Poudelivre

Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief was first published over twenty years ago but the series is still active today. I've heard a lot of good things about this book and I was excited to read it for many reasons. A good fantasy for me is a nice way to relax and I love to disappear into a whole new world and escape reality for a little while. Also, The Thief is not even 300 pages and I thought this might finally be the novel that cured my reading slump. It didn't, but it was a nice read nonetheless.

Gen is a young thief who ends up in the King’s Prison after boasting that he can steal anything. That’s how he meets the magus, the king’s scholar, and how Gen finds himself on a trip across the country in search of a legend he’s supposed to steal and bring back to the king. The magus thinks he has found out where an ancient treasure lies and he needs Gen to steal it for him. But Gen works for no-one but himself and while the magus thinks that he saved Gen from the King’s Prison and that he’s entitled to a favour because of it, Gen will only ever do what’s best for himself.

I had pretty high hopes for this one and was disappointed when I started reading. It was a slow novel to get into, for me, and the beginning dragged out for a long time. Nothing really captured me right away and I found Gen extremely arrogant and annoying. I went on nevertheless but was still not impressed when Gen, the magus and three other characters set out on the trip across two countries. It was tedious, not much happened and I got bored with reading about horses, riding, Gen disliking horses and riding and the magus talking about olive trees. Around this point some stories about gods and goddesses appeared, as told by both the magus and Gen to give some background to their world. These stories were somewhat interesting and yet felt a little unnecessary. I was waiting for something to happen and this just wasn’t cutting it for me. However, eventually they ended up on the right place for Gen to do his stealing and while that was dragged out and not incredibly interesting either, what happened in the last eighty-or-so pages certainly turned the story around.

Turner wrote a good novel but nothing in it surprised me, except one thing and it wasn’t really a big surprised but rather something I should’ve seen coming. The rest, however, was predictable, at least for me. Despite that, I still really enjoyed it all. The last part of the novel, all the revelations, was fun and changed the way you looked at the beginning of the story. It wasn’t an amazing read, but it was entertaining and I do think the sequel will be better.

Gen was arrogant but he also had quite a few different sides and they really came forward towards the end of the novel. I liked that Gen more and especially the one he transformed into at the absolute end. The magus was also a character that I didn’t really like in the beginning but he, as well, grew on me. I had conflicting feelings towards the three other companions on the trip, Sophos, Pol and Ambiades. Pol was a strong and stable, which I liked, Sophos was shy and sweet and by far my favourite while Ambiades was too sour for my taste. Gen had a sharp tongue and made me laugh more than once and the magus turned out to be pretty funny as well. All together, these five characters worked well with each other and with bringing the story forward. A lot of the reasons why I disliked Gen in the beginning was explained in the end and now I’m quite curious to see what the next book will bring.

This is a story that contains some action, some comedy and no romance. It’s mostly about Gen stealing the treasure and I got to say, it’s always fun to read a good novel about a thief. That’s one of the main reasons that I was excited to read this book and on that aspect, Turner really delivered. I do think this was an enjoyable read, if maybe a bit slow in the beginning (though that can be because of my slump). I recommend The Thief to people who like a good fantasy and I will jump on the sequel myself!