Turner, Megan Whalen - The Queen of Attolia
Sun, Feb. 19th, 2006 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterSequel to The Thief. Thankfully, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
coffeeandink warned me prior to reading these books that the back cover of The Queen of Attolia would spoil The Thief, so be warned!
Gen, the erstwhile hero and epononymous thief of The Thief (yay SAT words!), now finds himself embroiled in court intrigue and political quandries as the three countries of Eddis, Attolia and Sounis find themselves alternately at war while still attempting to hold the Mede Empire from taking over all three of them.
And now I have no more to say in summary because it would spoil The Thief. In fact, while you're at it, don't even read the summaries or back cover of The Queen of Attolia either. Just go get the book. Seriously! It has actually cut into my Saiyuki Gaiden squeeage and obsession and now I am completely squeeing and obsessing over this and must get The King of Attolia at once. will ignore book-buying moratorium is special case am totally desperate Ok, will give some more thoughtful reasons below...
Everyone should go read The Queen of Attolia because it rocks and has court intrigue and politics and countries at war and Turner makes it all real and practical and still wonderfully enticing. And you should read because the queen of Attolia and the queen of Eddis are both awesome characters, though complete opposites. And you should read because I now adore Gen after being quite fond of him in The Thief, because you get to watch Gen really grow into his own in this book and be sneaky and thief-like and enormously brilliant, and he does so and is still the irritating, brash, troublesome thief of the first book.
I would love it just because it hits nearly every one of my buttons, from court intrigue to the rogue-ish hero to the ice-cold queen of Attolia, but it honestly is a very good book. All the characters are nicely complicated and imperfect, and while it took a few chapters to get used to the third-person POV (The Thief is first-person POV), Turner makes it work because the situations are so complex. And I love that the three-way tangle that Eddis, Attolia and Sounis find themselves in makes sense and that Turner looks at logistics and food supplies, at reservoirs and rivers as strategic options, how each nation's different resources lead to different strategies. She's very obviously thought her world through, and it shows. And she does it without too many brain dumps, and she makes it exciting.
Even so, the book is still firmly focused on its characters and their emotions, and that makes it all the more effective. I actually wouldn't categorize The Queen of Attolia as YA. The Thief feels firmly in that category, but The Queen of Attolia feels like a wonderful, giant, fat fantasy book the way they should be. It's complex, and Turner handles all of the politics and the characters very well.
Several people commented in the post on The Thief that lots of people tend to like Thief better than Queen, but oh, I totally fell in love with this book. I enjoyed Thief, but it didn't make me squee like this one did. I can see why people might like Thief better -- it's a lighter book and some not-so-great things end up happening to Gen in this one. But that's why I like this one more.
Spoilers for The Thief and for The Queen of Attolia
And now for incoherent squeeing! I knew about Gen's hand being cut off and about him becoming king because I read Amazon's summaries (curses), but all the same... Technically, I suppose Gen having his hand cut off isn't really a spoiler, since it happens in the first few chapters, but the shock of it! And, oh, I love Gen so much! I love that he whines and hides himself away in the library, I love that he's still terrified of Attolia, I love that he's childish and snippy and still manages to burn down Sounis' navy and kidnap Attolia and the magus. And I especially love the relationship between Gen and Eddis and how it's thoroughly unromantic but still important.
I never thought it would happen, but Turner had me really liking Attolia several chapters into the book, even after I thought she was cruel and unkind, like Gen does in The Thief. I adore her because she's frightened and trying to hold her entire country together, because she had to learn to be strong the hard way and that it's made her brittle, and I love that Turner doesn't try to soften Attolia's edges or make excuses for her actions, but still lets her be human. I also enjoy all the relationships in the book, and while I adored the Gen and Attolia romance, I like that Attolia and Eddis learn not just to respect each other, but to maybe start to understand each other. I like that Gen's relationship with his father and with the magus are included. I like that Attolia has a non-sappy, sort-of friendship with one of her handmaids. I really appreciate that Turner didn't make the book all about the romance, although I loved the romance.
Gen himself is just such a wonderful character! I find it entirely believable that he fell for Attolia early on and that he was still terrified of her; likewise, I completely believed that he would do stupid things like leave her earrings or seclude himself in his room but still be able to come out and waltz right into Attolia and kidnap the queen.
Heading out in a few hours to buy the next book.
ETA: Oh also, Queen can be read as a stand-alone book, though I'd recommend reading The Thief anyway just so you can have the fun of watching Gen develop.
