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The Thief Book Review

The image is of a book cover with a brown, rolling landscape on which white figures fight. Behind them is a black sky shot through with turquoise lightning. The title reads: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Are you wondering if The Thief by Margaret Whalen Turner is worth your time?

Short answer? Yes, yes, yes! The long answer will be… longer. Whether or not you’ll love this book depends on what kind of read is up your alley. So, in this The Thief book review, I’ll break it down for you without spoiling the story. I’ll talk about why I love it, what kind of vibe and main characters to expect, the setting, and lots more fun stuff.

This post is a six-minute read.

The Thief Book Review

For fans of The False Prince and Riyria Revelations.

If you love irreverent main characters with tricks up their sleeves, heist stories, and fun plot twists, you might just love The Thief. Gen isn’t quite as outrageous as Darrow in Red Rising, but he’s got a similar flair for wild schemes. He’s cocky, kind, impertinent, and witty. At first glance, he’s a classic underdog, but there’s more to him than meets the eye.

It’s as if the Italian Job were set in Ancient Greece with a temple of the gods instead of a casino, a one-man theft, and a treasure that will determine the future of the two kingdoms.

The Thief is a first-person narrative with a male main character, a dangerous journey, swordplay, thievery, and magic.

Quick Overview of the Story (Spoiler Free)

Gen is a skilled but cocky thief shackled to the wall in the king’s prison. Eventually, the king releases him on one condition: that he travel with the king’s scholar to retrieve an ancient treasure that the king needs to extort the queen of a neighboring kingdom. All previous attempts to retrieve the treasure have failed. Only the most masterful of thieves can succeed. If Gen doesn’t pull this off, he’ll pay for his failure with his life.

Gen claims that he “can steal anything!” but will that hold true when he’s stealing something from the god’s themselves?

A slender black-haired youth stands in a frozen stance, as though caught running, legs splayed and hands up. In one fist, he holds a stone with a gleaming blue center. In the background, larger than life, is the massive statue of a woman carved from white stone. The Thief Book Review.

What I Love About The Thief

There’s so much to love about this story! Here are just a few of the reasons I enjoy it.

World-building

The world Megan Whalen Turner created for The Thief is delightful. I love fantasy with hints of other cultures, histories, and mythologies, and The Thief delivers on all three. The story is set in a fantastical version that bears some resemblance to ancient Greece, complete with olive groves and Greek-sounding names. I love the myth-building, landscapes, and sense of richness Turner imbues the story with.

Characters

It should be clear by now that I thoroughly enjoy Gen, the main character. But the other characters are great as well. Pol, Sophos, and the Magus each bring a unique personality to the tale. It’s fun to see how the characters’ interactions change over the course of the story, achieving new depths, humor, and empathy.

The drawing shows two young men. In the back is a dark-haired young man with slanted eyes and a cocky smile. In the foreground is a younger yellow-haired boy with a warm innocent expression.

Fresh Take on Deities

Let’s face it, most books aren’t that original when it comes to religion. But Whalen Turner has come up with something quite unique. I love the way the gods in her stories interact with Gen. The combination of personality, humanity, compassion, and divinity in her gods is fresh and unique. Some of the answers the gods give to Gen’s queries later in the series are especially revelatory. (I can’t say more without spoilers).

Story-telling Breaks

Megan Whalen Turner has her characters tell each other stories during their journey. I enjoyed them a lot. They do a great job of myth-building, fleshing out the world, and explaining some crucial aspects about Gen and his belief system. They also draw important parallels to the developing story, and Gen’s transformation arc.

What Others Didn’t Love About The Thief

I pretty much love everything about The Thief. But I’ll mention a few things here that other reviewers mentioned disliking.

First, one reviewer said that she found Gen rude and off-putting. I didn’t read him that way at all. I mean, he is rude, but in an entertaining and character-revealing way. I liked the fact that even when he was weak and shackled, Gen still fought back. Sometimes, the only tool remaining to him was his razor-sharp wit, but he uses it to sometimes devastating effect. And other times he must “retire, chagrined, from the field of combat.”

He’s flawed, he makes mistakes, and even if he’s rude, he’s kind and compassionate too. His impertinence is a crucial element of his character. Here is someone who will not bow or scrape. He has an unbending will and he keeps fighting. Sometimes that gets him into trouble, but that just makes it more fun for us readers.

Some reviewers disliked the moments when the characters tell each other stories. That’s fair, but I enjoyed this myth-building element. The stories aren’t random, either. They are important to the world-building, help us understand Gen, and reveal cultural elements we would otherwise miss.

Subgenres

The image shops a drawing of a long-haired youth slumped in darkness, with namacles on his wrists and ankles. Light shines through a barred window, lighting up half his body and his face.
Gen in the king’s prison
A black and white drawing of a flat stone with a carved-out center and four letters in an unknown script.
Hamiathes’s gift, an ancient treasure and the object of their quest

As far as Fantasy subgenres go, The Thief fits into:

  • Roguish Fantasy – stories about characters on the fringes of society, like assassins and thieves
  • Quest – characters embark on a difficult journey to retrieve a magical object
  • Low Fantasy – set in a realistic world (sort of like ancient Greece) with the inclusion of magical elements
  • Young Adult – appropriate for young adult readers (Gen’s age is never specified, but he’s a young person)
  • Middle Grade – appropriate for middle grade readers

Trigger Warnings

Some of the characters are tied up and beaten during the story. The characters sustain physical injuries, and some people die. Torture is mentioned, but doesn’t appear on-page.

The story doesn’t contain curse words, romance, or any spice.

Other Books In The Queen’s Thief Series

The drawing shows a boy with dark hair and brown skin grinning cockily and the text: Feeling cute today. Might commit acts of hubris.

If you’ve read and enjoyed The Thief, I highly recommend you read the rest of the series. Although each book can stand on its own, they build the story and characters out into a brilliant and highly enjoyable series. Although my favorites are books one through three and six, they are all worth reading. Gen is my favorite character, however, so it makes sense that those are the books I love the best (where he features as either the main character or one of the leads).

I’ve listed all of the other books in the following section:

Megan Whalen Turner Books in Order

It is best to read the Queen’s Thief series in order of publication. Which is as follows:

The Thief Book Review Conclusion

I love The Thief. It’s one of those books I come back to over and over again. It’s a fun, easy read that doesn’t take too long and sets the stage for the next books in the series. I like irreverent and outrageous characters who scheme and are kind. Paradoxes, flaws, and entertainment all in one. What could be better?

If you liked this review, check out my reviews on the next books in the series: The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. You may also enjoy my reviews of Beyond, by Mercedes Lackey and Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young. Or, read some of my original fantasy stories by heading over to the Short Story Shelf.

What do you think? Does this The Thief book review inspire you to crack the cover? If so, consider hopping over to my YA Fantasy Enthusiasts Facebook page to chat about it. Or even better, join my mailing list for fun wordy entertainment delivered straight to your inbox.

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