I don't really like to commit to things. I had five official majors in college. I broke out in hives a couple days before Jared and I got married. Commitment is scary, and I usually avoid it. But I'm going to come right out and say this. I love The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. More importantly, I love the two books that come after. Series are tricky. Sometimes subsequent books disappoint. In this case, the second and third books get even better. This might be one of my favorite YA series of all time. (Notice the might... I can only commit so far.) When I found out she was writing another book in the series, I yelled "YIPEE"! Ok, I thought it, but still. If you happen to read the book and hate it, please don't tell me. I would still like you, but I would be forever suspicious of you. I'd think "S/He's nice, but I'm not so sure about his/her brain capacity."Here's the review. Gen is a thief. He is, in fact, the Best. Thief. Ever. He'll even tell you so himself. Frequently. He spreads his own fame far and wide and promptly gets himself thrown into the king's prison. Luckily for Gen, the king's magus needs a thief to steal an artifact from a neighboring country. He gets Gen out of prison, and the adventure begins. I would tell you more, but it would ruin the story to know anything about the rest of it. It would even ruin the story to tell you my specific reactions to it, so I'll just repeat myself - I LOVED this book!
Ok, there's one caveat. There are sometimes stories within the story. I hate that unless the stories are directly relevant to the main plot or are short and sweet. These are somewhat relevant in that they give background info but are not always short, so I tended to skim. But that's a personal prejudice that many don't share. Oh and another caveat. The story unfolds slowly. You have to be a little patient. For me, it was worth it. Did I mention that I love this book?
2 comments:
Great post, Jess. I had several lol moments. I might just have to get that one. The problem is, Matt and I are not so sure we can trust your book recs anymore after we picked up the first book in the Percy Jackson series!! You say you're not a big fan of Harry Potter, yet this was the biggest Harry Potter knockoff EVER! I'll spare you the list of obvious ripoffs from the HP plot that we came up with, but there were plenty. Also, the writing was vastly inferior to JKR, we thought.
Well, sorry to be so harsh. We're still friends, right? :) I'll give you one more chance and try out The Thief.
p.s. I got your message the other day and have been waiting and waiting for you to call back, hardly doing anything else. I might have to just break down and call you one of these days. It was still good to hear from you.
Nope Melody, we are friends no longer! You're right, Percy Jackson is reminiscent of HP. What I liked about it is the sense of fun it has.
I do actually like Harry Potter. I just thought the last book was too long and could have used some editing. That part about Harry and Hermione in the woods? Sheesh. Talk about filler. Oh and don't even get me started on the Elder Wand. And now that I have been sacrilegious, I will stop.
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