Eugenides (Gen) is a thief – but not just any thief, as he’ll be quick to tell you. The stories are set in another era (they have glass and guns, but also gods and goddesses), and the small, rival kingdoms in question are loosely based on the Byzantine Empire. I would erect a shrine to them in my home if I had more than six square inches of space left. These are the Gateway Books that could make a YA reader out of anyone. Anything I could say about these books will sound hollow, but here goes: The Queen of Attolia and the rest of these books are so, so, so well done. I picked up the second book because it was handy, and I had heard it was better - thus began my intense love affair with Megan Whalen Turner and her amazing series. Where do I even begin with these books? After hearing a good friend wax poetic about them, I decided to pick up the first book in the series, The Thief. I appreciate that the characters’ faces are never really shown, just suggested – I prefer to imagine characters based on the author’s descriptions. They’re a little “generic fantasy,” but not so much that I think it would put a reader off. Whereas some YA books have covers that make them look deceptively fluffy or “young,” all four of the most recent covers in this series (so far) are simple, subtle, pretty, and best of all, I wouldn’t hesitate to read them on the train.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |