The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

"It is too bad for you that intelligence does not always attend gifts such as yours, and fortunate for me that it is not your intelligence I am interested in, but your skill. If you are as good as you say you are."
I repeated myself. "I can steal anything."
"Except yourself out of the king's prison?" the magus asked, lifting only one eyebrow this time.
I shrugged. I could do that, too, but it would take time.

The Thief is another book I picked up because the author is going to be at LeakyCon this coming week and I wanted to get a good sampling of her writing style. I found it at the library with the rest of the series that I will soon be getting my hands on, because I enjoyed this one immensely and can't wait to see where else Gen's adventures take him.

In The Thief, we are immediately introduced to Gen: our narrator, main character, and current tenant of the king's prison for stealing his seal and then bragging about it to the public. He has been there for quite a few months when the king's advisor, the magus, decides that his skills as a thief could aid him in the recovery of a treasure that could change the fate of their land forever.

Gen, having no other alternative besides going back to prison, joins the magus on this quest. Along with them are Ambiades, the magus's apprentice; Sophos, the son of the duke; and Pol, the captain of the duke's army. On their travels, they must journey through two neighboring countries with whom their own country is not necessarily on good terms, while trying to keep Ambiades and Gen from killing each other.

Gen has more to worry about than Ambiades's snarling, though. He may not be all he seems to be, but even he wonders if he is up to the task of securing a hidden treasure that hundreds of thieves have died trying to attain.

Turner's story is an entertaining fantasy in a land very much of her own making. The Greek influences are heavy, from the pantheon of gods to the very climate of her fictional countries, but it is still clearly a world unlike any other. I am always interested in discovering new worlds in literature and hers fascinated me immensely.

The characters were interesting and well crafted, none of them turning out quite as I had originally pegged them. I love when an author can give me an ending I hadn't anticipated from the beginning (predictability can only go so far in entertainment), and the fact that Turner could do so with both her story and her characters is a feat she ought to be proud of.

This was a fun journey that may not have wrapped me up the way some of my favorite fantasy series' do, but it was enough to leave me wanting more. I definitely suggest reading this book if you're looking for a new series to enjoy. It's quite worth the read.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[Click here to see my review of book 2: The Queen of Attolia and book 3: The King of Attolia.]

"Do you think," he stammered, "there's some . . . body in the maze with you?"
I wished he hadn't so obviously substituted "somebody" for "something." Not that I thought ghouls and ghosts were real, but they were easier to believe in when standing in a cold, dark, wet hole in the ground.