Book review: The Thief
The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner
“I can steal anything.”
So boasts the wily thief Gen, and he proves it too: by stealing the King’s Seal right from under the nose of the King’s magus. Soon enough, he regrets the folly of boasting when he is promptly imprisoned. As he languishes in a dank cell, hope for escape materializes in the form of the King’s magus, who has summoned him to steal a magical object that can make one a king or queen. But there’s a catch: the object seems to have existed only in myth.
My thoughts
I read a lot of rave reviews about this book, and the fact that it won a Newberry Medal, but honestly, I wasn’t much impressed. Like any YA adventure story, it starts in media res, launching Gen on his mission to steal the impossible, but the action and the backstory unfolds incredibly slowly. I think the first hundred pages must be devoted to Gen and the magus journeying over the mountains, through the mountains, and everywhere in between. In the narrative arc of a story, such moments are usually devoted to background about the character, but even Turner holds back on these, barely revealing where Gen comes from and what led him to be a thief in the first place. In light of the surprise ending, being stingy with such detail was probably necessary, but I think the payoff came too late for me to fully enjoy the story.
Despite the lopsided plot, Turner’s world-building and characterization were redeeming aspects. The three kingdoms that Gen journeys through are heavily influenced by Ancient Greek culture and mythology, but they’re not carbon copies either. (There are definitely anachronistic touches like guns and glass windows.) In fact, mythology plays an interesting role-often Turner has Gen’s story take a break in order to tell a myth about the god of thiefs, Eugenides (for whom Gen is named). Gen’s dry humor and wiles reminded me most of Odysseus, one of my favorite epic Greek characters.
I’m ambivalent as to whether I’ll read the following two books. Actually, I read way too much of the blurb on Amazon.com for the second book, Queen of Attolia, which picqued my interest, but if I had to decide based on the first book alone…I probably wouldn’t bother.
“I can steal anything.”
So boasts the wily thief Gen, and he proves it too: by stealing the King’s Seal right from under the nose of the King’s magus. Soon enough, he regrets the folly of boasting when he is promptly imprisoned. As he languishes in a dank cell, hope for escape materializes in the form of the King’s magus, who has summoned him to steal a magical object that can make one a king or queen. But there’s a catch: the object seems to have existed only in myth.
My thoughts
I read a lot of rave reviews about this book, and the fact that it won a Newberry Medal, but honestly, I wasn’t much impressed. Like any YA adventure story, it starts in media res, launching Gen on his mission to steal the impossible, but the action and the backstory unfolds incredibly slowly. I think the first hundred pages must be devoted to Gen and the magus journeying over the mountains, through the mountains, and everywhere in between. In the narrative arc of a story, such moments are usually devoted to background about the character, but even Turner holds back on these, barely revealing where Gen comes from and what led him to be a thief in the first place. In light of the surprise ending, being stingy with such detail was probably necessary, but I think the payoff came too late for me to fully enjoy the story.
Despite the lopsided plot, Turner’s world-building and characterization were redeeming aspects. The three kingdoms that Gen journeys through are heavily influenced by Ancient Greek culture and mythology, but they’re not carbon copies either. (There are definitely anachronistic touches like guns and glass windows.) In fact, mythology plays an interesting role-often Turner has Gen’s story take a break in order to tell a myth about the god of thiefs, Eugenides (for whom Gen is named). Gen’s dry humor and wiles reminded me most of Odysseus, one of my favorite epic Greek characters.
I’m ambivalent as to whether I’ll read the following two books. Actually, I read way too much of the blurb on Amazon.com for the second book, Queen of Attolia, which picqued my interest, but if I had to decide based on the first book alone…I probably wouldn’t bother.