The Thief

The Thief

By: Megan Turner

Pages: 304

ISBN: 0060824972

Genre: Fantasy

Setting: A whole new place

This is story is about Gen and his adventure by force. He is recruited to find Hamiathes’s Gift. Gen is a Thief. It is his profession, it is his specialty, and this specialty is what gets him thrown in jail originally. Gen has bragged about being able to steal the King’s Seal and then being able to show it the next day in the same wine shop. Well he is caught after stealing the King’s Seal and he is thrown in prison. While in prison he is literally kept under lock and key. He is shackled at the hands and feet along with the waist.

Gen becomes accustomed to being in prison; he ate what little food he was given. His eyes adjusted to being in the dark at a constant state. One night Gen is taken out of the prison and is taken to the King’s magus. Here he is almost interviewed. He is evaluated and in the end given an offer. An offer he couldn’t refuse. He was offered a way out. If Gen helped the magus steal something, at this point he doesn’t know what he is stealing, he’ll be let free. So Gen, who can steal anything, goes for it.

Soon Gen was on his way out of the prison and he was blinded by the light of the sun. He is put on a horse which he isn’t very excited about and heads out of the kingdom. He, the magus and his helpers, Pol, Sophos, and Ambiades, go town by town toward their destination. Along the way we get a greater understanding for Gen’s history and for his love of food. It makes sense that all he wants is food and rest because of the lack of it from being in prison. Soon from hearing the stories it is revealed where they are headed. To retrieve Hamiathes’s Gift. So that Sonius and Attolia would combine kingdoms and become a much stronger kingdom.

After climbing up and down a mountain they arrive at the temple that holds Hamiathes’s Gift. Now Gen is put to the test now he has to get the Gift, which as it turns out, a whole lot harder than one would think. There had been multiple previous attempts to retrieve the Gift but all those that had tried before had died. Gen with the ultimate challenge ahead of him heads in for the first time. He gains an insight to the layout of the temple. But with no success comes out in a panic and without the Gift. The next night he goes in more prepared. This time he get’s measurements, but comes out again empty handed. The last try he goes in and will not come out empty handed and doesn’t but nearly dies in the attempt.

The next morning they head back to Eddis. This is no simple task. They run into problems on their way back. The same day they get the Gift they lose it after a brawl with the Queen of Attolia’s guardsmen. But head on their way back, the magus comes up with the plan that they will make a fake and because no one had seen it before it would be okay. So after a few days of running and stealing to eat and get horses, they come to the mountain. This is where Gen becomes fed up and parts way but first promises to slow down the guards that are following them. The rest climb the mountain and Gen stays behind. He fights and then wakes up in prison with Sophos and the magus nearby.

We find out that Ambiades was a traitor selling information and as Pol goes to push him off the mountain is pulled down with him. Gen was hurt badly in fighting off the guards. Luckily for Gen, the magus talks the Queen in keeping Gen for her own thief. So she moves him upstairs and begins to nurse him to health. Gen, however, has a better idea. After gathering the magus and Sophus, they break out of the castle. And head for Eddis. They run through the night. In the morning they’ve realized they’ve gone the wrong way.

They keep going however because it’s better than getting caught. They are being followed of course. The push through, soon they have a close encounter with the Queen’s guards again. They decide to cross the bridge that seems to appear magically. They out run the guards for a while, soon they come upon the entrance to Eddis. They walk straight into the guards arms. There is an unusual reaction. They are welcomed and not cuffed and taken away. When the Attiolian guard arrived they weren’t turned over.

Soon Gen wakes us in a bed surround by books. You hear the magus talking to a man about Gen. Gen is home. He puts himself together and goes to see his queen. He unties his hair and takes out the Gift. He gives it to her. He is the queen’s thief. Soon we find that Gen has a close relationship to the queen and this whole time he has set it up to steal the gift to give to his own queen.