure - and he has the arrogance of a certain blonde assassin many readers love. But because the plot is quite simple, for a fantasy at least, it's never high enough stakes to believe he's as badass as he proclaims.

A good book, but not special enough for me to revisit it.

ARC provided from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's always a good thing when you read a book and discover there's an entire series that you can read.
This book aged well and it's a good introduction to a series I didn't read but i discover it's quite popular.
That said I liked it and found it enjoyable even if a bit slow at the beginning.
There's a lot going in the second part and I can't wait to read the rest of the series as I liked world building and storytelling.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

If a book has even a whisper of Greek Mythology inspo, I'm guaranteed to love it. This book is no exception.
The world building is stellar and the pacing is a little slow to add to atmosphere. Think classic fantasy techniques.

I had a fun time with this, in the end, but it took me a bit of getting into… the book opens with Gen already in the king’s prison, hopeless and in a very bad way. I did warm to him right away, this strange young man who got caught out as a thief because he had to show off stealing the King’s seal. He is proud, but knows his faults, and he is clever, and has reason to boast of his skill, which is why he finds himself forced onto a dangerous, and very secret, mission for the king.

Thus begins the part of the book I wrestled with. Gen is offered the opportunity to earn his freedom by stealing something of value for the king, and this something is across the border in enemy territory, which means that Gen and his watchful companions set off on a long journey, just as classic fantasy dictates! This part almost lost me, and the dynamics between Gen, the clever magus, his apprentices, and the wry old soldier weren’t enough to keep me interested the whole way through. I know, I’m being vague, but I don’t want to give away too much, because the second half of the story really got going and had a delightful number of twists! There were certain moments that, as they happened, blew the story wide open and shed a different light on everything that had come before. It’s very good story telling.

The world is also an interesting one, and seems to be almost an alternate history of the Hellenic world, as I got a very Greek feel from everything. It packs a lot of mythology and politics into it as well, with the area having a history of foreign invaders and the conflict between the old gods and the new. I am also very glad to see that the gods were present in the story, causing mischief as usual! Overall, despite a slightly boring interval, this was a really fun story and I’ll probably pick the rest of the series up when I get a chance!

I can’t quite believe that The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner was first published in 1996. It has only now come over to this side of the Atlantic thanks to the good work of the lovely folk over at Hodderscape – and reads like a newly published book. A timeless YA classic, really. The Thief is a compelling, fast read centred around a thief, Eugenides, called Gen and a massive heist, politics and a misfit gang. In short, lots of things still on trend in YA and with good reason. I had the pleasure to listen to Megan chat about the book and her journey as a writer last week, and I have been assured that the second book in the series is even better than this first one by my lovely flatmate who has read them all growing up. Definitely a wonderful series to get your teeth into and read as they’re now published in the UK in quick succession with stunning covers!

While the characters aren’t my favorite ever, a few have serious potential. Sophos is a really sweet character I wanted the best for. (Am I the only one who spent around eight pages thinking him and Gen would be a thing?) The magus is a character I started out hating and ended up sort of liking. Gen, our lead character, has a sarcastic sense of humor and a somewhat duplicitous narrative that made him easy to love.

Something that stood out to me here was the subtle discussion around classism, the mage’s belief that Gen is lesser because he is an immigrant. Some of the things he said about Gen’s culture – the comments about how he knows Gen’s culture better than Gen’s mother did.

My biggest thesis statement about this book - my most overreaching opinion, if you will - is that this book is an extended prequel to what promises to be an intriguing series. And not to offend anyone, but honestly: isn’t that every first book in every good series I’ve read in my life? I’ve heard a lot that the sequels to this get better, and I totally believe it — the worldbuilding here is so complex, so intricate, that a mediocre first book is almost needed to build it up. You can’t go straight to the climax - you have to go for the basic premise first.

This is a book that I dived into and I loved it when I was younger. I was so happy to see that this book has been refreshed with a new release via Hodder. This is the first book in the Queen’s thief series. I love a book where there is a quest and a stolen item; this book really took off in the second half. I’m so excited to continue this series: the world building was fab and the rate of change towards the end was incredible

This really wasn’t my cup of tea and I can’t really be a true judge of this book, plenty of others will enjoy this far more than me and so thanks for the opportunity to read this

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Content warnings: violence, injury, and death (of minor characters); main character is beaten up a lot.

I was so excited when I saw this book, which I really enjoyed as a kid, was getting a rerelease!

