The Queen's Thief - Tumblr Posts
Was it maybe that the king and queen are obviously more close than everyone thought? Like she lets him get away with the hairpin thing? Is it because he's possessed by The Eudgenides but not everyone can see that?
Can someone explain to me that part in King of Attolia when someone says "that was revealing" and pheresine says "only to those who have eyes to see"
Like maybe I'm missing something, I'm not sure? Like is she just referring to the fact that most of the attolians aren't going to reevaluate the king no matter what info they get? Because honestly that's the best ive come up with. What exactly was revealing/revealed? Is it about their relationship??
"I'm a little vain" "I had no idea" is another banger from the guy who brought you "for the assassination or the heir" and "not noticeably, your majesty"
The Mede ambassador to Kamet: “You’ve come from an audience with the king, but before that, from the prisons. Not how an honored guest is usually received. Perhaps because you are less an honored guest and more… stolen property.”
Not true! This is actually the traditional Attolian greeting extended to every truly important visitor, from the king of Sounis to the queen’s spymaster to the magus to the current king himself! Hope this helps
Every time I finish rereading one of the books I pull up Tumblr, Pinterest, and livejournal to look for other people talking about it because I always miss stuff and other people are as excited as I am
Have just finished "Thick as Thieves", book five of Megan Whalen Turner's "Queen's Thief" series, and I'm frustrated I have no-one I can gush over this.
I've loved all five of the six books books in the series. Every one has had me on tenterhooks throughout, and with twists and turns that have frequently left me shocked and amazed, even when expecting to be tricked and bamboozled.
So if you want complex and clever storytelling, with well fleshed out and believable characters; telling a story of complex political intrigue set in a pseudo-Mediterranean fantasy world; then I thoroughly recommend this series
this is how that scene went, right?
“What a piece of work he was. I don’t know why I like him as much as I do.”
-Kamet, being everyone who has ever met Eugenides
I didn’t think anyone in Attolia knew my name
my brother in Shesmegah you befriended an entire kitchen staff
I enjoy so much the crossed lines of communication threaded throughout this book that’s basically
Costis: hey trauma victim, my king is so chill, so kind, so cool, it’s all going to be fine, he won’t whip you or anything
Kamet: oh so he’s an idiot
The nice thing about a character as clever as Gen is he can be ascribed multiple motivations at once and it can be true. Like, with Kamet’s rescue, it’s spite, it’s kindness, and it’s politically motivated. All three are true.
With his befriending Kamet as a kitchen boy, maybe multiple things are all true at once. Maybe he saw a good source of information about the Medes and pumped Kamet for intel much in the same way Kamet was supposed to pump the Attolian servants. Maybe he really did want to know about the Mede gods and afterlife, to hedge his own bets. Maybe he was as interested in Kamet’s knowledge and scholarly ways as he had been with the Magus, as Pheris would be with Kamet later on. And maybe Gen saw how lonely Kamet was, isolated as he saw by his unusual status, and decided to plow right over that gulf.
I don't know where it is, but someone said Irene went out of her way to touch Gen 6 times in Queen of Attolia, which is a lot for someone who says she doesn't love him, but like. No one ever talks about kamet and costis. Every time kamet gets dizzy or injured, or they have to "pretend" to be friends, or costis gets injured, the other is so ready to physically help them. When they end up in the water, kamet clings to costis's neck. When he gets hit on the head, costis literally hugs him for a looooong time. And you wanna say kamet hates him? You wanna say there are any negative feelings between them? The way they both go out of their way to always be physically supporting the other.
the cooks really spent months risking their lives by putting sand in his food just to say "we miss you come visit us already you asshole"
This:
always makes me think
So I started reading the Queen's Thief series and uh
is it still an incorrect quotes if it's by the author? anyway this post has been living rent free in my head for three years and it's high time i exorcised it with a sketchy lil comic.
The thing about Queen's Thief is that the reveals that come with Gen's trickster type, don't just reveal that he is smarter or more skilled than the people around him (or the readers) thought, but also that he is more good than they originally thought. Gen's goodness is a part of the twist.
This is probably most prominent in King of Attolia where his surprising mercy is a huge part of the plot (and his genuine love and friendship). But it happens over and over again.
In The Thief we are led to believe that he is motivated primarily by self-interest and we are surprised by the depths of his loyalty, the generous affection that comes out for the Magus, and by the fact that he is actually primarily motivated by duty and love for his queen/favorite cousin/reigning bestie.
In Queen of Attolia the twist is that his actions which looked like generalized mischief and political power plays actually all spring from love, and that love arose initially from empathy with a girl's loneliness.
Or when he becomes king, and then it's revealed that yes he got what he wanted but actually this is an act of self sacrifice (for the sake of Irene and Hellen and Eddis).
And on and on.
The pettiness and the pride and the mischief for its own sake are all still there, but they coexist with this deep undercurrent of loyalty and duty and love and mercy and kindness. And when push comes to shove that undercurrent will always win out and its that which makes the twists so triumphant and satisfying.
Kamet also mentions wondering if the guards kept costis locked up to keep kamet safe from costis.
Also kamet hearing someone apologize and for the first time know they actually mean it, they aren't just saying it. It kinda shows the switch for him to go from identifying as a slave to actually valuing himself and being in a place where he can have a relationship with someone else and not having it be about the service he can provide.
something i love about the apology scene in thick as thieves is that even though it's pivotal for both characters and crucial to their future friendship it absolutely does not fix things. it doesn't even establish a baseline of expected future behavior for either character??
"Kamet," said the Attolian in a low voice, "I am sorry. I hope you will forgive me." [...] I opened my mouth and no words came. I didn't know what to say when "sorry" meant something, what to say to an apology that was so obviously sincere.
kamet accepts the apology, and over the next few chapters they become much closer (with less commentary by kamet about the uncomfortable power dynamic between them). but costis doesn't take this for granted--so much so that he expresses surprise after kamet saves him from the well
"What?" I was mystified. "If I wouldn't leave you in a well, why would I abandon you in a ditch?" He looked momentarily as confused as I felt. "I don't know," he admitted. [...] "Actually, I don't know why you didn't leave me in a hole in the ground."
and kamet doesn't rule out that costis might hurt him if they came into conflict again, not even near the very end of the book (when he already told the reader in an earlier passage that losing costis' friendship is a worse outcome than dying):
"Well," I said, realizing that the strange feeling rising in my chest was anger, "you are an idiot." "What?" I didn't back down. He was securely locked in the cell opposite, after all, and I'd already lost his goodwill. I had nothing left to lose. "You knew what I thought of Attolia."
idk what to say about this except that the messiness of this makes it feel so much more real
The whole tower window tug-of-war scene is jussssssssst
Okay, first of all, Gen being a little snot and singing Dite’s song insulting himself and Irene where everyone can hear INCLUDING IRENE
Sophos taking the initiative as one of the few people, politically and personally, who can dump Gen on his behind without consequences (see: ACOK, also Sophos’s general Baby Of The Group nature), to defend his Now Very Good Friend Irene and give Gen some consequences
The absolutely Buster Keaton physicality of the entire scene
Sophos turning back to the window to yell something rude down at Gen only for Gen to be in the window nose to nose with him like
and then the absolute insanity of the Annux of the Little Peninsula and the King of Sounis tug-of-warring in a position that would mean actual death or broken bones at any outcome
And everyone’s just having a grand ol’ time (except Pheris)
the amazing @onebulb made this for me, so here: queen’s thief as vines but now it’s an actual video instead of gross links.
Do you copy the mannerisms of the woman who cut off your hand and destroyed your life, or are you normal