The King of Attolia (Eugenides, Book 3)
by Megan Whalen Turner
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Read in February, 2008
I'm not a mystery reader, and I've never fully appreciated whodunits, so by rights I should have been irritated with the Attolia books rather than enthralled by them. Unguessable twists and turns are the hallmark of the series: the reader can't possible figure out exactly what is going on because we don't have the information necessary, but we're haunted by the certainty that something more is going on than what the other, non-trickster characters are seeing. This was a sick-day reread fo...more
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Reviewed by Natalie Tsang for TeensReadToo.com
THE KING OF ATTOLIA marks the third book that follows Megan Whalen Turner's mischievous and dangerous hero, Eugenides, who is known to his friends as Gen. While returning readers may be disappointed that this installment is not narrated by the roguish master thief (the story is primarily told by a young guard named Costis), they will appreciate the returning cast of characters. Newcomers to the series shouldn't be too confused, though everyone sh...more
THE KING OF ATTOLIA marks the third book that follows Megan Whalen Turner's mischievous and dangerous hero, Eugenides, who is known to his friends as Gen. While returning readers may be disappointed that this installment is not narrated by the roguish master thief (the story is primarily told by a young guard named Costis), they will appreciate the returning cast of characters. Newcomers to the series shouldn't be too confused, though everyone sh...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
teens and adults
Although this book is the third (and best) in a series, the twists and turns of this tale are decipherable, and enjoyable, without the background of the previous two books. It stands on its own. In fact, I read this book first and thoroughly enjoyed the "surprises" revealed since the characters were all new to me. The characters and political intrigue elevate this novel beyond the adolescent level to adults as well.
Eugenides, Thief of Eddis, just married the Queen of the neighbori...more
Eugenides, Thief of Eddis, just married the Queen of the neighbori...more
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Read in January, 2007
Clever and Cunning, The Thief is King
No one said marriage is easy. The one between Eugenides, the spy/thief of Eddis and his sworn enemy the queen of Attolia seemed doomed from the start, a marriage of political convenience, imposed on Attolia by their rival kingdom. For how could the thief possibly love the queen responsible for the loss of his hand?
But Eugenides is anything but predictable and has married the queen for love, even if by doing so he must leave his beloved Eddis behind....more
No one said marriage is easy. The one between Eugenides, the spy/thief of Eddis and his sworn enemy the queen of Attolia seemed doomed from the start, a marriage of political convenience, imposed on Attolia by their rival kingdom. For how could the thief possibly love the queen responsible for the loss of his hand?
But Eugenides is anything but predictable and has married the queen for love, even if by doing so he must leave his beloved Eddis behind....more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Cheryl by:
Martha, Monica
And, lastly, I loved THE KING OF ATTOLIA even more than THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA. There's all the chess-game pleasure of the politics again, and the mystery of Eugenides's motives and behavior; while the emotional pleasure here derives from Costis's (and the entire court's) slowly growing respect and liking for him, the satisfaction of seeing the Attolian royal marriage develop into all it promised, and Gen's own growth into the king he is meant to be. And as in the previous two books, Ms. Turner be...more
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Read in June, 2008
Turner, Megan Whelan The King of Attolia, pgs.387 Harper Collins-Eos. Language~PG, Sexual Content~G; Violence~PG;
Masterfully crafted, this latest novel in Turner’s Attolia series will leave readers yearning for more when the last page is turned. Eugenides has surprised all of Attolia and Eddis and has married the woman who cut off his hand, becoming Attolia’s supreme ruler. The young thief faces ruling a country that doesn’t respect or like him. Regardless of the title most of the s...more
Masterfully crafted, this latest novel in Turner’s Attolia series will leave readers yearning for more when the last page is turned. Eugenides has surprised all of Attolia and Eddis and has married the woman who cut off his hand, becoming Attolia’s supreme ruler. The young thief faces ruling a country that doesn’t respect or like him. Regardless of the title most of the s...more
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In a GR thread devoted to kid and YA books that we've loved, I mentioned the 2 Attolia books. When hunting for the link, I was so excited to find that a 3rd book had been written since the time I had raced thru the first 2, and drove out of my way to pick it up from the library branch that had it on the shelves instead of waiting for my requested copy to be sent to my local branch. It was worth it in every way! I had a perfect Saturday, curling on the couch reading this. And when I was done, I w...more
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recommends it for:
Fantasy Lovers
Another excellent book in the story of Eugenides. I hope that the author continues to write this unique and intriguing fantasy series.
The King of Attolia is set in country of Attolia. Attolia is geographically and culturally based on Greece. The time period is the late middle ages.
This story is shown through the eyes of Costis, a young member of the Queen's Guard. The court and Guard of Attolia are not all pleased with the marriage of their queen. Costis is goaded into punching the ...more
The King of Attolia is set in country of Attolia. Attolia is geographically and culturally based on Greece. The time period is the late middle ages.
