Nancy Pearl recommends The Thief

[netslefj.livejournal.com]

Nancy Pearl  of librarian action figure fame has joined our throng, too, in her blog/ NPR reviews: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16159971  
(I'm pasting in case the link doesn't work.)

 

 'The Thief'

• Read an Excerpt

 

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, paperback, 304 pages

Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief is a supremely satisfying book for kids 10 and up (and a good choice for adult readers as well). It's the first in a trilogy, followed by Queen of Attolia and King of Attolia. The eponymous protagonist, Gen, who's been caught with the King of Sounis' gold ring, is imprisoned deep in the king's dungeon. His chance of freedom comes when the king's magus sets off on a dangerous journey that requires a thief's talents to succeed. Gen is being brought along to steal Hamiathes' Gift (a precious stone that gives its owner the right to rule over a country). If Gen succeeds, he'll be rewarded; if he fails, he'll die; and there's to be no escape from the magus, who promises to track him down wherever he might try to hide.
 
There are many adventures and not a few surprises in store for both Gen and the reader, before the last page is turned. Gen is a terrific hero — a mixture of bravado and cunning. The well-evoked settings — three warring kingdoms, Eddis, Sounis, and Attolia — loosely resemble the city-states of ancient Greece, and some of the most interesting parts of the books are the myths and legends of the region's gods and goddesses.

Comments

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. I think I've actually seen this on NPRs site a couple of months ago. Great publicity for the books. Not a trilogy, though, Nancy! There will be more than three!