Warming to a book and making recommendations...

[keestone.livejournal.com]

Quite a few people mentioned in recent discussion that they didn't immediately like the books but warmed to them over time.  This made me curious.  How many of us loved the books on first reading, and how many warmed to them slowly?  What about the first book you read attracted you most?  Was there something you didn't like much at first?

I did love The Thief immediately, and the love only deepened as the books got deeper and more complex.  I think the things I liked most about the book when I first read it were the voice and structure of the narration and the way the presence of the gods was done.  Gen as a narrator was fascinating for me and really kept my interest.  I could tell he was an unreliable narrator.  I could tell he was keeping things hidden, but while he kept me guessing (and I didn't figure things out before the big reveal), I never felt the narration was dishonest or cheating in any way.  It's tough to pull that off.   Also, I have a thing for books in which the gods are real and this is somehow essential to the book/universe (one of my other favorite series is Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books).  One of my favorite bits still is Gen's reaction on finding that -- how it really shakes him to his core.  How stories and superstitions have suddenly become reality, and the world is not the same.  (And then QoA dealt with a really thorny theological issue, and I was delighted.)


I always try to tailor my book recommendations to the people I'm talking with.  I'm particularly careful with the books that mean the most to me (I really want Beloved to read The Brothers Karamazov, but he's a really slow reader and it's a long, complex book, so I keep putting it of for fear he won't like it . . . which would devastate me).  I pushed the Queen's Thief series on my best friend by focusing on the world-building and the pantheon as an angle.  (She's into Greek mythology, and I love the way MWT created a mythology that was connected and inspired, yet original at the same time.)  Funnily enough, my friend thought the mythology was a little too derivative at first, but immediately fell in love with Gen as a character.  :-)  I leant it to Beloved, focusing on the quick read, fun character, and adventure aspects.

How do you recommend these books to people?  What elements have you pointed out to people as something they might like?

Comments

[openedlocket.livejournal.com]

I didn't find the Thief very memorable at first but there was something in the narration that made me want to keep reading. In the end I wasn't disappointed, though the ending was a bit fast and unexpected. So when I finished with it I instantly demanded kindly asked my friend to lend me QoA.

I recommended it to my mom and my friend. I point out the witty debates/arguements, how awesome Gen is and how the plot is so suprising.

[keestone.livejournal.com]

Do you ever have issues mentioning the surprising nature of the plot and having someone come back spoiled? There are a few books where I really don't want to say much because the twist or surprise is such a payoff if you're not spoiled. (I got spoiled for Fight Club because somebody simply mentioned that there was a "twist" at the end, and the actual twist was so obvious that I spent most of the movie trying to figure out what else it could be.)

[openedlocket.livejournal.com]

Er, I do have this strange issue where I "accidentaly" reveal spoilers for a book. I recall telling a friend the whole plot of Breaking Dawn because I read the summary in wikipedia. I recall people asking very nicely if I could stop spoiling such great stories for them and sometimes I catch myself saying something related to the nature of the plot...whoops :))

I do often tell people that there is a story twist...I may have spoiled them too...I really have to watch my words more often.

[keestone.livejournal.com]

A lot of the time I give a basic premise . . . which works fine for most SF/F because it gives a bit of background without spoiling the plot.

The hardest book for me to recommend is Agyar by Steven Brust, because it's brilliant and really well done but to explain the premise is pretty much a spoiler. To read the blurb is definitely a spoiler. It's really a "Read it now!" book, but some people you can't just hand a book and say "Go Read It!"

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I actually didn't really like 'The Thief' at first. I didn't hate it or anything, I just didn't think it was that great (or at least, it wasn't to my taste). Then I got to the twist at the end, and suddenly it became the Best Book Ever. :D

I recommend the books only to people who I think will like them, which I guess makes sense. I'm not sure what elements I point out... I think I mostly just say, "This is a good book, I think you'd like it." I'm not great at describing books, I tend to fall back on, "Wow, it was awesome. The plot was great, and there are these cool twists, and the characters are awesome, and the writing is so awesome..."

