The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

 

I swear I have read this book before, but I can't find anything I've written about it, so here goes. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, tells the tale of Gen, a thief, who is recruited by the king's magus to go on a journey and complete the ultimate heist.  Gen is snippy, petulant, and kind of lazy, but he sees this as a way out of the king's prison.  

The first part of the book is scene setting and world building.  We travel with Gen, the magus, two apprentices to the magus, and a bodyguard.  Nothing happens for a long time and it's possible that you will fall asleep every five pages.  Ahem. But then the treasure is acquired and the real action begins.  You can't really enjoy the last half of the book unless you've toiled through the first half, but in the end it's worth it.

This is a YA fantasy and the world building isn't subtle. There are entire chapters that are just someone telling someone else a story.  It's about as expositional as Hermione Granger and Hogwarts: A History (which we all know should be known as A Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School). But the world building is interesting. There are three countries geographically close to each other and always on the brink of war. But there is a bigger threat coming and these three countries need to band together if they're going to keep their citizenries safe.  

This is the first book in a series and everyone says that the series gets better and so I've requested the second book from the library, but if there's any of this boring I'm falling asleep regularly happening, I will not be kind. Next up will be The Queen of Attolia.