The Queen of Attolia

by Megan Whalen Turner
Eos, copyright 2006, 2000.

If you haven't read The Thief, this is a **spoiler warning** for that title.

The Queen of Attolia catches Eugenides sneaking around her palace.  Eddis sends her people to negotiate, but the situation does not look good for the Queen's Thief - until Attolia decides to invoke an older rule in which thieves were not hung, but lost their right hand. How can Eugenides continue in his role one-handed?

Once again, this story reads beautifully whether the first time or as a reread, where I catch small hints here and there that I passed over the first time reading.  Though I'm a little sad that this book does not have Eugenides' first-person narrative, I will (albeit grudgingly) admit that the story would not work as well without the distance created by this method.  On the other hand, this story is incredibly satisfying and, despite the fact that this is my third time reading it, I still had trouble putting it down.