JUNE 2017 - AudioFile
Turner adds to her Queen’s Thief series with a story that can also stand alone. Narrator Steve West portrays the two heroes of this audiobook. Kamet is charting his way through foreign lands with mysterious Attolian, who may be his captor or his companion. The story is told through the eyes of Kamet, and West fully differentiates him in his narration. Kamet is an invaluable slave who is well versed in languages, literature, and record keeping, strong qualities that West captures in the narrative. Yet when voicing Kamet’s dialogue, West reflects his vulnerability and practiced deference with a mild accent and soft tones. West portrays Attolian with a deep masculine voice that reflects his past as a soldier. West makes the most of Turner’s writing—no one enlivens other lands and peoples as she does. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 03/06/2017
Even minor characters in Turner’s Queen’s Thief saga have fascinating stories to tell, as she proves in this fifth installment, seven years in the making. This volume centers on Kamet, head slave and secretary to the Emperor of Medes’s out-of-favor nephew, who left Attolia when his scheme to seize power failed. Kamet is relieved to be home until he gets word that his master has been poisoned. Before he can process what that means for him (probably death), he is kidnapped by a beefy Attolian guard. (The author’s stock-in-trade includes the suspenseful reveal, so the guard’s name is withheld until the end.) The journey back to Attolia poses challenges, including bounty hunters, slave catchers, bandits, near starvation, rugged terrain, and miserable weather. Kidnapper and victim come to know each other, overturning many of Kamet’s assumptions. As with the previous books, Turner writes with complete authority about her richly imagined landscape. Although this immersive treat is billed as a standalone, those who have read the previous books in the series will get the most from it, as Turner fills out and enriches the expansive canvas on which she stitches her epic tale. Ages 13–up. (May)
Newsday
Turner builds suspense not with battles and gore but through strategizing and charged, subtle dialogue. ...this stylishly written series, with its fractious leaders and fraught politics, remains as fresh as the latest headline.
Shelf Awareness
The complexity of Turner’s world combined with the suspense of her layered plot creates a story that will appeal to readers of all ages. The thrill of the chase is magnetic-as is Kamet’s budding and unlikely friendship with an Attolian...a spectacularly enchanted empire imagined by a master storyteller.
Washington Post
The stakes are high and peace uneasy...Turner builds suspense not with battles and gore but through strategizing and charged, subtle dialogue. ...this stylishly written series, with its fractious leaders and fraught politics, remains as fresh as the latest headline.
Boston Globe
Turner is a criminally underrated writer, and this stand-alone novel from her “Queen’s Thief” series shows her again playing with narrative perspective, mixing history with fantasy to brilliant effect.
Horn Book (starred review)
Turner’s eagerly awaited fifth Queen’s Thief novel displays in full her many fortes: ingenious plotting, nuanced characterization, and a subtle slight of hand in the telling that promises to surprise even very astute readers. ...Thoroughly tricky, insightful, and satisfying.
Judy Bulow
Turner is a mature and amazing writer. I love this book: new characters mixed with Eugenides the Thief and world building like no other! My favorite of 2017.
Joelle Charbonneau
Megan Whalen Turner has constructed a clever world filled with suspense and intrigue and characters that will never be forgotten. Once you dive into the world of the Queen’s Thief [books], prepare to have your life stolen from you until you finish them all.
School Library Journal
★ 04/01/2017
Gr 7 Up—Kamet is a slave poised to become one of the most powerful men in the Mede Empire thanks to his master's close relationship with the Emperor. While he knows the limitations of his life as a secretary and slave, Kamet is ambitious and eager for the chance to help shape the Empire and wield his influence until one whispered conversation changes everything. No longer safe, Kamet embarks on a journey that will take him farther than he once thought possible. Traveling away from the seat of the Mede Empire, Kamet finds an unlikely ally in an Attolian soldier far from home and realizes that sometimes choice and freedom can be much more important than power or influence. Turner returns to the "Queen's Thief" series in this fifth installment, which moves beyond the familiar borders of the countries of Eddis, Attolia, and Sounis. This novel is filled with characters readers will learn to love, including several from earlier volumes. Kamet's transformation from a circumspect and scholarly secretary to a man in control of his own fate is immensely satisfying, as is the way his story intertwines with other threads from the series. His pragmatic first-person narration brings a fresh perspective to familiar places and people while expanding the world. This clever book is both a stand-alone introduction for those just discovering Turner's characters and a way to move the series forward to what promises to be a stirring conclusion for longtime fans. VERDICT Now is a great time to purchase the entire series for your library. A must for fantasy readers seeking titles rich with intrigue and politics.—Emma Carbone, Brooklyn Public Library
JUNE 2017 - AudioFile
Turner adds to her Queen’s Thief series with a story that can also stand alone. Narrator Steve West portrays the two heroes of this audiobook. Kamet is charting his way through foreign lands with mysterious Attolian, who may be his captor or his companion. The story is told through the eyes of Kamet, and West fully differentiates him in his narration. Kamet is an invaluable slave who is well versed in languages, literature, and record keeping, strong qualities that West captures in the narrative. Yet when voicing Kamet’s dialogue, West reflects his vulnerability and practiced deference with a mild accent and soft tones. West portrays Attolian with a deep masculine voice that reflects his past as a soldier. West makes the most of Turner’s writing—no one enlivens other lands and peoples as she does. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2017-03-06
A slave escapes across the wilderness and cities of the Mede empire with an enemy soldier.Kamet is proud to be the enslaved secretary to Nahuseresh, former ambassador to Attolia. He must endure his master's moods and is sometimes badly flogged, but he will one day belong to the emperor's heir and will become exceedingly powerful. Still, even a respected slave is no freeman; when a fellow slave tells Kamet that their master's been poisoned, he flees the household to avoid inevitable torture and slow death. He joins a young Attolian soldier who claims to be on a mission from his king and promises Kamet his freedom. Kamet has every intention of escaping from the Attolian, but a deep affection grows as they survive elite imperial forces, slavers, near starvation, and even aggressive dogs. Their journey and friendship parallel that of Immakuk and Ennikar, legendary Mede heroes who evoke Gilgamesh and Enkidu in this Persian-feeling empire. This series fifth can stand alone without reading the rest of the books, although brown-skinned Kamet and the light-skinned Attolian are previously introduced characters. Kamet's growth as this loyal slave develops self-reflection is first-rate. As with Turner's other Attolia books, this invites an older audience, but the perilous journey, character growth, and understated affection of shield brothers offer more teen appeal than the political drama of earlier Queen's Thief novels. A series stand-alone that won't disappoint Turner aficionados. (Fantasy. 14-adult)
