The Thief
core novel 1996 The Queen's Thief
Record
| First published | 1996 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.85 (95,687 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| Page count | 280 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780688146276 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Thief is a 1996 young adult fantasy novel by Megan Whalen Turner, the first book in The Queen's Thief series. It follows Gen, a skilled thief freed from prison by the king's scholar to steal a legendary stone, setting off on a journey through the fictional Mediterranean-inspired land of Sounis. Imprisoned for boasting of his exploits, Gen is offered his freedom by the king's magus in exchange for using his talents on a mission to retrieve Hamiathes's Gift, an artifact believed capable of securing a claim to the throne of neighboring Eddis. Accompanied by the magus and several other companions on the journey, Gen must contend with treacherous terrain, uneasy alliances within the group, and the dangers of a temple maze said to guard the Gift, all while political stakes he barely understands play out around him.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Queen's Thief
- Series: The Queen's Thief core; position 1 of 6 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Megan Whalen Turner
Notes
- From the series record (The Queen's Thief): A YA political fantasy series following the thief Eugenides across the fictional Mediterranean-inspired countries of Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia; the author has stated the series ended with the sixth book.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Queen's Thief: position 1 of 6: next The Queen of Attolia (2000)
Sources
- The Queen's Thief series bibliography (specialised series-tracking site)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_(Turner_novel)
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