"The Thief" Anniversary Read-along - Chapters 1-3
If you haven't read all the books yet, these discussion post will have...
Thank you, Doctor Song. ..for all four books.
Reading this week from: "I didn't know how long I'd been in the king's prison." to "No one replied, and after a few minutes I fell asleep."
Favorite lines: This section brings us many iconic lines from the series.
“I can steal anything.”
“Why didn't you bring a cart?” p40
The “Howl's Moving Castle” reference - “What a lie that was.” p35
Our first use of, “So, so, so.” p36
“It had been a professional risk.” p46
“Get to the thief and you know you are halfway to Methana.” p23 Classic!
Gen even sports yellow for the first time. Well... beige.
Favorite scenes: The part where Gen recollects sleeping in Sounis's treasure room, because it's always given me hilarious Scrooge McDuck vibes. It's also meme material.
Also, a new favorite: Gen observes that Ambiades is better looking than Sophos! (p22) Now, I really NEED to see a Cok Sophos annotated copy of “The Thief.”
Who's better looking now!!!??? XD
Things to Chew on and General Observations:
Taking a secret for granted.
Hiding Eugenides in plain site.
A long time ago, in a thrift book store, I was flipping through a used copy of “The Thief” and found a note tucked into the back. It was a note thanking the owner of the book for lending it to them and saying they really enjoyed it. All well and good, except for the final sentence. “That ending came out of no where.”
Now, I'll give you a moment to get over your initial outrage. I've been there. On the flip-side, I do understand people seem to have irrational bad reactions to surprise endings, even when they are well done. People are still panning “The Village” after all... (I love that movie, and no one will ever convince me that it's bad!) Much criticism I've read about “The Thief” often focuses on the ending. So, it's safe to conclude that some people feel angry when a work of fiction tries to trick them.
Even so, this note stuck in my mind and bothered me for a long time. Later on, I finally figured out why. The twist ending of “The Thief” doesn't come out of no where. It's not the book, it's you. It really is, because Gen's identity is never concealed in the book, not once.
That might not make any sense at first glance, but you have to remember that Gen is writing this story down in hindsight for people who know who he is and already know the outcome of events. Thus, nothing is being hidden. His identity and motivations are merely being taken for granted. Now, this is a brilliant way to hide something from your audience, and it's also extremely difficult. Every time Gen reveals who he is with a passing comment, you have to misdirect the reader to an alternate explanation that makes sense in their current frame of reference. This is why reading “The Thief” a second time is like reading a completely different book, because casual sentences take on whole new meanings when your frame of reference changes.
There are many of these in just the first three chapters. I will call them Hidden Eugenides for now. Alongside these Hidden Eugenides, is foreshadowing of future events--cleverly disguised as casual observations.
“I reviewed over and over the plans that had seemed so straightforward before I arrived...” p1
Gen is actually discussing his whole scheme to trick the magus into leading him to the Gift on the FIRST PAGE, but without the frame of reference we need to completely understand him, we later assume he must be talking about his theft of the king's seal.
“It was almost as good as clean clothes.” p7
Gen is embarrassed numerous times by how bad he smells and is frequently daydreaming about clean cloths, yet he protests washing.
“...I could see that they all three expected me to resent more soap and water.” p31
We simply assume he's being contrary to magus's order, but he's actually trying to appear much lower-born than he actually is. Lower-class people were not used to washing, and often protested against it.
“If I got out of the city of Sounis, no one would bring me back.” p11
Oh dear... It's so obvious.
“My uncle used to keep that much under his bed and count it every night.” p12
Yeah... he's probably not lying. His uncle was the king of Eddis.
“It was going to be a long trip. I grinned with satisfaction.” p16
Here Gen is pleased by the confirmation that they are heading where he thinks they are, directly to the location of the Gift. We see more of this when he shouts to Philonikes. He's further satisfied when the magus wants to keep their trip a secret.
