Sunday, January 30, 2011

Review: The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

From Back Cover: When his small mountainous country goes to war with the powerful nation of Attolia, Eugenides the thief is faced with his greatest challenge. He must steal a man, he must steal a queen, and he must steal peace. But his greatest triumph - as well as his greatest loss - can only come if he succeeds in capturing something the Queen of Attolia may have sacrificed long ago.

My Rating: 5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Before I begin my review, I going to warn you that I’ve tried to make it as vague as possible so that as few spoilers as possible from The Thief and The Queen of Attolia are revealed. 

The Queen of Attolia is the sequel to Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief, and it’s every bit as good - if not better - as the first book of the The Queen's Thief series. Usually, I tend to find that sequels aren’t as good as the first book of a series but this wasn’t the case with The Queen of Attolia.

The Queen of Attolia starts off with Eugenides, the Thief, sneaking around Attolia’s castle and getting caught. As punishment, Attolia – the monarchs’ names are changed to that of their country once they inherit the throne – initially decides to have him hanged, but then at the suggestion of the Mede ambassador changes her mind and chooses to punish Eugenides in the way thieves traditionally used to be before sending him home. Consequently, the tone of The Queen of Attolia is darker than that of The Thief because Eugenides can no longer pretend that he’s invulnerable and must acknowledge his constraints.

In retaliation for the way Eugenides was treated, the caravans of Attolia are seized by Eugenides' monarch and so Attolia declares war. Pretty soon though, the three countries of Sounis, Eddis and Attolia are all embroiled whereas in the distance, the country of Mede patiently waits for Attolia to ask for aid so that the Medes can take it over and expand beyond their borders.

Told from the third person view of Eugenides, the Queens of Eddis and Attolia, and the ambassador of Mede, The Queen of Attolia shows off the delicate machinations that go into planning a war and attempting to win it. While readers may sometimes know more than the individual characters, Turner still manages to provide surprises throughout the novel, including an unforeseen but brilliant romance.

The Queen of Attolia was released in January 2006 by Greenwillow Books.
    
Comments About the Cover: I love the cover! I mean, how wickedly gorgeous and dangerous does the contraption held by the Queen of Attolia look; and doesn’t it just want to make you read the book?!

6 comments:

  1. Oh, an unforseen but brilliant romance? That sounds promising. I love that the sequel is even better than the first book, usually the first book is always hard to top for me. I'll definitely have to give these books a try, thanks for the recommendation. And I agree with you on the cover, it's beautiful!

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  2. You've made me so excited to read these books with your enthusiasm!

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  3. I haven't read the Thief, but this sounds like a really great series.
    Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog

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  4. I've never read the Thief, but have heard so many wonderful things about it. I need to put it on my TBR list! Great review :o) I'm looking forward to trying out this series!

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  5. You mentioned 'brilliant romance', I am sold. I am a romantic sap :)

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  6. I just love the sound of this one! The romance sounds fabulous, and I'm LOVING that cover! Great review :)

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