This sits in that awkward 90s bracket somewhere between middle grade and YA fiction; it’s not as complex as a lot of modern YA, but the themes are pretty dark and it’s quite violent, though not too graphically described. I’d say it was probably suitable from about 10+, which is about when I read it. I vividly remember borrowing this from the library, and enjoying the Ancient Greek-inspired world, but never managing to find the later books; it was really interesting coming back to it as an adult, because I’d forgotten a lot of it, but remembered the vibes! Mostly I remembered how cool it was to have the myths of the world being told by the characters while on their journey (plus one particular scene) so most of the plot was fresh for me, which I think was the perfect way to read it.

Gen’s narration is just fantastic. He’s a charming, cheeky, often cynical guy, and if his voice wasn’t so entertaining, a lot of this book could be quite boring, as unless you really love travelling sequences, you’d be forgiven for thinking the journey in the first half of the book is pretty long. It’s Gen’s sparky observations that keep things flowing; I loved seeing the growing mutual respect between him and the magus, the leader of the party. I was less a fan of the constant violent bullying Gen faced from the other members of the team; it’s pretty unrelenting, to the point that he’s almost always recovering from some injury or another. That kind of leads me into my other issue with the book, which is the lack of significant female characters. It’s only in the very, very last section that we meet any women at all, let alone important ones – if you’re at all familiar with my reviews, you’ll know that this is usually a real problem for me. I think it is actually somewhat mitigated here by the very small cast of the book and the evidently negative patriarchal setting of Sounis (as opposed to the other countries depicted, which both have powerful queens), not to mention the fact that Gen’s narration never seems to see women as lesser, but it’s worth bearing in mind. The character work is excellent, so it would have been nice to see a couple of female characters given the same depth; it seems like that might happen in later books, though.

There’s a strong theme of storytelling and handling stories in this book, whether that’s in the different versions of the myths that Gen and the magus exchange, or in the layers of archetypal roles the characters play. The main bulk of the story is a traditional quest: gather your party and take a treacherous journey to find a magical object for the king. But while you can read this as just a straightforward quest story, it also plays with your expectations, which humanises the characters, taking them from legendary types to real people – contrast the magus, who is always referred to by his role, never a personal name, and Gen, who takes great pains to remind the reader that while he might be ‘the thief’ of the title, he’s also a very human person. I can’t say too much more without spoiling it, but the reflection of myths and the truth behind them really offers a fascinating parallel to the way Gen presents his own story; are the gods, like him, just people caught up in adventures that become legend?

If the idea of a classic adventure quest in an Ancient Greek-ish world, full of legends, snark, and great character work appeals to you, then this is definitely worth picking up – and the rerelease is the perfect time, because this new cover is lovely. The story is satisfying as a standalone, but also feels like it’s setting up for something really interesting in the later books, so I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of the series. Four out of five cats.

I knew nothing about the author or the series when I was gifted this book. The surprise was a pleasant one!

First of all, I liked the plot. The main story is a very interesting one and I do love a nice quest! The mystical places, the artefact and it’s significance, the magic and it’s world, all of it was beautifully written and presented.

The characters are extremely interesting! And I mean all of them. I haven’t read a book in a while that has just interesting characters and not just focusing on the main ones!

What I liked as well is the fact that the mystery carries throughout the story and we get bits here and there not only about the quest but for the world and the characters. This makes the book a lot more engrossing.

Lovely read and I’m definitely will be looking to read the sequel!

I read this many, many years ago, so this is a re-read.

As the first in the series, this book feels a little self-conscious and honestly isn't as good at the Queen of Attolia which follows, which is genuinely brilliant. By comparison, The Thief feels quite mediocre, bogged down by long sequences of travel where nothing much happens, with a twist reveal at the end which - if you read on to the sequels - you realise will be repeated in every every book in some way, so hopefully you like the twist.

As the beginning of a series that improves and becomes genuinely great, it's worth giving a go, as it introduces the characters and the setting. But honestly, you can skip ahead to the Queen of Attolia and you won't have missed any important developments.

Once again, a cover image that drew me in and I had no clue that it was first published in 1996 as a children's book. 25 plus years and the book still hold water. Megan Whalen Turner creates an alternate world with the sky and the earth as gods, their children, and the three kingdoms called Eddis, Sounis, and Attolia always looking for a way to get the upper hand over the other. The setting of the story reminds the reader of Greece and the mythologies that surround it.

