A Conspiracy of Kings
Ratings25
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings25
Average rating3.9
Sophos, under the guidance of yet another tutor, practices his swordplay and strategizes escape scenarios should his father's villa come under attack. How would he save his mother? His sisters? Himself? Could he reach the horses in time? Where would he go? But nothing prepares him for the day armed men, silent as thieves, swarm the villa courtyard ready to kill, to capture, to kidnap. Sophos, the heir to the throne of Sounis, disappears without a trace.In Attolia, Eugenides, the new and unlikely king, has never stopped wondering what happened to Sophos. Nor has the Queen of Eddis. They send spies. They pay informants. They appeal to the gods. But as time goes by, it becomes less and less certain that they will ever see their friend alive again.Across the small peninsula battles are fought, bribes are offered, and conspiracies are set in motion. Darkening the horizon, the Mede Empire threatens, always, from across the sea. And Sophos, anonymous and alone, bides his time. Sophos, drawing on his memories of Gen, Pol, the magus—and Eddis—sets out on an Badventure that will change all of their lives forever.
Series
6 primary books9 released booksThe Queen's Thief is a 9-book series with 6 primary works first released in 1996 with contributions by Megan Whalen Turner.
Reviews with the most likes.
This is probably my least favourite book of the series.
Firstly, it's a bit boring, nothing really seems to be happening and even when it does, I'm not terribly interested in it. The political machinations and twists that I usually enjoy in this series were really minimal in this book and I honestly felt cheated.
But perhaps more distressing than the books mundanity was how uncomfortable some of the messaging was. As other reviews have mentioned, the final point of this book seemed to be that it was good to enforce things by violence if you were sure you were right. While I think that this could be an important critique of war in general, and how it can warp people's mindsets and decisions, the book didn't seem critical of its own message.
Another thing that truly bothered me was that by the end of the book Eugenides was considered sovereign of both Attolia and Eddis, countries that were ruled by women. The book is still unapologetically feminist in other ways but I couldn't help being irritated by the fact that the women in this book had yielded a bit of their sovereignty to a younger, arguably more inexperienced ruler (however much I and they may personally love him). I know I'm nitpicking and probably overreaching here but I wished Eddis did not have to swear fealty to Eugenides.
I reviewed this series as a whole under the final volume, [b:Return of the Thief 40650301 Return of the Thief (The Queen's Thief, #6) Megan Whalen Turner https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603971521l/40650301.SY75.jpg 16439607].
