Blast from the past

One of my all-time favorite fantasy series is The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. In the first book, The Thief, King Sounis's most powerful advisor releases a young thief from prison to help him find and steal a great treasure. Eugenides -- Gen -- is cocky, brash, whiny, surprisingly clever, a genuinely amazing thief, and much more than meets the eye. (confession: throughout this series, I may or may not have developed a wicked book-crush on Gen) Although the first book in the series starts out as simply Gen's story, what opens up is the story of a corner of the world, reminiscent of the Classical period. There are several countries in play, each with their own rulers, gods, political schemes, and agendas. The books are smart and intricate. Loyalty, love, ambition, duty, desire, sacrifice. There is intrigue and plot twists.

Bottom line: if you're in a reading slump or burnt out on "new" books...reach for this excellent series.

p.s. because I'm not feeling very verbose today, if you're interested but not convinced, here's a longer review of the series at The Book Smugglers.