14 Apr 2010

New books

There is a dearth of new books right now so I'm re reading some books that I have already read. Megan Whalen Turner 's series - The Thief, The Queen of Attolia and the last in the set - The King of Attolia aregreat reads. Set in an imaginary country - Attolia and Eddis, The Thief is about a young man Eugenides - a daring and cunning thief. But Gen as he is called is no ordinary thief - he is also cousin to the Queen of Eddis a country not unlike Greece in description and climate. Through his boasting, Gen is captured by the King of Sounis and thrown into jail. However Gen has a particular skill which the king wants to make use of and Gen is released by the Magus and told to steal a  special stone from the temple of Hephestia, which is found in Attolia, the neighbouring country. The myth is that the stone of Hephestia should never be removed from the temple. If it is removed Attolia would no longer be invincible from outside threats And Sounis wants Attolia. Will Gen be able to steal the stone?

These three books are so cleverly written you are surprised by the twists and turns in the story. Nothing is as it seems, least of all the main character Gen. Even though I have already read the books, I still find it convincing and  engaging.  In fact the second read allows me greater insight into the characters. Even though these books are classified as young adult, I find that the plot, political machinations between the characters are very much adult. The characters that Turner creates are not just plain characters but are definitely very real. Eugenides for example is a very complex character and turns out to be a master at disguising himself. When I first read  The Thief which is the first book, I thought he was a wishy washy person. He is skinny, small sized and appeared to be a bit of a braggart and a fool. But as we reach the end of the story we finally get to know the real Eugenides and realise how intelligent and masterful he actually is. These three books are great reads, and although they may appear a bit slow in the beginning, the plot thickens pretty fast and we find out all the while Gen the thief and later the King of Attolia knows what he is doing.

2 comments:

The Bookworm said...

These sound like great books, I enjoy good historicals.
Thats the nice thing about re-reading books, you can get a different view on the characters.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Kat said...

Yes, that's true. I think I may have read Pride and Prejudice dozens of times and still find more to love about it. Jane Eyre too.