The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner Book Review

 The Thief 

(The Queen's Thief #1)

By Megan Whalen Turner 

It was a runner-up for the 1997 Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor Book.

Published Year: 1996

Page Count: 187 pages 

Medium Used : Kindle PW 

Genre : High Fantasy, Magic, Ancient Gods, Mythology, 2025-read. 

Rating : 4.5/5 

There are three kingdoms adjacent to each other - Sounis, Eddies and Attolia. Sounis has it eyes on Attolia to conquer and seeks to engage with its neighbor and middle kingdom, Eddies, for assistance in the task. There is a mythological lore and belief in Eddies about a stone that is gifted by the Gods - that whoever holds the gift will also hold control/kingship/queenship of the land. So the Magus of  Sounis learns of the place it is being hidden from centuries and makes an attempt, with the help of a boisterous,braggadocious and imprisoned thief, Eugenides, to retrieve it. This gift has been sought by many before and as it is guarded by the Gods (this knowledge is not possessed by the people seeking it), all the parties that have gone with the seekers also perished. No one was able to retrieve this gift/stone or come back alive. 

 One fine day, the Magus and the thief Eugenides, in the company of three other able men set out on their journey. With some mysterious help from the Gods, Eugenides gets hold of the stone. On their return journey, the men are confronted by the soldiers of Attolia and in the fight, lose the stone. They assume that it has fallen into the stream and is now lost forever. The magus had destroyed every detail of the trail leading to the stone before setting out on their journey. And now their loss should dishearten even the most bravest of the men who possess even an iota of faith in the lore. But the magus is not a man of deep faith. He plans to make a replica now that he have seen the stone and committed its image to his memory. They also lose two men in the fight and later they are arrested themselves by the Attolian forces. Somehow they escape .. only to be caught up by the soldiers of Eddies lol. Its like they are being rewarded/punished by all the kingdoms, one after the other,in their path! Anyways, their journey soon comes to an end with the revelation of what actually happened to the stone and a conclusion that the Gods must have planned it this way all along. 

Liked the book. I enjoyed the Mythological history of ancient gods .. sky and earth .. their innumerable children,  Hephestia, Eugenides and all the rest. What I felt difficult to comprehend is how the Magus was able to wander and come and go (on his visits to Eugenides) as he pleased even when they were under the chain/lock-up of Attolian/ Eddies forces? Reading the first two pages of the book, I felt the thief is a woman/girl and not a man. It was so damn easy to assume a female sitting behind the writer and holding the quill! Later on, as the narration progressed, the male-ness of the thief is solidified. Lol. 🤣🤣 I think I would have liked this story better with a female lead, a female thief..daughter of Earth goddess who is hated and disliked by her mate the Sky god!

Liked this book very much. Looking forward to the next book in the series!!