Return of the Thief

Written by Megan Whalen Turner

Narrated by Steve West

“A bravura performance by one of our finest writers.”—The Horn Book (starred review)

“This series finale has everything readers could hope for from a conclusion 20 years in the making.”— School Library Journal (starred review)

The thrilling, twenty-years-in-the-making conclusion to the New York Times–bestselling Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. The epic novels set in the world of the Queen’s Thief can be read in any order.

This beloved and award-winning series began with the acclaimed novel The Thief. It and four more stand-alone volumes bring to life a world of epics, myths, and legends, and feature one of the most charismatic and incorrigible characters of fiction, Eugenides the thief. Now more powerful and cunning than ever before, Eugenides must navigate a perilous future in this sweeping conclusion. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Patrick Rothfuss, and Sarah J. Maas.

Neither accepted nor beloved, Eugenides is the uneasy linchpin of a truce on the Lesser Peninsula, where he has risen to be high king of Attolia, Eddis, and Sounis. As the treacherous Baron Erondites schemes anew and a prophecy appears to foretell the death of the king, the ruthless Mede empire prepares to strike.

The New York Times–bestselling Queen’s Thief novels are rich with political machinations, divine intervention, dangerous journeys, battles lost and won, power, passion, and deception.

“The Queen’s Thief books awe and inspire me. They have the feel of a secret, discovered history of real but forgotten lands. The plot-craft is peerless, the revelations stunning, and the characters flawed, cunning, heartbreaking, exceptional. Megan Whalen Turner’s books have a permanent spot on my favorites shelf, with space waiting for more books to come.”—Laini Taylor, New York Times-bestselling author of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone novels and Strange the Dreamer

""Unforgettable characters, plot twists that will make your head spin, a world rendered in elegant detail—you will fall in love with every page of these stories. Megan Whalen Turner writes vivid, immersive, heartbreaking fantasy that will leave you desperate to return to Attolia again and again.""—Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom

""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, prepare to have your life stolen from you until you finish them all."" —Joelle Charbonneau, New York Times–bestselling author of the Testing trilogy

“Megan Whalen Turner's Queen’s Thief books are like the characters she creates: endlessly entertaining, deeply deceptive, and very, very clever.”—Garth Nix, New York Times–bestselling and award-winning author of the Old Kingdom, Keys to the Kingdom, and Seventh Tower series

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062907905

Megan Whalen Turner

Megan Whalen Turner is the New York Times–bestselling and award-winning author of five stand-alone novels set in the world of the Queen’s Thief. Return of the Thief marks her long-awaited conclusion to the epic and unforgettable story of the thief Eugenides—a story more than twenty years in the making. She has been awarded a Newbery Honor and a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature. She has twice been a finalist for the Andre Norton Award and won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature.

Reviews for Return of the Thief

[Sage · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this series! The narrator is a disabled person with is so unique in fantasy.

[Chele Dove · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This series was a particular joy of mine this summer. I quite loved it. Such an in-depth look at many characters, yet all of their viewpoints converging on the one who is most intriguing - The Thief.

[herenya_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have finally finished the finalQueen’s Thief novel! It is told by Pheris, a child with a disability, who becomes the king of Attolia’s youngest attendant. Because he is small, overlooked and mute, he is able to closely observe the king and queen and those around them as they navigate an impending war. “I’ve arranged for them both to be in the garden at the same time, entirely alone. We’ll see which one leaves alive.”“You’re joking.”“Only about one of them leaving alive. They might kill each other.”“Gen…”“Helen, you know how it will go. They will agree, like people always do, that it’s all my fault.” He shifted [...] “They are adults. They know what is at stake. They will sit next to each other on a bench without speaking until the palace bells ring the hour, and when they get up the whole matter will be finished. They will embark on a long relationship of mutual respect and admiration and lecturing me.”Eddis considered.“I am right. I am always right. It’s a curse,” said the king.I read nearly two thirds in late April and enjoyed it, but then didn’t pick it up again until December. (Looking back at what I did or didn't finish in May, I think this was about my headspace, not certainly not the book itself.) The last part was tense, with twists and revelations I didn’t anticipate -- like why it’s called Return of the Thief. Also there are emotional developments. I need to reread it all in one go, to make sure I’ve put all the pieces together properly -- or better yet, I should reread the entire series! -- but I thought it was a solid, satisfying ending.For much of the story, Pheris is a passive observer of events. But neither this role nor his disability consigns him to the sidelines -- and I think that’s really important, that he’s not a typical fantasy protagonist and yet he still becomes actively involved. I also liked seeing him grapple with making choices and dealing with consequences.

[soraki_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Picking up right where A Conspiracy of Kings ends, this book starts with the wedding of Eddis and Sounis and the coronation of Eugenides as the High King. The first half of the book deals with the backstabbing politics and intrigue of the court of Attolia. The second half of the book is about war as the long-threatened Mede invasion of the Little Penisula occurs.This is my second favorite book in the series, behind The King of Attolia.