[annikah.livejournal.com]

That's the same initial response I had. I say in my other comment that I wonder if it was my own older/English-majory mindset getting in the way.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Before there even WAS a next book, I was trying to get friends to read The Thief. One friend I was certain would love it, but she didn't. Her main reason was that she didn't read the author's note and just couldn't cope with the setting/time. Also she told me she doesn't like stories where there is a lot of traveling. (I LOVE stories where there is a lot of traveling.) Now she won't try the second because of the hand thing. It is a shame, because I am absolutely certain that she would LOVE these books if she read them all -- but I can't make her do that. I've pretty much backed off.

On the plus side, I got my husband and mother-in-law to read them, and they both loved them. Also sent The Thief to a friend's son when he was twelve, and he's totally hooked. I find I do better when I don't sell them too hard, but just sort of put them out there.

[keestone.livejournal.com]

That is a shame. I love the setting/time. I didn't read the author's note till afterward, but I loved putting the pieces together (and then finding out that I wasn't too far off target aferwards). I wonder, though, if familiarity with Science Fiction and Fantasy might make a difference in how quickly people get involved in the book.

[annikah.livejournal.com]

I wonder if whether we had to warm to them or if we loved them immediately is partially affected by how old we were when we first read them? Of course, this will change for each person. I remember the poll posted a while back and most people were younger than I was when I first read them. I was 21 or 22? 'The Thief' is a little younger than I usually read, so it took me a while to adjust my mindset just enough. Fortunately I did so before the ending, and then loved it. Upon rereads I enjoy it a lot more. But it wasn't anything wrong with the book that kept me from connecting with it at first, it was my own English-majory 22-yr-old self that had to break out of school mode and read for fun.

I tend to recommend them for the world/setting aspects: the mythology, based on the Mediterranean, the political intrigue and war, and also the superb writing.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

See, I think it ISN'T really a younger read, even though it's accessible by younger readers, if that makes sense.

[annikah.livejournal.com]

Hm. I think 'The Thief' is marketed toward 11-13 and QoA and KoA are marketed as more teen/YA. But I may be wrong. It perhaps just felt a lot younger when followed by the war in QoA and the court intrigue of KoA.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Marketed, yes. And I agree that QoA and KoA are more complex and have more...well, left out that needs to be supplied by the reader, which makes them more challenging. Still, all the seeds for the later complexity are sowed in the first book. I think it's easy to underestimate Thief, but every time I reread it I find more things I missed.

[annikah.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Which is why I always enjoy rereading it. But as an initial reaction, it seemed younger and less-complex.

[keestone.livejournal.com]

I think the themes are lighter and less complex. The Thief isn't in any way simplistic and it never talks down to the reader, but there's a change in tone and theme. Gen really matures in QoA. He has to. And the reader moves with him, whether these they have come across the kind of questions QoA deals with before or not.

[keestone.livejournal.com]

(eh. ignore the extraneous "these".)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Whoa, wait. The Themes are treated as lighter and less complex, but they really aren't. In Thief, Gen is shackled in a prison cell and starved, and almost dies from a sword wound, etc. The same sorts of things that happen in the other books, but they are handled with a lighter, less serious touch. Probably because they are seen from Gen's point of view--and the book is meant for a younger audience. But the same intense, serious topics are there that are in the other books. Agree completely about a change in tone, though.

The biggest difference, IMO, is that Thief follows a more linear path start to finish, where KoA goes back and forth in time, overlapping again and again with its storylines.

reposting cause I was signed in on the wrong profile

[keestone.livejournal.com]

I didn't say the themes were light, just lighter. And, I do stand by that. :) In The Thief, Gen's imprisonment and its effects were something he basically chose as a really nasty calculated risk. He nearly dies, but that's also something he was willing to risk as his Queen's Thief. The worst thing for him (and yes it is horrible), is that he causes someone's death. But, it's all part of a "God's in his heaven, All's right with the world" structure. Gen is even reassured by his god about the man he killed.

It's not just that Gen is tortured in The Queen of Atollia, or that his hand is cut off; it's that he's betrayed by his gods, that he loses his his entire self-definition in a single (sword) stroke, that people die who didn't sign up for it. His Queen goes to war because of him (it may have been inevitable, but he was the flash point). QoA tackles the question, if there are gods who care for us, how can they allow horrible things to happen? And the question of evil and injustice in the world is one of the heaviest themes a book can tackle.

[keestone.livejournal.com]

It could be. I was somewhere around 17 or 18 when I read The Thief first. I have always read "children's" and "adult" books indiscriminately, so the age bracket wouldn't have been a problem with me. In college, I kept my SF as a safe space where I didn't have to bring school into it.

