Book Review Blog #4

The Thief
By: Megan Whalen Turner

Gen is an extremely talented and boastful thief whose bragging lands him in the king’s prison. Although he claims that the jail cannot hold him, weeks later Gen is still in jail, dreaming of the outdoors. However, Gen’s sentence is interrupted by an offer from the king’s scholar, the magus, who needs a thief’s skill to steal a hidden treasure from a bordering country. Gen, the magus and a group of helpers travel to this distant land and come across many obstacles while searching for the treasure, a legendary rock called Hamiathes’s Gift. This rock has been lost for hundreds of years and holds the key to immortality and the right to rule the mountain country of Eddis.
The Thief contains many themes that contribute to the development of the plot. These themes are poverty, deception, courage and betrayal. Throughout the novel, the issue of poverty is constantly raised through the experiences Gen and others. During the novel, Gen is constantly deceiving the rest of the group in order to mask his many skills. Gen provides glimpses of his past, while leaving out just enough to keep his companions on edge. However, he would never have thought that he would be the one betrayed. Along with deception, courage is one of the most prominent themes in the novel. The journey provides the group with many obstacles that only courage can overcome.
The author of the novel, Megan Whalen Turner, uses modern language and some of the slurs that come with it. The novel is based in a fictional time period somewhat like ancient Greece. However, the language and relatively new inventions like the rifle and telescopes give it a modern touch. Megan Whalen Turner wrote the novel in first person, which was very effective. The story is told from Gen’s point of view, which allows the reader to understand the world through his eyes.
The issue of religion is raised in the novel and is the sole thing that relates to me. Like Gen, I sometimes find myself interested by different religions in the world. At the beginning of the novel, Gen finds himself denying the existence of gods, but as his prayers begin to be answered, his opinion changes. Gen becomes very interested in the varying gods that he has known about his entire life, but never believed in.
The interesting thing about the novel is that it relates to Inspector Calls. In both The Thief and Inspector Calls no one is exactly what he or she seems to be. By the end of both the novel and play, secrets are revealed, relationships adjusted and respect between companions is lost and won. In The Thief, Gen slowly reveals more and more about himself, but never discloses very important clues to his true identity. Similarly, in Inspector Calls, the true actions of the main characters are uncovered and revealed by the inspector who breaks down the wall of deception.
I don’t think there was anything that the author could have done to improve this novel. I found it very easy to read this novel and lose track of time. I enjoyed the humour, plot and interesting twists that were constantly being revealed throughout the novel. I would recommend this book to teenagers and adults who are looking to read an interesting yet not very strenuous novel. The Thief was written in a way that always kept me, the reader, guessing what was going to happen next.
The constant use of similes, personification and pathetic fallacy enhanced the writing of this novel. Throughout the novel, similes such as “My blood rushed around like wine sloshing in a jar” (8) and “He was as regular as clockwork” (132) make the novel more enjoyable for the reader. Along with this, personification such as “The irrigation ditches thickened with weeds and silt and were eventually choked out of existence” (134) make the novel more intriguing. Turner uses pathetic fallacy multiple times in the novel to reflect the feelings of Gen and other characters throughout their journey. Pathetic fallacy is used by Turner in situations such as, “The mountains were black against the pink and blue evening sky. They’d been hidden by the trees for a long time, and it was reassuring to see them again.” (137) In this quote, Gen and his group had just reached their destination and were very content. The weather and nature reflected these feelings at the time and was very effective.
The Thief was a great novel with a very interesting plot. This was one of the most fascinating novels I have ever read and I especially enjoyed the continually changing plot. I am looking forward to reading more novels by Megan Whalen Turner in the future.