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You know the thing where everyone (for a given value of the term) is rereading a series they love and gushing about it and it's going to be amazing or its been hit by the suck fairy and you missed your chance to read it while it was still good. And so you have to decide whether it's worth trying in case you're missing out on a gem...
I think The Thief holds us gloriously. I can tell it was written in the 90s (no I don't know how, something about the style and length and...whatever), but the story and plot and intriguing world absolutely hold up for me. I wish I'd read it when I was younger, but I'm glad to get to it now.
I think The Thief holds us gloriously. I can tell it was written in the 90s (no I don't know how, something about the style and length and...whatever), but the story and plot and intriguing world absolutely hold up for me. I wish I'd read it when I was younger, but I'm glad to get to it now.
I love how these books manage to continue the story yet are all different and yet all manage that same level of "Ahh, what's going on!?" as the original.
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ETA 2020: I love how, on reread, you see the characters extremely differently and have such different expectations and yet it still resolves so elegantly.
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ETA 2020: I love how, on reread, you see the characters extremely differently and have such different expectations and yet it still resolves so elegantly.
I rather think the rate at which I went tearing through this series speaks for itself.
ETA 2020: I really need to think about this series and also just don't have TIME, but the way in which Eugenides builds once you KNOW him as a character and the relationship between him and Attolia is just...*chef's kiss*
ETA 2020: I really need to think about this series and also just don't have TIME, but the way in which Eugenides builds once you KNOW him as a character and the relationship between him and Attolia is just...*chef's kiss*
I appreciate the level of horror/compassion that Thompson manages to write into this series. It’s also completely bonkers - in the way of the best horror - and also deeply invested in questioning all its own assumptions. It’s one of those stories that is the exact right length to be a novella (or series of novellas) and I really appreciate it when authors get that just right.
What if Miles didn’t merely project Admiral Naismith into a second personality, but actually COULD talk to another person in his own head?
Oh, and that person is female and actually 12 or so different people. And also being Vor is replaced by religion.
A review that more or less covers the experience of reading this book. If you wanted more Bujold, you have it!
Oh, and that person is female and actually 12 or so different people. And also being Vor is replaced by religion.
A review that more or less covers the experience of reading this book. If you wanted more Bujold, you have it!
Well, I've accomplished my goal of reading the entire series before the new book comes out.
I get why people are frustrated at a Sophos book (as I also think that any book that is less than 100% Eugenides is not enough Eugenides), but I knew that going in and it made it easier to bear. I'm really glad I finally got to this series.
I get why people are frustrated at a Sophos book (as I also think that any book that is less than 100% Eugenides is not enough Eugenides), but I knew that going in and it made it easier to bear. I'm really glad I finally got to this series.
After 5 books, I am super-proud of myself that I managed to figure out HALF of Gen's tricks. The other half had me sit up and swear at him, confusing my husband since I don't usually talk to fictional characters. And he STILL hasn't read this series (it's almost like he's in the middle of a series he is really enjoying and wants to finish that first...).
Anyway, in her article on Tor.com (found here: http://www.tor.com/2017/05/24/rereading-the-queens-thief-series-megan-whalen-turner/), Natalie Zutter hits the proverbial nail on the head about this series. After the second book, we the readers have to get out Gen's head because we already know he's going to pull some brilliant trick. We have to watch him pull the trick off from someone else's eyes - we have to be in on it, waiting to be surprised.
This book delivers on that promise, and does so in a way that both builds bridges with the books that came before and expands our understanding of the world of the Queen's Thief. I'm so glad I found this series and that it holds up so brilliantly, despite somehow missing it when it first came out when I was a kid.
Anyway, in her article on Tor.com (found here: http://www.tor.com/2017/05/24/rereading-the-queens-thief-series-megan-whalen-turner/), Natalie Zutter hits the proverbial nail on the head about this series. After the second book, we the readers have to get out Gen's head because we already know he's going to pull some brilliant trick. We have to watch him pull the trick off from someone else's eyes - we have to be in on it, waiting to be surprised.
This book delivers on that promise, and does so in a way that both builds bridges with the books that came before and expands our understanding of the world of the Queen's Thief. I'm so glad I found this series and that it holds up so brilliantly, despite somehow missing it when it first came out when I was a kid.
I always wonder how sequels to things like, well, Pride and Prejudice and Dragons go once the Pride and Prejudice is done and we're at...and Dragons.
It's still a really interesting world and the class conflict of am I good-enough carries the story for quite a while.
And it lacks some of the utter charm and delight that comes from the Austen-ing of the original. It needs something else to carry it and this felt a lot like a...middle book that still needs to go somewhere.
It's still a really interesting world and the class conflict of am I good-enough carries the story for quite a while.
And it lacks some of the utter charm and delight that comes from the Austen-ing of the original. It needs something else to carry it and this felt a lot like a...middle book that still needs to go somewhere.
Oh, I MISSED these characters so much. And also I love them to pieces. And also I really appreciate how Pulley doesn't just repeat the mysteries of the previous book, but takes them as the groundwork for building a new kind of mystery.
Also, Thaniel and Mori are just the best and I would like 12 more books with them just wandering around and, you know, being.
Also, Mori as an argument for ethical power is incredibly interesting to me - I think it's LESS an argument about using power for good and more an argument that it is possible for people with power to be good.
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There's a thing here with the way Pulley handles female characters - first Grace in the previous book and then Pepper in this book, where they get sacrificed, in some way, for the two men to be together. Which is a delightful reversal of "bury your gays" and ALSO very complicated when it comes to thinking about the role of women in fiction. Grace is an antagonist and survives, both of which makes me more comfortable with her fate and the way her life plays out and. But Pepper...woman dies to save man so he can go home with another man? Which feels extremely Victorian homosocial and also, given the context, deeply validating in telling the quiet stories of queer men. I have a LOT of feelings about this and I'm not sure how to parse them.
Also, Thaniel and Mori are just the best and I would like 12 more books with them just wandering around and, you know, being.
Also, Mori as an argument for ethical power is incredibly interesting to me - I think it's LESS an argument about using power for good and more an argument that it is possible for people with power to be good.
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