The Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #2) by Megan Whalen Turner on January 1st 1970
Pages: 362
Goodreads
RevengeWhen Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, stole Hamiathes's Gift, the Queen of Attolia lost more than a mythical relic. She lost face. Everyone knew that Eugenides had outwitted and escaped her. To restore her reputation and reassert her power, the Queen of Attolia will go to any length and accept any help that is offered...she will risk her country to execute the perfect revenge.
...butEugenides can steal anything. And he taunts the Queen of Attolia, moving through her strongholds seemingly at will. So Attolia waits, secure in the knowledge that the Thief will slip, that he will haunt her palace one too many times.
...at what price?When Eugenides finds his small mountain country at war with Attolia, he must steal a man, he must steal a queen, he must steal peace. But his greatest triumph, and his greatest loss, comes in capturing something that the Queen of Attolia thought she had sacrificed long ago...
3.5 Nuts
THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA is on such a bigger scale then the previous installment in the Thief quartet. Where THE THIEF was a contained adventure encompassing mostly just a few characters, THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA determines the fate of at least 4 kingdoms, armies, and royal families. Though the scale is bigger, I can’t say that bigger is necessarily better.
THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA is brutal from the very beginning. Limbs get cut off (Jaime Lannister style), people are tortured, soldiers are killed. It’s an entirely different book from the first. It is not a compact adventure, and takes places over huge chunks of time and skipping over others. At times I think this makes the story a little bit disjointed, as it just cuts to weeks and month later without warning. It’s a very jumpy book and I think I missed the smaller setting of THE THIEF. Turner does a lot more telling than she did in the first one when I think I would have preferred more show. Still, the plot is intriguing and I still couldn’t put it down if I wanted to.
Attolia is perhaps one of my all time favorite characters due to this book. She starts out with harsh brutality, a clear villain with evil motives. And yet as the book continues Turner strips that away from her piece by piece, showing her to be a very smart and capable ruler doing what she must to keep a throne. It’s a very odd turn that you begin to actually like her by the end of the book and you catch yourself wondering when and why it happened.
Gen, on the other hand, has some very weird character development in this book. At times I feel like he goes off the rails a bit in terms of what I see to be believable. No mention is made of certain aspects revealed in this books in THE THIEF, making it seem like an entire plotline was just thrown willy nilly into this story. His reactions and motives don’t always make sense and I was so confused at more than one point in the book.
Turner uses this book as an opportunity to explore more of the political aspects of her world and her various kingdoms. From Attolia to the Mead to Eddis, you get a better look how each kingdom’s rulers (or advisers) help their land function. Sunnis is still pretty much a dick and I’m glad not to see all that much of him.
As this book goes, I think I prefer book one. It’s not bad, per se, but it’s a different kind of story with a different scope. I kind of wonder where this series will go from here, as there are so many avenues open now. This really is an enjoyable series though and this book is no exception. I can’t wait to listen to the next one.
I recommend this book for YA readers who love high fantasies full of politics and many kingdoms, war stories, and brutal tactics.
What was your impression of THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA? Share your thoughts in the comments.
From my shelf toy yours,
Erin
Leave a Reply