An Unconventional Novel // REVIEW: The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Title: The King of Attolia
Author: Megan Whalen Turner
Publication Date: February 28th 2017
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (Harper Collins)
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 3/6 of The Queen's Thief Series
I Got A Copy Through: Harper Collins India (THANK YOU!)
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Blurb Description: By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making.
Then he drags a naive young guard into the center of the political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king's caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect. Though struggling against his fate, the newly crowned king is much more than he appears. Soon the corrupt Attolian court will learn that its subtle and dangerous intrigue is no match for Eugenides.
Short and SweetThe King of Attolia defied all conventional logic that a fantasy series follows and managed to delight me and keep me hooked throughout this political masterpiece.

Let’s go more into detail:

It honestly took me a while to pick up The King Of Attolia after I put down book two, The Queen of Attolia, for reasons unknown to even me. I really liked QoA in comparison to book one, The Thief, but it still took me a long time to get into the mood for this one. 

I'd heard a lot of people say that The King of Attolia was BY FAR the best book in the series so far and so my expectations were high. It didn't disappoint, but I will admit that the beginning of this book threw me a little bit. If you've been following my reviews of The Thief and The Queen of Attolia, you'll know that it took me a while to get used to Eugenides and his narration but the minute I had, we got the book from another's (new) character's point of view.  

While books one and two were all about travelling, this one was set purely in the palace with Gen's transition to King being told from the point of view of a Palace Guard. Gen, once again, faces tremendous character growth but from the eyes of a third party.  At first, Gen seems like a thoroughly disinterested King. sleeping at meetings, wears ridiculous clothes and takes none of his duties seriously, letting his wife, the Queen rule as she always has.

From Costis' POV (the guard) we see how his view of Gen changes from an arrogant King to a boy who misses his home and everything he knew.

One thing I should mention is the GORGEOUS construction of Attolia in this book. In The Thief, we only saw it from it's enemy kingdom's perspective but in this book, we were properly introduced to the customs, religious practices and superstitions of  a beautiful kingdom.
As always with this series, Megan Whalen Turner managed to get the politics and ruling a kingdom SPOT ON. There were twists, turns, betrayals, assassination attempts and so high paced that I LOVED IT. 

A series definitely worth diving into (you can read them all as stand-alones or together) purely for the fact that you will NOT be able to predict what happens next.

The Queen's Thief series defies all conventional fantasy rules and paves its own way to glory. Highly recommended.
Megan Whalen Turner
Megan Whalen Turner is the author of short stories and novels for children, teenagers and adults. She has won the LA Times Book Award for Young Adult LIterature, a Boston Globe/ Horn Book Honor and a Newbery Honor. She won the Mythopoeic Award and was shortlisted twice for the Andre Norton Award.
Have you had the chance to dive into Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief series?
Who are some of your favourite fictional thieves? 
If you had to form a Heist Crew, which fictional characters would you choose?

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