One of the things that would have caught me immediately is the setting, because I'm a big SF/F geek. Paying attention to how the author has put the world together intrigues me, where it seems to put less SF/F oriented people off and make it harder for them to get into the book.

[annikah.livejournal.com]

I'm a SF/F geek too, and the world is one of the things I love about her books. :)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I liked The Thief from the start. Liked, that is, not loved. Then I got to the big reveal at the end - which I'd totally failed to anticipate - and I gasped aloud, and instantly fell totally head over heels in love. The second books was the one I had problems with; although I still liked it, I had some reservations and doubts. However, this in no way lessened my love for the first book. Six years later, I grabbed the third book the moment it become available, and was in love even more.

Outsider viewpoints and unreliable narrators are two of my favourite things. What I really admire about The Thief is that when you go and read it back, you realise just how honest Gen is being. There are so many clues there, and his account is entirely honest about his true thoughts and feelings, while being written in a way that allows the reader to remain in ignorance.

It's a series I find very hard to recommend, since I really, really don't want to give away spoilers. The reason I love it so much is because of the big reveal at the end of the first book, but simply saying "there's a twist at the end" is a huge spoiler, since it warn the reader to be alert for such things.

Oh, by the way, I was in my late 20s when I read the first book, but I don't think that made any difference. I read adult books throughout my childhood, and have been making up for that by reading loads of children's books ever since I (ostensibly) grew up.

[readsintrees.livejournal.com]

I loved The Thief the first time I read it, and would occasionally check it out from the library to reread. It was also the first book I ever bought NEW (for $2.99 on a Newberry Medal discount display). It was a sort of pleasant and warm love....and then I saw there was a second book! That's when the road to rabid fanaticism started.

I don't think I had a hard time with the book being "slow" the first time. I loved Gen's voice. I think the part that stuck out most for me was the first day that Gen, Pol, the Magus, Useless the Elder, and Useless the Younger were first leaving the city to start their trek. Gen complained that he was tired, and didn't get a response, so he tumbled off his horse and and into a ditch. The magus swears and says that they're only halfway to Methana, but to just leave Gen for a bit. My favorite bit was this:

"Oh thank gods, I thought. They're going to leave me. All I wanted to do was lie in the dry prickly grass with my feet in the ditch forever. I could be a convenient sort of milemarker. Get to the thief and you know you're halfway to Methana. Wherever Methana might be."

That bit about being a milemarker amused me to no end. That paragraph showed just how exhausted Gen was (that he relished the though of lying with his feet in a ditch forever), but still showed that he had a quirky sense of humor anyway. Perfect.

Of course the ending got me as well. I think my first time reaction was to go from quietly reading to shrieking, "WHAT?!!" while waving the book around and waggling my legs giddily before I resumed reading. That sounds about right.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh my goodness, that was the exact same moment it struck a note for me! That was the moment that I sorta clicked into sinc with Gen. I had some difficulty getting the ... feel? of his character, and after that, I just got drawn deeper and deeper into the story. Did anyone else have a similar experience with the book? The labyrinth was when I realized I had been truly sucked in - I was feeling the panic and claustrophobia and practically holding my breath each time he went in.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I liked, but didn't love, the Thief in the beginning. Mostly I just loved Gen's voice. (I LOVE books that will make me laugh.) But the first time I made it to the ending, I was ANGRY. I hadn't expected it, hadn't really read many books with Unreliable Narrators, and I didn't like that I'd been tricked.

I read Queen a couple weeks later, when I was rather depressed. I liked it, but didn't love it.

I didn't read King until a few months later. I had a sort of vague, read-them-months-ago recollection of the other books, so it had been long enough that I'd forgotten enough about Gen that I could really put myself in Costis' shoes. I read it in one sitting. I was IN LOVE. I read it FIVE TIMES IN A ROW AND IT WAS AWESOME EVERY TIME. I went out and bought myself a copy. I went and bought the other books. (Oddly, I ended up buying each book at a different store.)

