The Thief Anniversary Read-Along Chapters 10-12

[pendrecarc]

And we've reached the end! Thank you so much to ninedaysaqueen for coordinating.

This week's discussion covers chapters 10 through the end, from "When I woke, the sun was up and the day was already warm." to " 'Thank you, thief.' 'You're welcome, my queen.' "That is, I believe, the first time we hear anyone addressed directly as "My queen." It certainly isn't

Comments

Favorite Lines

[pendrecarc]

What are yours? Here are just a few that stuck out to me.

The first is during Gen's interview with Attolia. This is even more interesting to me if, as Gen suggests later, she suspected all along who he really was:

“He suggests, however, that your loyalty to your own country is not strong.”

I winced. “I have no particular loyalty to the king of Sounis, Your Majesty."

I love the whole conversation Eugenides the God comes to Gen in his fever. Eugenides seems remarkably human, given how different divine nature is supposed to be--I wonder how much of that is from being raised by the woodcutter and his wife:

The god beside me was silent, and the silence stretched out from my bedside through the castle and, it seemed, throughout the world as I remembered that Lyopidus had burned and died while Eugenides had not.And finally, when Gen presents the Gift to Eddis, there's this delightful moment. I find it interesting that the magus is more consternated at discovering how all his plans have been foiled than properly angry--it seems like he

Re: Favorite Lines

[heiros_acumen]

Maybe it's obvious from my user-picture thingy(I only use livejournal for Sounis so I don't know much of the terminology), but my favorite line from when he's talking to Attolia is when her dress scratches him. I feel like it means so much, though I haven't decided exactly what. Maybe it's a metaphor for his feelings about her; he finds her incredibly beautiful but some of that beauty is mixed with sharpness and pain.

I absolutely think she guesses who he is. Otherwise why would she care so much about getting him back. Gen says later at the make-shift bridge scene that he thinks she would have let the Magus and Sophos go but she wanted him. But that always makes me question why she was so careless as to leave him in the unguarded hospital type bed with all this thief tools. Did she really suspect who he was and then make it so easy for him to escape?

Re: Favorite Lines

[mander_lee]

Ah, I'm glad you brought up that dress quotation, because that always kind of bothered me. It seems *so* important, but I just cannot figure out what it's supposed to mean. I like your conjecture though.

The Thief in Retrospect

[pendrecarc]

I find it fascinating to reread the last section after having read The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia, in particular. We know the captain of the guard who captures Gen and his companions was Teleus, and we know the Attolians were paying Ambiades as a spy--I can only imagine that was Relius' work, and I wonder how that came about.

What other parts of The Thief are even more interesting in the context of the later books?

I also don't think I'd ever have expected the rest of the series to pan out the way it does, after just reading the first book. Do you remember what you were hoping for or expecting the first time you finished The Thief?

Re: The Thief in Retrospect

[heiros_acumen]

How do we know that the captain of her guard then was Teleus? She changed her guards often and a lot of time passes in QoA.

Because if it was Teleus, (and even if it wasn't) there's a lot that doesn't really make sense to me about KoA. Why does everyone, especially the guards, in KoA think Gen is a lousy swordsman when they know about/may have even seen his fight in The Thief?

Re: The Thief in Retrospect

[an_english_girl]

I may be wrong, but I think in QoA though Attolia changes the generals in her army often, she only mentions the two, consecutive, Captains of her Guard: the initial one who shot the Baron demanding her hand, thus securing her the throne, and then Teleus. Therefore, if by Captain of the Guard Sophos didn’t just mean the captain in charge of that group of guards, it must have been Teleus

Re: The Thief in Retrospect

[checkers65477]

Yes, I thought they all just assumed in KoA that Gen wouldn't be able to fight well with his left hand. I'm pretty sure Megan said once that the Captain of the Guard in TT was Teleus.

The Big Reveal

[pendrecarc]

All right, when did you work it out? I honestly don't remember, I read this so long ago. I don't think I suspected at all until right at the end. I like to think I'd spot it sooner if I was reading the book for the first time now, since I'm a much savvier reader now than I was in middle school, but maybe that's optimistic on my part!

