Hi all!

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

I'm new here, just found out that there's an active community dedicated to the Queen's Thief. This is a godsend,  because for some reason, none of my friends appreciate the genius that is Megan Whalen Turner (oh, it's too political). So I need somewhere intelligent to discuss A Conspiracy of Kings.

So. First of all, The King of Attolia is one of my favorite books of all time. So coming into ACoK, I was expecting to be bowled over even more than I was. Even though it was from Sophos's point of view and Gen is possibly the best, most unique character ever created. So I *ran* to a bookstore the day ACoK was released and bought a copy.

I do not in any way regret buying that copy. But I was a little disappointed in the book. And even more disappointed that I was disappointed. One of the things that I love about MWT is that she'll throw in little details in random places where they fit, and then later, those details take on such significance in the plot. It happened so many times in KoA. I think I did my fist-pump once in ACoK (the amphitheater scene was brilliant). But I was expecting to be wowed more times and I wasn't. Also, Sophos just isn't as endearing to me as Gen, and Gen is so rarely in the book.

And it seemed that ACoK got rave reviews from the book reviewers, while KoA was not as praised. I don't know; to me, ACoK was more standard writing, while KoA was more innovative.

I felt like the entire book was a setup for the next two. Like, since Gen is now that Annux, the real battle can begin to unfold. So the entire ACoK was more of a bridge, rather than important in and of itself. I still think that ACoK is way better than most of what's being published, but I had insanely high expectations and it just didn't meet them.

Am I missing something vital here? Did anyone feel the same way? 

Comments

[teenareena.livejournal.com]

I agreed with you on the expectation bit. Someone I know refuse to read any news on the book beforehand coz she's so afraid of spoiler and ended up disappointed because she's expecting a Gen and Attolia book. While I, who had known in advance this is Sophos' show, enjoyed it very much.

One of thing I like about ACoK is how Sophos and his relationship with Eddis are so different from Gen. It'd totally kill the serie for me if gentle Sophos from book one just grew up to be Gen-like shrewd and skillful because it'd be just a remake.

I understand lots of readers' concern about how violence became the solution in this book, instead of cunningness (Is that a word?)and such. But if the serie is to continue on being a realistic political intrigue, sooner or later it has to come to this. Like what MWT said with the 2nd book, the next logical step for a thief is for him to be caught and lived with the consequence. Thus, the next logical step for a king is to face the not-so-happy side of sovereignty, when one cannot shy away from responsibility even though it is against one's wish and live with the consequence.

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Well said. I had not considered the part about Sophos growing instantly into Gen. And the part about him living with the consequences of his actions; we have considered how devastating it was to him to have to kill someone outright, but now he has to live with it.

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

It'd totally kill the serie for me if gentle Sophos from book one just grew up to be Gen-like shrewd and skillful because it'd be just a remake.

Yup, same here. But I never even considered it happening (which is good, or I would have been so nervous before reading CoK) because Gen is so unique and unpredictable that anyone copying him never measure up to the real thing.