The Thief

Mar. 23rd, 2010 09:49 pm
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The Thief (The Queen's Thief, #1) The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Greek-influenced fantasy. Boastful thief is let out of the king’s prison to steal something for him. Shenanigans ensue.

Ahahahaha, it’s a book about a thief being let out of prison to work with the guy who caught him and exercise his thiefly skill. I, uh, you could possibly say I have recently developed a weakness for this sort of thing. (Also, White Collar needs to come back on instantaneously, please and thank you).

A fun little bit of juvenilia. A romp, is I believe the word I’m looking for. A little silly around the edges in a *pat, pat* kind of way, and it telegraphs every single plot twist fifty pages out, but you know, it was cute and fun anyway. And I understand the point is the rest of the series, and I’m there.

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Date: 2010-03-24 04:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charlie-ego.livejournal.com
Ahahaha! I'm glad you like it. I don't like this one as much because I don't like books where narrators keep information from the reader on purpose. (I couldn't say that when I talked about it for fear of meta-spoiler, though I see that it wouldn't've made much difference in your case.)

I hope you like the rest of the series (though if you don't I will understand). I will be very interested to see what you think, especially about the second book, which I mostly love but would be more accurate to say I have mad mixed emotions about. One reason I'm interested in your reaction is that both [livejournal.com profile] julianyap and I agree that we love these books, which in the past has been a pretty good indicator that you would also like it (we often don't agree), so I'm interested to see if that holds.

I will say that you will probably continue to see ultra-telegraphing of plot twists (the third book is one long "if you have read the previous two books you know exactly what is coming"), but they're the kind of books where the journey is possibly even more fun when you know the destination.

Date: 2010-03-24 05:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lightreads.livejournal.com
Okay, I am sprinting through these books. Yesterday was the first time I was glad that my train got delayed, because then I could sit there longer.

I completely agree with you about narrator-withholding. And I think it continues in the second book, except then it's more transparently author withholding. E.g. when we drop Gen's thread while he is in the middle of emotional turmoil and then pick him up again when he is himself and being awesome and blowing up ships and stealing people. It wouldn't be so annoying if the narrative sleight-of-hand weren't so obvious.

I, too, have very mixed feelings about the second book. I'm writing my entire review here, but I both really appreciated and was really suspicious of the acquired disability plotline. The handling was largely graceful, and there were some beautiful moments, but at the end when the gods take away his phantom pain? No no no! OMG.

But they keep making me grin like a maniac, so you know, there's that.

Date: 2010-03-24 10:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charlie-ego.livejournal.com
Awesome - I am glad you find these books as addicting as I do :)

I always find it interesting and enjoyable to see your perspective - disability isn't one of my triggers, so I didn't really pick up on that explicitly (though I remember being a little weirded out by the phantom pain thing, so it may have made some implicit dent). But relationships being one of my major triggers, I both found their relationship incredibly moving and redemptive and at the same time it skeeved me out (Gen: I love you! Irene: Dude, did you miss the part where I cut off your hand? Gen: Well, I was your teenage stalker. Irene: Oh, well, okay, I love you too.)

I haven't gotten the fourth one yet (came out yesterday) though I have hopes for this weekend.

Date: 2010-03-25 12:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lightreads.livejournal.com
Yes, precisely re their relationship. Though I am a third of the way through King of Atolia, and it is making me love them like OMG. Like Dorothy Dunnett wrote Lymond young adult, kinda.

Basically, you have to suspend a lot of different stripes of disbelief, but once you do, it's gold.

Date: 2010-03-25 03:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charlie-ego.livejournal.com
Oh, yes yes yes. I meant to mention that - when I read King, for my own sanity I kind of have to pretend like the dysfunctionality parts of their relationship are just tamped down one or two notches, and then they are one of my favorite couples Ever. Also, I adore Costis and the way she writes his POV (way superior to the other two books).

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