The clues do come fast and thick. Gen mentions retying his braid, and later he even mentions his relief that the magus didn't notice the bump at the back of his head; he knows far more than he ought to about Attolia's stronghold; and of course he produces that bridge across the Aracthus at just the right time.

It's interesting that Pol found out so much earlier. I do regret Pol's death--he was such a great character, and I wonder what he'd have made of later developments in the series.

Re: The Big Reveal

[an_english_girl]

As far as I can remember, all through these last chapters, I could see /something/ was wrong. Gen does, after all, become pretty open with the remarks. But as I was reading these chapters at two o'clock in the morning, I didn't stop to figure it out. I simply galloped on!
I can remember the email I posted at about three in the morning to the friend who'd urged the whole series on me. It simply said: "Gen, you viper" :D

Re: The Big Reveal

[mander_lee]

I didn't work it out until it was revealed! And even then, I was so shocked about Gen stealing the gift a second time, I completely missed the revelation that he was Eugenides! Lol. I really had thought that the 'bump' near the base of his head was an injury he got during the fight, that's why he didn't want anyone touching him there.

The Two Queens

[pendrecarc]

Eddis and Attolia might be my two favorite characters in the entire series, but we see so little of them in this book, and they come so late! I recommended the series to a friend recently, and I know she loves female characters--I had to tell her to trust and wait, because they'd only get an introduction in the first book, but we'd see much more of them later.

Here are the two introductions we get in The Thief. What strikes you about each of them, particularly in light of the everything we learn in later books?

First, Attolia:

Standing over me, between the magus and the captain of the guard, was the queen of Attolia

Re: The Two Queens

[heiros_acumen]

Here's hoping one of the next books is narrated or at least focused on Eddis or Attolia. As awesome and nuanced as Attolia is, Eddis still seems like more of a blank slate to me, so she might benefit more from a first person narration. At the end of KoK, Eddis has that sudden angry outburst at Sounis in the Attolian library, and I felt like that was out of nowhere. She has been so calm and sweet the whole series. I think she must have hidden depths that need to be explored.

Narrative Structure

[pendrecarc]

The Thief is the perfect example of an unreliable narrator, and I wonder if MWT chose first-person in part because of the fun and challenge of having this sort of twist ending while telling the whole story from the perspective of the only character who knows the truth.

In The Queen of Attolia, though, she manages yet another twist ending, this time giving us the third-person perspective of several different characters.

I find her approach to point of view through the whole series absolutely fascinating. How does Gen's narrative voice work for you?

At the very end, we find out he's setting the whole story down because Eddis asked him to. (He even considers sending the magus a copy. I wonder if that ever happened....) This reminds me very strongly, of course, of Sophos telling Eddis his own story in A Conspiracy of Kings.

This also makes me wonder what MWT has up her sleeve for the next book! Which character's perspective would you be most interested in getting for later volumes? Would you prefer first person or third?

Re: Narrative Structure

[mander_lee]

As much as I love Sophos (and I really did enjoy ACoK, even more than QoA on average, though QoA sometimes sneaks up on me and makes me fall in love with the series all over again), I really really want to see more of Gen from his own perspective, doesn't matter if it's third or first. I think I would really like a Sophos + Gen + Costis mix. If MWT decides to write from the POV of a female character, I'd be most interested in seeing Irene's.

I think I just really miss Gen's snark.

What I really enjoy about QT is that each subsequent book plays around with perspective, but the story is still really about Gen. Plenty of other series will switch POVs, and the story will be about the focal character instead, and the main characters from previous books would only appear as side characters who don't do much in terms of plot. I love that we have this continuity in QT that still somehow manages to expand the set of characters and the world-building.

Re: Narrative Structure

[an_english_girl]

"I think I just really miss Gen's snark" -- agreed! Gen's internal commentary on the affairs of the Attolian court would be a joy. Yap, yap, bark, bark, anyone?
And while I'm sure we'd all be expecting his misdirection, I still expect he'd beat us at it!