The Thief

This article is about the novel. For the character, see Eugenides.

The Thief is a novel by Megan Whalen Turner. It is the first in the Queen's Thief series, and was originally published on October 1st, 1996 in the United States.

The Thief was a Newbery Honor Book in 1997.

Plot[]

A young thief named Eugenides is released from prison by the magus of Sounis, a scholar and one of the king's top advisors. The magus finds Gen filthy, uncouth, and insolent, but he needs Gen’s skills as a thief for a secret mission. Without telling Gen where they are going, he takes him out of the city. They are joined by the magus’s two apprentices, Sophos and Ambiades, and by a soldier named Pol.

The group travels east into Eddis and then Attolia. The magus eventually reveal that he is searching for Hamiathes's Gift, which he hopes to use to convince the queen of Eddis to marry the king of Sounis. He believes that the Gift is hidden in a secret, nearly inaccessible temple hidden by the Aracthus river. Gen spends three nights searching the temple, and eventually realizes that there is a hidden room behind a wall of Hephestial glass. In the hidden room, the Old Gods appear before Gen, and he takes the Gift from the Great Goddess Hephestia.

Outside the temple, Gen temporarily surrenders the Gift to the magus, only to surreptitiously steal it back shortly after. The group is ambushed by Attolian soldiers, who had been made aware of their mission and location by Ambiades, who was an informant to the Attolian queen. After several close encounters, the group is finally captured by the Attolians. Pol and Ambiades are both killed, and Gen is gravely wounded.

The queen of Attolia, suspecting Gen's true identity, asks him to work in her service. Gen refuses, and escapes Attolia along with the magus and Sophos. The three make their way to the Eddisian capital, where Gen presents the queen with Hamiathes's Gift. It is revealed that Gen is actually Eugenides, the Queen's Thief of Eddis, and that he had been pretending to be a common Sounisian in order to trick the magus into revealing the location of the Gift.

Editions and Translations[]

The Thief has been published with five different cover illustrations in the United States, and received new covers for various international editions (see Cover Gallery, below.) Other translations reused the artwork of either Vince Natale or Joel Tippie. It has been released in the following languages: