queensthief | Entries tagged with ambiades

freenarnian.livejournal.com

Hello, Sounis! How is everyone?

Just thought I'd share this post by noratheodora on tumblr:

“During an argument with my father I’d sworn, in front of an embarrassing number of people, not to take a sword by the hilt unless my life was in danger.” (The Thief, chapter 12, using the e-book so I can’t find a page number.)

Okay. So Gen took an oath not to use a sword unless his life was in danger. This explains some of his behavior in The Thief, such as refusing to spar with Ambiades. But we later see him using a sword in The King of Attolia.

It’s true that he made this oath before he met the gods while stealing Hamiathes’ gift, but the tone of this quote makes it sound like he was more concerned with personal embarrassment about breaking the oath. Still, Eugenides’ reputation matters a lot to him, enough that I’d expect him to keep even a haphazardly made oath.

Then I realized. After Eugenides becomes king, his life is always in danger.

To which tumblr user tenney-shoes replied:

May I also remind, for your consideration, that when his life is a bit more blatantly in danger in the Queen’s Garden, he does not grab the Assassin’s sword/knife by the hilt.

Interesting observations, ay? I'll have fun taking a closer look at these details in my next re-read!

pendrecarc.livejournal.com

And we've reached the end! Thank you so much to

ninedaysaqueen for coordinating.

This week's discussion covers chapters 10 through the end, from "When I woke, the sun was up and the day was already warm." to " 'Thank you, thief.' 'You're welcome, my queen.' "

That is, I believe, the first time we hear anyone addressed directly as "My queen." It certainly isn't the last. :)

There's so much to cover here! Gen stealing the Gift a second time; more interference from the gods; Ambiades' and Pol's deaths; an introduction to the queens of Attolia and Eddis; and of course the revelations of Ambiades' treachery and Eugenides' true identity and motives.

I'm going to try something a little different with this post. I'll start a few threads in the comments, each with its own topic, which will hopefully seed the discussion in different directions! Feel free to respond to each of those if the topic interests you, or reply to this post and start your own.

an-english-girl.livejournal.com

For the third week of The Thief read-along, we’re covering chapters 7 to 9, from “Good feelings persisted between myself and the Magus until the next morning...” to “Darkness that was deeper than the river swallowed me up.”

They’re some pretty exciting chapters, as we finally get to see Gen ‘in action’ professionally, as it were, rather than just active in driving the Magus nuts, baiting the Uselesses and generally pursuing his own agenda :)( Chapters 7-9 discussion )

Current Mood: anxious

silverflight8.livejournal.com

Welcome to the second part of the anniversary read-along of The Thief! This week's read-along is chapters 4-6. It starts with the sentence "WE STOPPED AGAIN EARLY IN the evening." and ends with "Did he sound genuinely flattered?" I'm not going to give page numbers because I have an ebook version, but my discussion's mostly chronological and I'll give quotes.

Like all the readalongs - SPOILERS! I'll also talk a little bit about the other books, so be wary if you haven't read them yet.

( Chapters 4-6 discussion )

Stay tuned for the next instalment next week, hosted by

an_english_girl, for chapters 7-9!

Current Mood: accomplished

ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com

( Wow, this got long! )

jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com

ETA: Please keep your comments completely ACoK-Spoiler-Free so everyone can participate! :-)

Hello everybody! I hope you are ready for discussion times, because I am bringing them! (I hope.)

This week we read from "I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison" to "As far as I could see there was nothing to steal, nothing at all."

Favorite line: If the king needed to know how many shafts of grain grew on a particular acre of land, the magus could tell him. If the king wanted to know how many farmers would starve if he burned that acre of grain, the magus knew that, too. (chapter 1, I don't know why, it just always makes me laugh)

Favorite scene: The entirety of chapter 7, for the "beating Gen for no reason" scary scene and the "let's tie Gen's hands too tight" scene. It's a moment of simple stupidty and arrogance on Ambiades's part, but it irrevocably seals Ambiades's and Gen's relationship.

Things to chew on (hopefully with our mouths closed, please): What gets me about this first section of the book is how brilliantly MWT uses first-person POV. From the occasional bits of present tense we know he's telling the story to someone, and within the first chapter he's given us plenty of reasons to think he's not just scum of the gutter based on the information he conveys which we, as the readers, take as par for the course without bothering to wonder why he knows so much about the history of the invaders and their socio-economic policies.

Also, we stopped halfway through the novel, and we're right before the beginning of the real plotty part of the book. Beautiful.

So, for discussion: Other clues about Gen's identity? Anyone else want to gush about how incredibly visual the descriptions are? How do people feel about Ambiades? What strikes all y'all about these chapters? Your favorite lines! Your favorite scenes!

Discuss away!

For next week: The Thief, chapters 8-12.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: friends' futon
Current Music: Chuck Season 2

khronos-keeper.livejournal.com

'Lo all- here's a bit of a question that's plagued me for years, ever since I read the first book:

How old do you see the characters in the book as? There's never any real indication, and we're mostly left to infer the ages of characters through details.

Example: Ambiades is treated by the magus and Pol as mostly adult. Perhaps one of the most telling clues is how the adults treats him. Pol speaks to him about mutual subjects of interest like he would another man (such as swords), but he's not above taking Ambiades down a peg if he needs it. The magus still lectures Ambiades on geographical features of the lands, so it's clear that he's still in tutelage, but Ambiades is also old enough to get away with being sullen with the magus. The So for this, I imagine him to be around the 17-19 range. Old enough to be considered reliable, old enough to be an apprentice to the magus, but not old enough not to need adult intervention.

What are your thoughts?

ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com

I was re-reading parts of The Thief today, and a small piece of chapter six caught my eye.

This is the chapter in which Gen tussles with Ambiades during the outdoor bath, then takes the older boy's expensive comb from his pack. A sudden realization struck me. Did Gen pick up Ambiades's comb to purposely rouse the Magus's suspicions? The Magus knew full well of Ambiades's financial state. The Magus would have known his apprentice couldn't afford such a fancy comb. Not if the boy wasn't obtaining money from shady sources. Was Gen trying to point this out to the Magus in this scene? Did Gen already know of Ambiades's betrayal? But... Perhaps I am just overreaching, and he simply had messy hair.

Opinions, please.

P.S.: If Gen did do it on purpose that disturbs me a bit. To think he can reveal someone's darkest secret just by picking up a comb.

*shudders*

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: desk
Current Music: Hunter by Dido

kaijuu-chan.livejournal.com

I started reading this series because I had the books. The Thief and The King of Attolia were both on sale at my local McNally Robinson (bookstore) and looked good, so I bought them. They literally sat on my shelf for nearly a year before I started reading them. I started two weeks ago and I've read each book three times.

It's taken over my life. I go to sleep at 3 am because I can't stop reading. I watch the news and I expect them to start talking about Eugenides. So I did what I usually do when I'm insanely obsessed.

I made an LJ icon!

(Person in the photo is homnoct-stock from deviantART)

EDIT: After I saw

thelasteddis's icon, I went and made another... I'm weak. But I could figure out which format I liked better, so it turned into three more. I'm very weak.

(Fixed the misspelling, too!)

Eddis, Attolia, Sounis

and Gen

Entries tagged with ambiades

By the hilt

The Thief Anniversary Read-Along Chapters 10-12

The Thief Anniversary Read-Along Chapters 7-9

The Thief Anniversary Read-along - Chapters 4-6

"The Thief" Anniversary Read-along - Chapters 1-3

COMMUNITY READALONG, PART 1: The Thief, chs. 1-7

Ages in Thief

Gen's actions are troubling me... again...

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