This story is shown through the eyes of Costis, a young member of the Queen's Guard. The court and Guard of Attolia are not all pleased with the marriage of their queen. Costis is goaded into punching the ...more
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recommends it for:
fans of YA fiction, strong female characters, rogues
I read this series completely out of order, which I think actually improved it. Each volume has a different narrator, which allows for more or less the same twist ending to happen three times in a row. My enjoyment of the book, and its picture of the court politics of a fictionalized Greek kingdom, was greatly enhanced by not knowing very much about Eugenidies' true character, which I would have been familiar with if I had read "The Thief" and "Queen of Attolia" first. This i...more
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Read in September, 2007
The previous book turned a first-person POV into a tight third person which still primarily focused on Eugenides, the protagonist; this removes POV one step further to view Eugenides through the eyes of another character who is actually hostile to him. It's clever, and works for the most part, but also means that some very interesting character development happens entirely off-screen, so to speak.
I like this world, I like these characters, I liked the POV twist, but the book went on a bit t...more
I like this world, I like these characters, I liked the POV twist, but the book went on a bit t...more
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Read in January, 2006
Every so often, a book comes along, published for young people, that I find myself pressing on all those folk I know who love books but don't spend their professional time toiling in the vineyards of children's and teen literature. Megan Whalen Turner's The King of Attolia is one of them. Elegantly constructed, doling out information to its readers in small shards, with a captivating hero and heroine and a regular guy/guard, from whose perspective we see most of what goes on. There are wheels wi...more
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Read in May, 2008
I expected this book to be similar to the second in the series, The Queen of Attolia, with more political conflicts and less of the "thief" trickery from Eugenides. Since I was expecting it, I wasn't all that disappointed when that turned out to be the case. I enjoyed the book a lot, but again missed the fun personality of Eugenides from the first book, The Thief. Much ...more
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"Are you badly hurt?"
"Hideously," said the king, without sounding injured at all. "I am disembowled. My insides may in an instant become my outsides as I stand here before you."
I. Love. This. Book. So. Much.
Eugenides is back, and he's just as clever, sneaky, and conceited as ever! He is now the King of Attolia--well, in name, that is. Nobody wants to accept this queen-stealing, one-handed boy as king, especially Costis, a member of the queen's guard. But Cos...more
"Hideously," said the king, without sounding injured at all. "I am disembowled. My insides may in an instant become my outsides as I stand here before you."
I. Love. This. Book. So. Much.
Eugenides is back, and he's just as clever, sneaky, and conceited as ever! He is now the King of Attolia--well, in name, that is. Nobody wants to accept this queen-stealing, one-handed boy as king, especially Costis, a member of the queen's guard. But Cos...more
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Read in May, 2007
A very enjoyable third book in a fascinating series. It is really necessary to read the first two books first (The Thief and The Queen of Attolia) to really get a good understanding of just who the characters are and the their relationships to one another. This book introduces Costis, a Palace Guard who gets caught up with court politics and the plans of Eugenides, once Th...more
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Oh man, if I thought that the first two were good....this one was great. I was waiting patiently (or at least somewhat so) for Gen to break out the big guns and show the world what he had to offer. Costis deserved to get smacked a few more times, but he gives an interesting new viewpoint and makes a very worthy addition to the cast of protagonists in the "Thief" series.
I am so glad my sister is amazing and got me this series. It's kept my spirits high after one more disappointment...more
I am so glad my sister is amazing and got me this series. It's kept my spirits high after one more disappointment...more
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The Eugenides books, as far as I'm concerned, have just been getting better, and this is no exception. I love all three, but I have to admit that "The King of Attolia" is the one I find myself returning to the most. Possibly that's because (naturally) I read it most recently, but there's more than that--it's got so much going on, so much political stuff, but also the romance that I like, and all the new characters are great. It just meshes best with me of all of them, I think; it ge...more
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So fabulous. I absolutely love Turner's characters. Love them. And I think this book is the most brilliant of the trilogy. Each of them has a twist at the end, but really this one was the best. I wanted to hold it to my heart and sigh at its perfection when I finished it. And, oddly enough, I thought that I wouldn't like it! It's from the POV of a new character, and I wanted to get back inside Gen's head more. But it turned out better that way, because it made Gen's actions all the more ...more
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Read in January, 2008
Highly recommend. I read the 1st book in the series years ago. (The Thief (a Newbery Honor). I did not read the 2nd title in the series (The Queen of Attolia) This book stands by itself but it was so good I am going to go back and reread The Thief and then read The Queen of Attolia. A book of court intrigue told through the eyes of a reluctant, naive, observer, Costis a guard who makes the mistake of punching the Kind and instead of loosing his head he becomes the victim of the King's capric...more
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Read in September, 2007
The last in the series is just as good as the first. I think I loved these books because you really feel what the characters are going through, but the author helps us get to know the characters in such a different way than most books. She has you thinking one thing, and then surprising you with what actually happens. In some books this can get annoying, especially when the surprises are completely out of character. But in these books the surprises just open up more of who the characters are.
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Read in April, 2007
Ok, I confess. I couldn't finish this one. I am perplexed. It is one of YALSA's top ten books for 2006. I'm guessing that you had to read the previous two books in the fantasy. Nothing much happened in this book, although the characters, particularly the King, were interesting. But I just couldn't read through another page of dialogue where nothing much happens. My bad.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.51 (525 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.49 (458 ratings) number of reviews: 94popular shelves
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quote
"I was listening," the king said, aggrieved. "I closed my eyes to listen better."
"What did you hear?"
"I'm not sure," he said." That's why I was listening so closely. I may have to ask the baron to repeat some parts of his report on his grain tax."
"I am sure you can arrange an appointment."
"I am sure I can too."
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