the queen of attolia by megan whalen turner

Queen Attolia has sworn that the next king will be her personal choice, no matter what her barons say.

Eddis is stable, but Attolia's barons are chronically rebellious. But their royal experiences are completely different. The queens of Eddis and Attolia were both minor princesses not intended for the thrones of their countries. The Queen's Thief novels have been praised by writers, critics, reviewers, and fans and have been honored with glowing reviews, 'best of' citations, and numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Newbery Honor, the Andre Norton Award shortlist, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. When his final excursion does not go as planned, he is captured by the ruthless queen. The brilliant thief Eugenides has visited the Queen of Attolia's palace one too many times, leaving small tokens and then departing unseen. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Patrick Rothfuss, and George R. Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief novels are rich with political machinations and intrigue, battles lost and won, dangerous journeys, divine intervention, power, passion, revenge, and deception. New York Times best-selling author Megan Whalen Turner's entrancing and award-winning Queen's Thief novels bring to life the world of the epics and feature one of the most charismatic and incorrigible characters of fiction, Eugenides the thief. (Apr.Discover and rediscover the world of the Queen's Thief, from the acclaimed series launch The Thief to the thrilling, 20-years-in-the-making conclusion, The Return of the Thief. But Turner's storytelling is so sure that readers will want to go along with her-and discover whatever it is that Eugenides will do next. When, fairly late in the novel, Eugenides decides that he must wed the fearsome queen of Attolia in order to achieve a more lasting peace-and that he loves her-it requires a certain leap of faith to accept that his terror of her coexists with desire.

Instead, she emphasizes strategy, with brilliant, ever-deceptive Eugenides a match for Odysseus in his wiliness and daring, perpetually catching readers by surprise. For the most part, Turner eschews battle scenes, although she executes these with flair. As Eugenides tries to reconcile himself to the amputation, war breaks out, involving Attolia, Eddis and Sounis, tiny countries modeled on ancient Greece and other Mediterranean nations. The drama is high, and the action grows only more engrossing. Unwilling to execute him, lest she start a war with the queen of Eddis (Eugenides's cousin and ruler), she orders his hand cut off. As it opens, Eugenides the thief has fallen into the clutches of the queen of Attolia, who still seethes from his besting of her (relayed in The Thief). This spellbinder of a sequel to the Newbery Honor-winning The Thief is every bit as devilishly well plotted and grandly conceived.

The queen of attolia by megan whalen turner