And here I am.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

I was kind of in the same place with you when I finally got to KoA, except for me it was a few years later, rather than a few months. I had completely forgotten about Gen's awesomeness. So when he was "getting lost" in the Attolian palace (just for an example), I really thought he was lost, and felt kind of bad for him. Same with the sword training, I think. I thought he seriously had no idea how to handle a sword. And then he just started kicking everyone's butts and I fell completely in love, reread the other two and KoA right after, and now I'm a rabid fangirl. It's great.

[katewaits.livejournal.com]

Keestone, my experience sounds identical to yours. I loved The Thief from the beginning, and then was absolutely hopelessly lost to Gen at the reveal. And you're right. It's hard to be an honest narrater and keep things secret at the same time. I never felt *tricked*.

I have recommended this series to many people, even going so far as buying all three and handing it over with the request that they read it "but don't look at the back or anything else". Some day they'll crack it and become as addicted as I am.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

One thing that I've been wondering about is the difference between the reading experience of someone who came to the series after all three books were published and could read them back to back, and someone who read the books over years. I read book 1 in 1998, book 2 in 2000 and book 3 in 2006. By the time I came to the second book, I'd had two years of memories and rereadings of the awesomeness of book one, so my expectations were sky high. Although I liked a lot of it, I did have some doubts and reservations about several things in the second book, and then had to live for six years with serious doubts about Gen's future happiness, which has always been a shadow over my memories of the second book - well, until a few days ago, anyway :-). Had I been able to go straight from book two to book three, those doubts would only have lasted a few hours, and I would have forgotten them.

Um... Do I have a point? Hmm... Perhaps not. It's just that, looking back at my experience of reading many series, I see a big difference between the experience of reading a series in one go, and waiting for new volumes over the years.

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

I loved them all at first read. It's really hard talking about them without spoilers (I just tried to in my blog yesterday!), and I think they're definitely better without knowing anything about them beforehand.

I knew there was a twist of some sort in The Thief, and so spent the first few chapters convinced Gen was secretly a girl :)

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

spent the first few chapters convinced Gen was secretly a girl :)
Hee :) I wondered that, too!

[lurkerbynature.livejournal.com]

It crossed my mind as well, but then he got cleaned up in the inn courtyard.

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

Yep that was when I let go of that theory :) But before that he was protesting getting washed, which just added to my suspicion! I had just read a story where it seemed clear that the narrator was male but turned out to be female, so I obviously was watching the text more carefully than normal!

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

I usually tell adults they're YA books masquerading as something entirely other, and I tell kids, "Just read them, you won't be sorry." Everyone has loved them as much as I do.

I usually appeal to people's appreciation of Mary Renault or Mary Stewart when I rec the Attolia books (I find them much closer to great historical fiction than regular genre fantasy). I tell people about the deceptive complexity and subtlety of the narrative, and also about the central romance, which is singularly unsentimental and yet heart-stopping.

It's hard to praise these books too much.

ETA: Oh, and I also tell people that each successive book is better than its predecessor.

[loquaciousquark.livejournal.com]

Actually, I really, really loved Queen on first read, even more than The Thief. I loved that this world was a real place with real consequences, and that Gen's profession was truly a dangerous one and not all happy-shiny "look at me being all sneaky sneaky." You get the wonderful glimpse of how poisonous the Attolian court is, how resourceful Gen actually has to be to handle such a serious handicap, and then you've got the deliciously slimy Nahuseresh looming over everything.

TBH, the whole romance between Gen and Attolia is one of my favorites ever because it's so beyond me. I forget what Philowhatever says in KoA, about the love of kings and queens being beyond the compass of normal men? I'm sure I just butchered that quote, but WHATEVER, MOVING ON. I think I love it so much because it is so--it's such an enormous love. Not physically, but in scope and how it changes them. He loves her more than his hand and his country and his whole lifestyle. And she is not only willing to give up what she killed other men for, she actually wants him to take it. I mean, look at the end of QoA where she tells Nahuseresh she will have her sovereignty. And look at what she spends almost all of KoA trying to give up!

I know a lot of their love doesn't really become evident until KoA, but I love KoA because of how much I love QoA. Does that make sense? The foundations were laid so strongly in QoA for me that there was never any question in my mind that Gen would be happy with Irene, even if there were a few bumps along the way.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

"Rember, the love of kings and queens is beyond the compass of us lesser mortals." Its Hilarion who says it, not Philologos.