ETA:
buymeaclue's review (spoilery)
coffeeandink warned me prior to reading these books that the back cover of The Queen of Attolia would spoil The Thief, so be warned!Gen, the erstwhile hero and epononymous thief of The Thief (yay SAT words!), now finds himself embroiled in court intrigue and political quandries as the three countries of Eddis, Attolia and Sounis find themselves alternately at war while still attempting to hold the Mede Empire from taking over all three of them.
And now I have no more to say in summary because it would spoil The Thief. In fact, while you're at it, don't even read the summaries or back cover of The Queen of Attolia either. Just go get the book. Seriously! It has actually cut into my Saiyuki Gaiden squeeage and obsession and now I am completely squeeing and obsessing over this and must get The King of Attolia at once. will ignore book-buying moratorium is special case am totally desperate Ok, will give some more thoughtful reasons below...
Everyone should go read The Queen of Attolia because it rocks and has court intrigue and politics and countries at war and Turner makes it all real and practical and still wonderfully enticing. And you should read because the queen of Attolia and the queen of Eddis are both awesome characters, though complete opposites. And you should read because I now adore Gen after being quite fond of him in The Thief, because you get to watch Gen really grow into his own in this book and be sneaky and thief-like and enormously brilliant, and he does so and is still the irritating, brash, troublesome thief of the first book.
I would love it just because it hits nearly every one of my buttons, from court intrigue to the rogue-ish hero to the ice-cold queen of Attolia, but it honestly is a very good book. All the characters are nicely complicated and imperfect, and while it took a few chapters to get used to the third-person POV (The Thief is first-person POV), Turner makes it work because the situations are so complex. And I love that the three-way tangle that Eddis, Attolia and Sounis find themselves in makes sense and that Turner looks at logistics and food supplies, at reservoirs and rivers as strategic options, how each nation's different resources lead to different strategies. She's very obviously thought her world through, and it shows. And she does it without too many brain dumps, and she makes it exciting.
Even so, the book is still firmly focused on its characters and their emotions, and that makes it all the more effective. I actually wouldn't categorize The Queen of Attolia as YA. The Thief feels firmly in that category, but The Queen of Attolia feels like a wonderful, giant, fat fantasy book the way they should be. It's complex, and Turner handles all of the politics and the characters very well.
Several people commented in the post on The Thief that lots of people tend to like Thief better than Queen, but oh, I totally fell in love with this book. I enjoyed Thief, but it didn't make me squee like this one did. I can see why people might like Thief better -- it's a lighter book and some not-so-great things end up happening to Gen in this one. But that's why I like this one more.
Spoilers for The Thief and for The Queen of Attolia
And now for incoherent squeeing! I knew about Gen's hand being cut off and about him becoming king because I read Amazon's summaries (curses), but all the same... Technically, I suppose Gen having his hand cut off isn't really a spoiler, since it happens in the first few chapters, but the shock of it! And, oh, I love Gen so much! I love that he whines and hides himself away in the library, I love that he's still terrified of Attolia, I love that he's childish and snippy and still manages to burn down Sounis' navy and kidnap Attolia and the magus. And I especially love the relationship between Gen and Eddis and how it's thoroughly unromantic but still important.
I never thought it would happen, but Turner had me really liking Attolia several chapters into the book, even after I thought she was cruel and unkind, like Gen does in The Thief. I adore her because she's frightened and trying to hold her entire country together, because she had to learn to be strong the hard way and that it's made her brittle, and I love that Turner doesn't try to soften Attolia's edges or make excuses for her actions, but still lets her be human. I also enjoy all the relationships in the book, and while I adored the Gen and Attolia romance, I like that Attolia and Eddis learn not just to respect each other, but to maybe start to understand each other. I like that Gen's relationship with his father and with the magus are included. I like that Attolia has a non-sappy, sort-of friendship with one of her handmaids. I really appreciate that Turner didn't make the book all about the romance, although I loved the romance.
Gen himself is just such a wonderful character! I find it entirely believable that he fell for Attolia early on and that he was still terrified of her; likewise, I completely believed that he would do stupid things like leave her earrings or seclude himself in his room but still be able to come out and waltz right into Attolia and kidnap the queen.
Heading out in a few hours to buy the next book.
ETA: Oh also, Queen can be read as a stand-alone book, though I'd recommend reading The Thief anyway just so you can have the fun of watching Gen develop.
ETA:
buymeaclue's review (spoilery)