'I can steal anything.' After Gen's bragging lands him in the king's prison, the chances of escape look slim. Then the king's scholar, the magus, needs the thief's skill for a seemingly impossible task - to steal a hidden treasure from another land.

To the magus, Gen is just a tool. But Gen is a trickster and a survivor with a plan of his own," (Taken from the back cover).

How is it that I have not written about Megan Whalen Turner's wonderful series up until now? Probably because I am lazy, but we'll ignore that fact for now.

Before the incredible Jamie Fraser of Outlander fame came along, Gen was my main literary squeeze. I don't want to give too much away about him, because it's important to the story, but know that he'd fit right in with my family with that sassy mouth. I love his observations of the other characters and the names he calls the magus's apprentices (i.e. Useless the Elder and Useless the Younger).

It may not seem like much is going on in the book for a while as this group journeys toward their destination, but this is the introductory book to a series where we get to learn about the characters who will make appearances in the next books, so do pay attention to every detail that Gen shares. I will say that the last section of the book explodes with action and unexpected twists and turns, so don't get discouraged and put this book down - you will regret it.

I know this doesn't seem enough to entice you to read The Thief, but dang it, I can't say too much about a book filled with mystery and intrigue without giving it all away. Just go out and get this book (as well as The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia) - you'll thank me later.

Psst . . . I like chocolate.

Cross-posted at Reading Is Good For You (http://readingisgoodforyou.wordpress....) ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book because it does not talk down to its audience. Turner writes books for children; this book won a Newberry Award. But she is aware of the fact that children are intelligent and that they deserve intelligent writing. She does not write for children, specifically. She writes a story and children read it. As an adult, I found the story engaging and complex- even the vocabulary was at a more advanced level. I love authors who do this because I think it's important to challenge and stretch your readers, whatever their age. Turner does this very well, adding a twist to the story and giving her characters depths that you don't often find in books for children (and sometimes in books for adults).

Turner also builds up a multi-layered world in her story. The book is fantasy, and while she doesn't include a map of the world, she certainly builds up the culture. I love fantasy that comes complete with religions, superstitions, fairy tales and history. Turner has all of this in a very thin book. The history and religion in The Thief is based loosely upon ancient Greece and early medieval Europe. We are even treated to three mythical stories in the course of the novel. All great!

We also learn that the countries in the novel- Eddis, Attolia and Sounis- all have long, intertwined histories centering around old gods, new gods and invaders. Really, the amount of detail that Turner manages to pack into the pages is amazing. She creates a fully-fleshed out fantasy world, and I can't wait to read more about it.

I do think that this book was a bit slow going in some ways- not much happened for pages at a time. But Turner meticulously builds a world that readers can believe in, and creates characters that readers can cheer for. And I fully intend to move right on to the next book.

Truncated from full review at:
http://aartichapati.blogspot.com/2009... ( )

I read a review that had a spoiler, so the ending didn't come as a surprise, but this journey fantasy was wonderful all the same. I do enjoy a good quest, and the questing gang was entertaining, the world was interesting, and the mythology skewed enough from Greek standards to be eerie. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with several of the characters. I'd give this to someone looking for a straight fantasy/swordplay story, or someone who enjoys mythology. ( )

On the positive side, I did like the mythology and I liked a couple of the characters. But the only reason I kept reading is that I expected that something interesting would eventually happen; there had to be a payoff somewhere. The surprising revelation at the end offered a decent resolution to the story (I suppose), but wasn't worth slogging through the previous two hundred pages. ( )

The story of Gen, an imprisoned thief since he bragged to everyone that he was the biggest thief in the world - in front of the King's spies. He is freed and forcibly enlisted by the King's Magus to travel to Attolia to steal a mythical object, one that can only taken by a masterful thief. The party includes the Magus' two apprentices and a bodyguard and they all must work together on the quest.

Honestly, the book was mediocre. Gen is a charming, charismatic thief (as he should be), but that's not enough to pull a novel along. I didn't care about the other characters and they seemed one-dimensional. The big "Thief Trial" was boring and didn't live up to the hype when Gen figures it out. There were some amusing twist and turns, but somehow this book is lacking that certain something. The person who told me about this series said that this book was only okay but you have to go through it to get to the next two, which are stellar.

The book also could have greatly benefited from the inclusion of a map. I was sorely confused most of the time since the party travels through three kingdoms, among numerous rivers and across fields and mountain ranges. The author often refers to these landmarks to describe where the party is travelling, and I don't have enough of a visual memory (or the patience) to keep track of these things in my head. If I can't, I don't know how many kids will be able to do it. ( )