Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief

Kelsey Lu Lu 1

Ms. Kolb

English

4 October 2014

The Thief Book Blurb

Flowing, Contrasting, Unique are all traits that can describe The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, is a creative and amazing fantasy book. It has sub genres of historical fiction and science fiction. The Thief is the first book in the series of the Queen’s Thief, which is mainly focused around Eugenides.

Our main character in this book is a boy, Gen (Eugenides), who can steal anything. He is prideful, sarcastic, and is smart with his words. Gen is also, for the most part, mysterious: he has an extraordinary amount of knowledge about mythology, great interpretation skills, athletic capabilities, and yet he still remains spiteful, childish, and his mouth can

almost never be shut. With a brave heart and his straightforwardness, it leads events to happen for better and for worse. While the setting is loosely based in Ancient Greece, but it does include guns, windows with glass panes, pocket watches and printed books, and can most likely be referenced back to the byzantine empire

His pride in his skill in theft lands himself in the Sounis prison after bragging about stealing the king’s royal seal, which is the king’ golden ring engraved with a ruby, in a wine shop. While he is in prison, the Magus of Sounis, who is the king’s advisor, takes him in and offers him a deal. If Gen can steal an item for the Magus, then he is released from prison.
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However if he fails, he will die.

Thus he is dragged out in this journey with three others. Two of the three being the Magus’s apprentices, Sophos and Ambiades, and the third being Pol, the captain of the guard. The party search for the mysterious item that put their lives at danger. While Magus wishes to use Gen as a tool for the king, Gen has his own plans and ideas.

This book was not something that I expected, however, I absolutely loved it! I would definitely recommend this book to a fellow reader. Like most fictional books, this story is told in a first-person type of view, which allows the story to flow easily and makes the reader feel as if they are actually in the story. There’s much to be found in an interesting character like Gen, and it isn’t spur out of the moment, it flows naturally. There are almost no parts of the story that makes me feel that Gen is talking out of character. The information flows and intergrades wonderfully with the storyline and pacing, everything is explained smoothly with a transition. While the story gradually flows to the climax, it really grabs the reader’s attention by showing and not telling what is happening with the character. It has a perfect mixture of storytelling and action in it that the readers are ensured not to be bored. This book is directed to young adults, but can also be a book that adults can enjoy. I do not recommend young children to read this book, because it can get complicated at times and a bit confusing.

The book should absolutely be available for Paly students and should not be removed from the library. It would be a shame for someone to miss such an interesting story as this one. The Thief really brings out the storyline by surprising the reader with the fact that not everything is as it seems.