The Thief is an excellent adventure story aimed at older children/young adults.
Set in a fictitious world loosely based on Byzantine Greece, The Thief tells the story of Gen, a cocky young thief. At the story’s opening, Gen is a reluctant resident of the King of Sounis’s prison. His arrogance led him to brag that he could steal anything, including the king’s seal. Unluckily for him, the person he brought it to happened to be a royal spy, thus bringing Gen’s illustrious criminal career to an abrupt end.
Cold and alone, Gen is very surprised when his cell door opens and he is led out by none other than the king’s trusted advisor, the magus. The magus has a mysterious job for him, one which involves a journey to an unknown destination. He and the king want Gen to steal an object on their behalf. Gen is accompanied on this journey by the magus, his two apprentices and a bodyguard. They travel for days through lush countryside until they reach enemy territory. It is here that Gen is to prove his skills as a master thief.
The Thief is a wonderful book and one which I look forward to reading to my children when they are older. It’s beautifully written and I appreciate the fact that Megan Whalen Turner does not dumb down the vocabulary to cater to a younger audience. The world she creates is vivid and imaginative. She’s taken Greek legends and created her own mythology, complete with gods and goddesses. Some of these legends are told by the characters as they make their journey, with each one having a different slant on the original.
Gen is a marvelous character. He’s young and arrogant, but highly amusing. Although his age is not specified, I would guess he’s in his early to mid teens. The secondary characters are also well-drawn. The magus, in particular, is a strong member of the supporting cast.
The twists and turns in the story maintain the suspense until the very end. As this is a children’s book, it is only 280 pages. The author packs a lot of detail into a relatively short novel but doesn’t overwhelm her readers with unnecessary information.
My one and only criticism of The Thief was that I didn’t have the second and third volumes in the series sitting on my bookshelf! Thankfully, Megan Whalen Turner has continued Gen’s story in two further books, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia, and a fourth title is due out in 2010.
Even if you don’t usually read children’s literature, I urge you to make an exception for The Thief. Grade: A
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I am sitting here with a huge grin on my face! So glad you enjoyed it!
@Ana LOL! I bought it after reading your glowing review during your YA Appreciation Month. Thank you for an excellent recommendation.
Can I be honest here? I didn’t *love* it. Yes, I too had read the awesome reviews, and had to buy it twice in order actually to receive a copy (all the while having books 2 and 3 on my TBR stack), but when I finally read it, I felt a bit like a friend who went to see A Chorus Line on Broadway after all the hype and was disappointed. It was still a great show, but it wasn’t a GREAT SHOW, and that’s what he’d come to expect from everyone’s raves.
I even started reading book 2 and immediately put it down. I’ll get back to it, but the opening chapter(s) reminded me what I hadn’t loved about The Thief. Gen’s a bit cocky, and that’s okay, but he’s also got that element of “I don’t care what happens to me,” that I suspect is part of a daredevil’s personality. Well, if he doesn’t care what happens to him, why should I?
And that’s where the book fails for me, personally. He seems so disconnected to his everyday life. He doesn’t seem to love anyone, and I’m not sure he likes anyone either. Grudging respect seems to be his deepest emotion. So, sure the adventure is fun, but if the book’s going to rely solely on its adventure, I would ask that the pace be a bit faster. Basically, it’s a hiking adventure (complete with campfire stories) followed by a bit of Topkapi-esque heist. (I’m dating myself here, aren’t I? Okay, make it Ocean’s 11 with George Clooney…)
If Sarah is right, and Gen’s just a teenager, where’s the navel-gazing? Where’s the angst? He’s not a happy guy, that’s for sure, but I never had a clear idea why, or why not. And the way Book 2 got started, I’m not at all convinced he’s even maturing. People are supposed to learn from life; I’m not so sure Gen’s bothering to do that.
So all in all, I would give it a solid B.
Magdalen, this is really interesting that it is not at all how I see Gen. Yes, cocky he is , most definitely. But I see that he deeply cares for people – even the people like the Magus or Sophos in book. But you are right when you say that he doesn’t feel any angst in book one and all I can say is that you must have stopped just before this one thing happens in book 2 that will change his life forever and starts his journey into becoming a man. There is a LOT of angst in book 2.
Okay. I’ll keep reading. But I have to disagree just about The Thief: the most emotion I got from Gen, even at the end, was genial affection. Now you, Ana, may care deeply about the Magus and Sophos — I can believe that of you! But Gen’s skating. Nothing much touches him.
Let’s see if I feel differently after Book 2.
Read all three and would say that all are excellent reads, flaws and all. Can’t WAIT for the fourth! Glad you enjoyed this one, too.
@Magdalen Please be honest! I don’t expect everyone to have the same opinion as I do.
I’m with Ana on the interpretation of Gen’s character. He’s definitely cocky and more than a little self-absorbed, but I see that as normal teenage behaviour. He showed genuine concern for certain characters as the story progressed. Also – and I don’t want to descend into spoiler territory here – the final pages explained a lot about his personality for me. I’m curious to see how he develops in the second book.
@Keishon I’ve ordered the next two!
Yay! I love Gen–I think he has to be one of my favorite characters in fiction. I think you are going to adore the next two books, Sarah!
Great post, Sarah.
I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I’m pretty sure it took me a couple of months to finish THIEF. Nope, not joking. I kept on picking it up and reading a chapter or so, and then putting it back down. (Magdalen – agree with the hiking adventure comment!)
Until a few weeks ago when I finally decided to sit down and read it properly – and wow, really got into it. And this sentence:
My one and only criticism of The Thief was that I didn’t have the second and third volumes in the series sitting on my bookshelf!
made me laugh – it was so true!
When reading THIEF (and QUEEN / KING), I was thinking how MWT keeps her writing so tightly in the character’s POV, so much so that we don’t “see” things the character takes for granted, if that makes sense. That may be part of the reason why we view Gen and his relationships so differently, it’s never explicit. Very clever writing, yet it comes across as being effortless.
Wow, this sounds great! It’s been on my radar for a very long time now and the whole trilogy is sitting in my Book Depository cart for purchase when I finish my dissertation. Now I can’t wait to get to it!
@heidenkind I certainly hope so!
@Li I remember reading your review of ‘The Thief’ a while ago. I’m curious to see how Gen develops in the other books.
@Meghan Good luck with your dissertation!