The Queen of Attolia (The Queen’s Thief #2)
Megan Whalen Turner
Greenwillow Books
Published February 28, 2017 (originally published in 2000)
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About The Queen of Attolia
The brilliant thief Eugenides has visited the Queen of Attolia’s palace one too many times, leaving small tokens and then departing unseen. When his final excursion does not go as planned, he is captured by the ruthless queen. The Queen’s Thief novels have been praised by writers, critics, reviewers, and fans and have been honored with glowing reviews, “best of” citations, and numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Newbery Honor, the Andre Norton Award shortlist, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.
New York Times-bestselling author Megan Whalen Turner’s entrancing and award-winning Queen’s Thief novels bring to life the world of the epics and feature one of the most charismatic and incorrigible characters of fiction, Eugenides the thief. Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief novels are rich with political machinations and intrigue, battles lost and won, dangerous journeys, divine intervention, power, passion, revenge, and deception. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Patrick Rothfuss, and George R. R. Martin.
My Review
A bit more than a year ago, I finally read the first book in The Queen’s Thief series, THE THIEF, and I’m finally reading the second book. I remember the first book being a bit rough at the start because it felt like it took awhile for the story to get going.
THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA begins with a pretty big bang, and right away I was carried off into all the politics and intrigue of what was happening. In terms of violence, the beginning is the roughest part of the book. There’s one scene that’s particularly awful. I think the hardest part about the book is that I bought in so deeply to those early scenes, and that made shifting away from how the characters felt in that moment difficult.
Partly what made following the characters’ changing feelings hard is the way the story is told. Turner’s writing is pretty omniscient, giving us a view of a scene and what different characters are thinking. But we don’t always get to see how they feel. I think having more of a window into how characters felt and how those feelings changed would have strengthened my buy-in to the second half of the story.
I still really liked the second half of the book. One of my favorite parts that I really liked is Eugenides’ cleverness and the depth to his character that his experiences brought him. I also liked that the story focused so much on the relationship between the two queens, the difference in their ruling styles, and situations within their kingdoms. In my review of THE THIEF, I lamented the lack of female characters. This book did not leave me feeling that lack.
On the whole, I am really glad I read this book. I think I enjoyed this one more than the first one, and I would say it’s very likely I’ll continue with the series. (Have I mentioned that Steve West performs all the books in the series on audiobook?? Because yes, please!)
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Representation
Major characters are white. The countries are made up but inspired by countries on the Mediterranean Sea.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
A kiss between boy and girl.
Spiritual Content
Eugenides serves the God of Thieves and has taken his name as part of his role as the Queen’s Thief. He leaves sacrifices at alters for various gods and goddesses, and sometimes prays. The Queen of Eddis tells a story about a woman who is tricked by a goddess. The Queen of Attolia believes in the gods, but refuses to serve them. Attolians in general aren’t very religious.
Violent Content
References to torture and execution. One scene shows a boy strapped into a chair while a soldier cuts off his hand. Brief battle violence. Situations of peril.
Drug Content
Wine is served with meals. A physician gives Eugenides a strong pain medication which helps him sleep and recover from serious injury.
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