The Thief

The Thief is the first in a six-book series that ended with the release of Return of the Thief in 2020. The books were each released several years apart, attesting to the care and planning that went into each volume, and the books are told from various characters’ perspectives. The Thief introduces the reader to Gen’s perspective, and he returns in later books under his full name, Eugenides. The second installment, The Queen of Attolia (2000), expands upon Turner’s world with the entrance of the Mede Empire, which contributes to political tensions that mount to all-out war between Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia. To help end the war, Gen weds the queen of Attolia at the end of the book, making him the titular character of the third book, The King of Attolia (2006). This installment is primarily told from the perspective of a young Attolian soldier, which offers a new perspective on Gen and the makeup and cultures of the world within the series.

The fourth installment, A Conspiracy of Kings (2010), brings back Sophos, one of the magus’s apprentices in The Thief, who claims his birthright as king of Sounis. In a world ravaged by war, Sophos allies with Gen (king of Attolia) for the betterment of both nations. The fifth book, Thick As Thieves (2017), is set following the events in The Queen of Attolia, told from the perspective of Kamet, a slave of the Mede ambassador who failed to overtake Attolia in the second book. With the ambassador poisoned, Kamet flees to Attolia, where his story intertwines with that of Gen, who has become high king of Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia. With the united countries on the brink of war with the Mede Empire, Return of the Thief ties up loose ends and reveals that the old gods have much more influence over events than previously believed. At various points in the series, Gen has received help from the gods or had them interfere in his plans, and the end of the series shows that the gods have manipulated events toward the outcome they desire.

The old gods rarely make appearances and are most often seen through stories the characters tell one another of the pantheon’s origins. The gods themselves show similarities to the Greek and Roman gods, though Turner has stated in interviews that she did not base them on a specific pantheon. Gods such as Earth and Sky are reminiscent of the titans of Greek myth, who were later overthrown by Zeus and the other Olympians. Hephestia, the queen of the gods, gained power from Earth and Sky when they became too volatile to rule by taking their destructive powers away. Turner purposefully created a pantheon led by a goddess to separate her gods from the Greek and Roman sets, but she admits to the influence of these real-life pantheons. While the gods take their cue from Greek myth, the world of the series borrows elements from ancient Mediterranean civilizations and the Byzantine Empire.