[zeborah · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love a narrator that starts out by saying "unlike those other historians I was actually there and I'm going to tell it exactly how it happened or at least, when I wasn't in the room, how I presume it must have happened". Most of the time however Pheris is actually in the room, at first overlooked or hiding but increasingly accepted - as is typical of many of the authors' protagonists, come to think of it - and most of the time he seems more or less reliable in his narration.Gen remains charmingly incorrigible in his thieving, to his loved ones' frustration/resignation, and torn about a number of dilemmas involved in his position as high king and/or life in general. The relationship between all the monarchs is beautifully familial, and his relationship with Irene is especially close (the epilogue only adds further towards this).The ending is deeply satisfying - apart from the part where on the flyleaf I discovered that I somehow missed book 5 in the series. Whoops: that might explain (over and above my poor memory) why some characters and callbacks didn't quite ring a bell, so I'd better fix that.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the sixth and final book in the Queen’s Thief fantasy series, which the author has produced over a twenty-four-year time span. I read the first five books some years ago, and wish I had waited to read them all together. After I read the first though, I was hooked, and kept on reading them. In any event, now readers of the previous books have a great reason to start the series all over again.It’s difficult to pinpoint what made me love these books so much, especially because I tended to get a bit confused by all the byzantine plotting of those wrangling for power in the stories. But one can’t help, I think, falling in love with the main characters in the series, especially Eugenides - called Gen - "the Thief" and now King of Attolia.Each book has a different narrator - in this case it is Pheris, the heir to Baron Erondites, one of Gen’s enemies. Pheris was born speechless and physically disabled, but not mentally impaired, as so many immediately assumed (but never Gen). Erondites agreed to let his heir be raised in the palace - not disclosing Pheris’s birth defects - thinking he pulled one over Gen. More than that, Erondites hoped Gen would have Pheris killed, so that he could pass the older boy's inheritance to Pheris’s younger and more seemingly “normal” brother. Erondites was aware that Gen could be ruthless, but was less cognizant that Gen was also compassionate and smarter than he let on (in a nice parallel to the tendency of Pheris to play the role of the “idiot” so he could move around with more impunity). Gen sees behind Pheris’s physical disabilities, and sets about educating and training him to realize his capabilities.In this book there is also a power struggle among the nations surrounding Attolia and a war to resolve it. It makes up a great deal of the action but in the main serves as a device to highlight the natures of, and interactions between, all involved. When Gen comments on the war, for example, we also see how he regards power dynamics generally: “‘Oh yes, of course,’ said Eugenides bitterly. ‘If you have the might to do it, you have the right to do it. The most important rule of all.’”In addition, we learn more about the marriage of Gen and Irene, the Queen of Attolia. This is not an idealized relationship like those so common in fantasy novels, but rather a mature and realistic partnership with all the ups and downs you find in real life. It is also marked by respect and care that is deeply touching, even though rarely explicitly articulated.The supernatural elements of the story, i.e., the occasional influence of the gods, are also very well done, with subtlety and surprise. Unlike stories about the Greek gods, these gods make clear that human intention will play a large role in human fate; the gods may set something in motion, but the rest is up to the players.Evaluation: This is an excellent book that caps off an outstanding series. If you have not started it, you are in for a treat, for you may now read them all at once and in order. (The first of the series is The Thief.) The author has gotten many prizes for her books, and they are well deserved.Rating: Given my memory deficits, I rated it as a standalone, and I did indeed forget a lot that was not fully recapitulated by the author. Otherwise I might have notched up the rating a bit.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Finally the outright conflict with the Medes, requiring the uniting of the three Peninsular kingdoms, comes, with plenty of politics, betrayal, and a new narrator for much of it: the mute and physically disabled first son of one of the major houses, thrown at Eugenides as an insult instead of the expected heir. As usual, Gen wins him over. The Gods are much more present in this one, though perhaps that can be excused as the presentation of a chronicler of “history.” I was satisfied.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In the sixth and final book of the Queen's Thief series, young Pheris Erondites narrates and explains how his Baron grandfather named him heir to thumb his nose at the King of Attolia once again - because Pheris has a disability and trouble walking and doesn't speak. But he's smart, and as he observes what happens at the palace he recounts the preparations made against the imminent invasion of the Mede Empire.All the events of the previous books come to a head in this one, and I loved little details that were brought back from each of them and given new significance. The timeline overlaps a little with Kamet's tale in Thick as Thieves, but we learn what was happening in Attolia at that time. I don't want to say to much, because it's so fun to just discover on your own, but it was a truly fitting ending to the series and I can't wait to turn around and read them all again.

[sandyamcpherson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Last of a series, written many years later. The lag in writing this dénouement, assuming it is a final end to the saga, either lost its attraction for me or else the author wore out her theme. The tale was a bit flat especially the long epic describing the war with the Mede Empire.However. I enjoyed the threads drawn together from different time frames by the journals that Pheris wrote. His was an excellent character. Eugenides was still the rogue character that entertained me, so for that I'm grateful. With few reviews here, I want to respect the importance of not providing details. I certainly recommend the book, if for no other reason, all the invested reader interest in the Queen's Thief series.

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked Pheris and his viewpoint. The rest can wait a few weeks.