“I ducked my head to hide my smile as my horse clopped along after the magus's.” p30
“...it was topped by solid stone lintel with two carved lions that were supposed to roar if an enemy of the king passed beneath them.” p18
Okay, he's talking about himself, but even if we do notice, we assume he considers himself an enemy of the king because he stole the king's seal. He draws even more attention to himself.
“They remained silent as we passed under.” p18
To quote Gen, You're killing me!
“I was counting the cannons bolted to their decks...” p19
He's seriously doing reconnaissance right under our noses!
“Outside the city I had felt like a bug caught out in the center of a tablecloth.” p36
Gen longing for his mountains to hem him in is mentioned a few times in the story. If you actually take a moment to think about it, you just assume he's longing for the familiarity of the cramped city.
“I wouldn't know not being scum from the gutter.” p43
Again, he's not lying...
“It had been a professional risk, but there was no point in saying so.” p46
Or... you don't want to blow your cover to save your ego.
“I'm a lot more important than anyone else here.” p46
Is he talking about being the thief or being The Thief who is a nephew of a king. Note, this actually puts him at the same class level as Sophos, but he doesn't know who Sophos is yet.
Wrapping up, guys, that was only the FIRST 3 CHAPTERS! Any others that you noticed?
Other moments worth mentioning...
“ 'We might someday attain a relationship of mutual respect,' he said softly. First, I thought, I will see gods walking the earth.” p8
Good thing he didn't say when hell freezes over. We wouldn't have anywhere to send Nahuseresh.
“One shop near the corner sold only earrings, and I watched wistfully as it went by.” p19
He doesn't even wear them!
“I sometimes caught small items in the hair at the top of the braid and hid them there.” p31
Hmm... This little fashionista just loves talking about his hair. I'm sure that won't be important later.
Personality vs. Physicality
(wait... you aren't done yet?)
Something that's always intrigued me about Megan's writing is how she focuses so well on personality and character, while putting off names, ages, and physical descriptions till much later and sometimes... never...
Our first impression of Gen is of his dry humor and snarky personality. Notice, we don't get any real physical description beyond he's thin, dirty, and not especially happy about it.
We learn Gen's name on page five. For those who thought he was a girl... XD ...the magus uses the pronoun him on the same page. We learn he's short on page twenty-four, and I'll keep an eye out, but I don't think we learn he is dark skinned and haired till almost the end of the book, when the magus mentions it.
Now, we're still waiting on the magus's name... but we do get a short description of his face. A high-bridged nose and light grey eyes, though this is an important foreshadowing of him not originally being from the city. Also, we later learn is pretty tall.
On the other hand, we get a very detailed description of Sounis. “He was short, just as his father had been, and stocky. His hair was dark gold color and curled around his ears.” p11 Now that ya mention it, how does Gen know what his father looked like?
Pol's names actually comes up first on p16 before comments on him being a soldier on p22.
On the Uselesses... Ambiades is described as dark haired and “better looking.” Sophos mostly gets a flippant “looks younger” and “completely useless.” Do we even learn Sophos is blond in this book?
What was your first impression of these characters and did it match later descriptions?
Word Choice &
Portraying a Non-western Setting
(yes... I'm still not done)
Another thing I noticed this time through is the number of new vocabulary words we get in just these three chapters. Mostly, Greek architecture terms. I'm sure the first time I read this, I was too lazy to look a lot of these up, unless I didn't understand from context the basic meaning. Also, Megan doesn't throw these out in cluster of new confusing words. They're spaced in small groupings pretty evenly throughout the text. I just had a thought about how important these terms are to convey the non-western setting. They are many distinctly Greek words from the spelling and pronunciation. Even if you really don't know what they mean, they do a lot of heavy lifting in developing a distinctly Byzantine world.
I'm using Dictionary.com as a main source.
Megaron - a building or semi-independent unit of a building, generally used as a living apartment and typically having a square or broadly rectangular principal chamber with a porch, often of columns in antis, and sometimes an antechamber or other small compartments. (PS: I had to correct the spelling of antechamber. From a dictionary website... XD)
Temple - We know this word, but in western settings, church is usually used. It helps set the tone using a word generally associated with eastern places of worship.