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

*Remember. I have typot skillz.
And I will mention that he says it to Philologos (and the other attendants) so you're confusion is very understandable.
*will be quiet now*

[viviolo.livejournal.com]

THIS. Just, this.

[crazededdisian.livejournal.com]

he still is sneaky sneaky

[(Anonymous)]

I remember being about 12/13 and telling my mom to get this book called the "queen of Attolia" from amazon... I think I really liked the Thief, but I wasn't a crazy fangirl until I read the next two books.

(She never did get it from amazon, but I found it in the local bookstore. ^-^ YAY!)

I very hesitantly reccomended the books to a friend of mine... she read the thief, didn't like much besides the ending, and then (because she's the most sweet and adorable person I know) decided to read the other two just because she "knew I liked them." She ended up loving them, so YAY!

[zumie-ashlen.livejournal.com]

I didn't care for The Thief (and I admit, it still isn't one I care for in particular, but I think it's very important to the story and the character's progression).

It was only when I started reading QoA that I really got into the series, and totally fell in love with Gen.

I'm still not sure why I'm not as enthused about The Thief... I guess the plot isn't as interesting to me.

[tencups-i-swear.livejournal.com]

I recommend them to people by just saying they're really well written, the characters are really interesting, the plot is awesome, and on top of all that it's set in a land like ancient Greece. How cooler than that can you get?

I didn't love The Thief at first. They intrigued me,certainly but I wasn't amazingly fangirly over it. It wasn't until I had read The Queen of Attolia that I absolutely loved them. :)

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Ok, 1st things 1st: do not use my methods of recommending the books. Apparently there's a problem with it...

I found TT in a bookstore when I was in my 40's (no, I'm no longer occupying that decade). I read the 1st few sentences and was hooked. I am one of those people that loves it when a character suffers (I feel such empathy? Maternal feelings? I really wanted to be a nurse and stroke noble brows? I'm just mean?). Granted, I usually like it when the character suffers in silencen or at least tries to, but like Eddis and Attolia I quickly saw through Gen's whining. Consequently it bothered me not a bit. Then QoA! One thing I haven't heard anyone else complain about is the politics and intrigue and war strategy and grown-up stuff like that. Usually I'm too lazy for that. And I did skim (as I also skimmed through the gods' stories in TT). The first time. Then came KoA. Read it in a day, considered it AWESOME, and reread it a million times, even more than I reread TT. Then I came here and learned how much I had overlooked and had to go back and positively pore over each book again. So, yeah, I love 'em all.

But I'll be much gentler recommending them now.

P.S. I did successfully recommend them all to my brother, niece, 2 of her friends, beafradofme's mom, and maybe my supervisor, so I'm not a total loss!

[a-kingsfeather.livejournal.com]

I picked up The Thief in sixth grade, for a reading project, then went and bought it. Got QoA out of the library, but didn't even know KoA existed until I was on vacation a few years ago. (I was in a random library, and when I saw it on display I did a kind of happy dance/agitated fit that very nearly got me kicked out.)

I recommend them to people who like Diana Wynne Jones- there's that same thing they do, where you have absolutely no idea what's going to happen until the end.

I actually really like the alternate narrations in QoA and KoA because you know Gen's up to something, but you have absolutely no freakin' clue what. And whne you re-read them, all there little hints are there....

[tearoha.livejournal.com]

I recommend them to each and every Classics major I meet :)

I first read The Thief from my local library in 2002 and liked it a lot, but didn't love it. Then the children's librarian bought the sequel and started raving about it a couple of months later, and I was interested enough to re-read TT whle I waited for her to give QoA up, and the re-read was, of course, far, far better than the first reading, because I knew what was coming. Then I got QoA and loved it. I don't understand how anyone could not love a beginning that awesome, and everything after that just fit together so perfectly. After reading TT, I knew to expect some major twist, and loved it when it came. KoA, when I finally discovered it, I was fanatic enough to love instantly, despite Costis (I got used to him by the third re-read.)

I don't really enjoy travelogues, and I guess that's why I still like TT least of the three. On the other hand, I love books which leave huge chunks of the plot to the reader to work out. It's such a compliment, and heaps of fun to boot!