Book #1 in The Queen’s Thief series is like a prequel to the highly rated Book #2 The Queen of Attolia and unless you are a fan of travel experience kind of books, the Thief is probably gonna be boring for you. The first half of the book is literally an exercise in reading wherein Eugenides, Sophos, Ambiades, Pol and the King's magus undertake a journey across kingdoms from Sounis, crossing into Eddis and reaching Attolia to search for an ancient relic. Sophos and Ambiades are the Magus' apprentices and Pol is the soldier assigned to accompany Sophos, and our darling Gen is the thief whose claim to fame of stealing anything and everything lands him in the king’s prison.

The story is narrated thru Gen and his sneaky, cunning, and incorrigible persona makes for some delightful reading. Interspersed with the tales of the GODS, as recounted by Gen and the Magus, the author gives a fair idea about the fights and intrigue that sways the three kingdoms. As an adult, it was easy to fall in love with Gen, he is lovable and endearing and I loved his sarcastic and witty responses to his companions, sometimes exasperating though subtly handling his companions and understanding the dynamics of the team. A child would miss out on the nuanced writing exhibited by the author and probably enjoy Gen and his antics as it is but for an adult, it is clearly the impressive word building in the story that captures their attention.

The Thief is not an adventure thriller, even with some brilliant twists at the end of the story, and it is definitely not the fantasy-like LOTR that enraptures its readers, but Megan Turner’s world is equally fascinating what with understanding how thoroughly we have all been fooled by Gen. This slow-paced character-driven story would appeal to only those who have time and patience to enjoy the author’s marvelous writing and I wouldn’t mind seeing Gen on the big screen soon.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Hodder, and Stoughton, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

This review is published on my blog https://rainnbooks.com/, Goodreads, Amazon India, Book Bub, Medium.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

One thing I must say is that this book gets better.

The beginning of the book is very lengthy and detailed even though nothing really happens. You get a sense of the world and the characters but it seems like it is being thoroughly dragged out.

However, once you read past the start, it begins to gain its plot and structure. Here, the thief becomes a bit faster paced and more interesting than before.

I really enjoyed the ending of the thief. The twist reveal near the end made this book significantly better than I had previously thought.

With a mix of positives and negatives, I’d say this book is definitely for the committed. It took me a couple of months to actually read past the beginning but as I did so I became glad that I hadn’t given up.

All I can say that I wish is that there could be less abuse of the characters. The main character endures some torture along the way and I feel like it could have been avoided.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book!

While I can see most people loved this book, it just wasn’t for me. I found the main just a little annoying. I gave up at the 20% mark!

I have heard many good things about the book and I couldn't pass reading it when I had the opportunity.
I really liked it. It is a more traditional fantasy and I really liked the author's writing and the storyline. It also had a really good plot twist. I found the main character really interesting and I enjoyed reading his story. I loved the world and I am eager to learn more about it in the next book.

this review is a long time coming, mainly i haven't had a chance to write it but this book is wonderful and the world was really well thought out and the characters really well-written.

most YA are in the female POV and so it was a nice read to have it from a male POV and so i found it refreshing. he was a very sassy character and his ARC was cleverly worked out. the world building was easy to follow and wasn't dumbed on you within the first few chapters.

i will say this the first half of this book is a little slow but the pace does pick up in the second half and so it all make sense. i would recommend this book to someone who needs a easy read and love the YA fantasy.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for sending me the arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

This started off really slow so I was losing interest in it, however during the 2nd half it really started to pick up and im interested to see how the rest of the series will go. I feel like all of the action was packed into the 2nd half of the book which threw the pacing off slightly but overall a really enjoyable book,.

This first instalment in Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series has the feel of a traditional fantasy quest, mixed with a heist plot.
Gen, the Queen's Thief, has landed in prison for stealing from the king and boasting about it at a tavern. When the king's magus invites him on a quest to steal a magical artifact, he takes this chance to regain his freedom.

At just over 300 pages, The Thief is a quick read, which had me absolutely engrossed. The relationships between the travel companions on this quest were well written, and their interactions were entertaining. I found Gen particularly witty and look forward to reading the next book in this series.

I absolutely love the look of the new covers of this series, which had previously been published, and which deserve to be discovered by a whole new generation of readers.

I'd heard some great things about this series, and decided to request it, and I wasn't disappointed. It was definitely an interesting book, and I loved that you got to hear stories about the world that the book was set in throughout, told by the characters.

It took a while to get into the main plot, but I admit it was still nice to get the building blocks for this world. The ending was also worth it for the slower start, it was definitely not what I was expecting at all!

I'll definitely be looking into the rest of this series now!