Basilica - (in ancient Rome) a large oblong building used as a hall of justice and public meeting place. Also, seems to be associated with early Christian churches. Gen appears to be using the word in a way that is synonymous with temple, but he uses it to describe a place of worship for the new gods, while using temple for the old gods. Interesting...
Agora - Basically, an indoor market place, which means the cells were once stalls for merchants. (Gen even says this.) Greeks generally had indoor or covered market places, also called porticos. Ancient malls?
Magus - Magus were what the three wise men were! From the Greek magos meaning magic. The word we're more familiar with is magi. Often associated with sorcery. Also, a priest or scholar in Persia.
Scrolls - Also, a word we know. I find it interesting she started with a word we associate with eastern culture and not book, even though they have books too in this world.
Gallery - We still use this word in the same way. An area for spectators, but you generally only see it used to mean the cheap seats in theater and opera. The Greeks did build some of the first theaters.
Portico - We often use this as another word for porch. It's also another type of agora. More similar to a modern strip mall. It's like a long covered porch with columns.
Amphoras - An ancient Greek or Roman two-handled narrow-necked jar for oil, wine, etc. Oh, those things! We generally call these Greecian urns, but that's the proper name for them.
Hypocaust - Basically, ancient heating vents. I immediately associated this word with heat, because of the word caustic, which goes back to the Greek word kaust, meaning heat or burn. Hypo- means below. I like how there is an ancient version of modern thieves sneaking through ventilation shafts!
“God forbid anyone else should learn how to crawl on their stomach through a tiny space!”
Retort - Oh, he means this thing. The magus has a lab!
We know this word to mean a snarky comeback. In Greek, this means to bend back or twist. So, the two meanings we have for the word are from literal and figurative uses.
Veranda and Villa - We know these, but they are not usually used to describe western buildings, so again an eastern touch.
Other stuff...
There is also a lot of Mediterranean flora and fauna mentioned: olive trees, eucalyptuses, almond trees, etc.
The etesian winds also come up. A real wind current along the Aegean sea. These actually start in April but are strongest in July and August. Late summer! Just like Gen says.
Vampire is a Slavic word, but Greeks did have vampires in their folklore. They called them vrykolakas. I see why Megan didn't use that word! The garlic repelling vampires trope is a lot older than the modern Dracula story, and may come from it being a natural repellent for mosquitoes!
Also, the word Attolia is interesting. I'm sure this comes from the word Anatolia, which is mostly modern Turkey and a small part of modern southern Greece. This is exactly where the early Byzantine Empire was!
There is also a city in southern Greece called Edessa. If you think that's just a coincidence...
Later, under the Byzantine Empire, Edessa benefited from its strategic location, controlling the Via Egnatia as it enters the Pindus mountains, and became a center of medieval Greek culture, famed for its strong walls and fortifications. -Wiki
It was also known for it's textile industry. Explain that!
Bonus! I just found a place in Greece call Cape Sounion. Site of the ruins of a temple of Poseiden, which is thought to closely resemble a temple in nearby Athens called the Temple of Hephaistos, god of metal working and fire.
Any word choices you noticed that assist with world building?
A random observation that doesn't fit anywhere else...
“The baseboards were painted with an occasional patch of lilies and a tortoise or resting bird. ...painted pack of hunting dogs chased a lion around a corner door...” p6
This is a very early instance of symbols that are used later in the books. Lilies are an Attolian symbol, so it's interesting to see it in Sounis. Lions are associated with Sounis many times, but why is the lion being hunted and not featured as a proud symbol? This is like America painting the eagle being caught in a net in the White House. Also, how does a tortoise look like a bird? Was this you Gen?
And that's my final joke! Dear lord... Did I have a lot to say about the first THREE chapters!
Please, discuss and share you observations and favorite bits.
PS: No, spell checker! I do not want to change the word Sounis to sound. What is wrong with you?