The Thief (Megan Whalen Turner)

I read this book when I was younger, and decided I needed to reread the entire series in preparation for reading the latest book, A Conspiracy of Kings. An ancient library bookmark found in my room from 2000 suggested I read it as well, so who was I to argue?

I was not disappointed by this Newbery Honor book. Things I enjoyed:

1.      Male narrator. So many of the books I’ve been reading lately are females, this was a nice change.

2.      First person narration that doesn’t reveal everything. I’ve never had a character keep so much from me and I LOVED it. What appears to be a simple story gets more and more complex throughout.

3.      Myths and stories from the world of the book interwoven in the text. Usually these just slow me down- I want plot not background. But these stories were great. I love fantasies that have deep worlds of history and myth backing them up.

Reviews of its companion books, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia to come soon (as soon as I can get them from the library). And then of course, I’ll finally let myself read A Conspiracy of Kings so get excited for that!

Sidenote: I'm plodding (so many unnecessary details!) my way through A Game of Thrones and noticed that the chapters from the kids' points of view are way more interesting to me than the adults. The adults seem so flawed without hopes of changing, whereas the kids have so much more hope for redemption and growth. Let's hope this isn't taken away from the kids in the second half, or I may not make it to the next book. Extra brownie points are given to YA Lit today for always giving kids hope. Also, because this book is soooo long, look for a guest post on the blog next week from the lovely Audrey Gibbons about 13 Reasons Why.