[reader-marie.livejournal.com]

It's been so long since I discovered these books that I have a hard time remembering my initial reactions. I think I liked The Thief pretty well, loved the ending, read QoA soon afterward and liked it moderately...again until the end. Then I read both books again and was IN LOVE. Then I kept re-reading them off and on until I discovered that KoA was going to be published (I randomly found it on Amazon late at night and couldn't really sleep afterward...). And that one I loved all the way through.

I have a hard time recommending these for a particular quality. I am a bit obsessive about making people read them in order, and when I lent The Thief to a friend last year, I wouldn't let her even touch KoA until she'd read QoA, because I didn't want her to get anything spoiled. I don't know if it helps or not, but I'm haunted by the memory of a grade-school friend who read QoA first and could never really warm to The Thief because of that. I, who have grown to love The Thief dearly, was devastated.

[dihong.livejournal.com]

I did the same thing as your friend-- read QoA soon after it came out and LOVED it. I'm a big fan of political intrigue and fantasy, so the combination was lovely. I read The Thief afterwards, and found it interesting but not wonderful. I think it's because to me, the principal character will forever be Irene and not Gen. I appreciate his cleverness, but an entire homage to his youthful escapades was a bit much.

On the plus side, I loved KoA just as much. Really enjoyed Costis, Gen-as-seen-by-Costis, and the royal-marriage-as-seen-by-courtiers?

[viviolo.livejournal.com]

As a disclaimer, I read QoA and KoA about a week after I read through The Thief, so I wasn't left hanging between books forever. (Though it felt like it while I waited for the order to hurry up and ship!)

I read The Thief when I was 20 and adored it, in large part because of the voice of Eugenides. I was not expecting to like it nearly so much as I did, because of its lack of female characters, and that's usually a dealbreaker for me--no ladies, not interested. But it was highly recommended, so I read anyway, and was pleasantly surprised.

I've always loved the selfish, petulant, smart-mouthed trickster archetype, and of course Eugenides is that to a T. But there is so much more to him. He is brilliant throughout the book, but the brilliance comes hand-in-hand with an amazing sense of realism. He is pragmatic, but he's also young, moody, and doesn't think ahead. MY FAVORITE THING though, is how freely he constantly admits to being terrified.

So I read the book, and had a perfectly enjoyable time. And then, at very end, my Where Are The Ladies complex received an overload of excitement with the introduction of not one, BUT TWO fascinating queens! Eddis was awesome! And I loved Attolia MADLY, probably far more than I should've loved a character who was only in the book for a few pages.

When I found out that the sequel was called The Queen of Attolia, I had an aneurysm of glee and special-ordered it immediately. Looking back, as much as I loved Gen, it was my rabid and completely irrational love for Queen AppearsForFiveSeconds Attolia that really spurred me to read the rest of the series.

As for how I recommend these books, I usually talk about how subtle they are. The characterization, the events in the plot, the prose (my god, the lovely understated prose) are presented in such a stark, open way, yet there are such layers in the smallest of actions. I LOVE. *runs off to read*

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Get out of my brain. ;-D. You put that so well; that is how it went for me too. Mostly, anyway. I still love Gen most, because I'd rather read about the male of the species than the female, in general. They're just so...weird...aren't they? And I love the moodiness and terror and angst and and and...Yeah. LOVE

[kitsune-rains.livejournal.com]

I remember that I got The Thief from a book catalog along with The Giver when I was about ten or so. All I remember from that first time I read it is vague impressions of large, white, columns. I don't know why.
I didn't like it. I didn't pick it up again up six years later when I was between library books... the rest, I suppose, is history.
I don't know why exactly I didn't like it, though. XP

(Also, The Brothers K is a great book, don't give up on the recommendation.)

[zougla.livejournal.com]

Lots of people commented on this, so I figured I may as well give my piece too. I read the books last year, as a 26yr old grad student.

My impression of "the thief" was overall good. I loved the setting (so sick of fantasy in Nordic settings), I loved the tone. I didn't see the twist coming at all, and it was fantastic as far as I was concerned.

But I didn't absolutely fall in love with the series till QoA. I really dug the development of the relationship, which I admit I saw coming, but that's what you get for reading YA novels as a crotchety grad student. :) After that I needed to read KoA, which I liked, but wished the story was presented differently sometimes.

I now know better than to tell my friends they will love these books, because invariably they will have high expectations and then tell me that they weren't impressed. Which would be sad. But I do remind them occassionally to pick them up and try them.