The Queen of Attolia (MG/YA)

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. 2000. HarperCollins. 288 pages.

He was asleep, but woke at the sound of the key turning in the lock.

Things are not looking so good for Eddis' Thief, Eugenides, for he has been caught by the Queen of Attolia. The queen first met Gen in The Thief. And he didn't exactly make the greatest impression by telling her she was beautiful but not all that kind. It may have been true. (The Queen is not known for her mercy.) But it's not the kind of flattery that will win him royal friends. What will she do now that she has him? What is the best way to hurt him? To hurt his Queen, the uglier-but-kinder Queen he serves?

Queen Eddis is angered when Eugenides is returned. Oh, she's thankful enough that he is still alive. But to see her thief now one-handed, well, it hurts. She's rightfully worried about him. She cares about what this will mean to him. Can Eugenides accept what has happened to him? Can he find the will, the strength he needs? Can he prove just how valuable he is to his Queen, to his country?

The Queen of Attolia is the sequel to The Thief. It is different from The Thief in quite a few ways. It is more focused on politics, on royal intrigues than on adventure-for-the-sake-of-adventure. I am liking this series very much!

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews