''Thick as Thieves'' is a 2017 young adult fantasy novel by

Megan Whalen Turner Megan Whalen Turner (born November 21, 1965) is an American writer of fantasy fiction for young adults. She is best known for her novel '' The Thief'' and its five sequels. In 1997, ''The Thief'' was named a Newbery Honor book. Early life Turne ...

, published by

Greenwillow Books HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...

. It is the fifth novel in the Queen's Thief series that Turner began with '' The Thief'' in 1996.

Setting

The novel is set in the fictional Mede Empire, a large domain that plots to swallow up the nearby countries of Attolia and Sounis.

Background

The novel was originally intended to be part of ''

The King of Attolia ''The King of Attolia'' is a young adult fantasy novel by Megan Whalen Turner, published by the Greenwillow Books imprint of HarperCollins in 2006. It is the third novel in the Queen's Thief series that Turner inaugurated with '' The Thief'' in 19 ...

''. However, Turner decided it would be too long and wrote it as a separate book. According to Turner, ''Thick as Thieves'' was inspired by ''

The Eagle of the Ninth ''The Eagle of the Ninth'' is a historical adventure novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1954. The story is set in Roman Britain in the 2nd century AD, after the building of Hadrian's Wall. Plot Discharged because ...

'' by

Rosemary Sutcliff Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novel ...

. Unlike in the original novel, Turner wanted to have the story told from the perspective of the slave character.

Plot summary

The book picks up after the events of '' The Queen of Attolia'' when the Medes failed to establish the Queen of Attolia as a

puppet monarch A puppet monarch is a majority figurehead who is installed or patronized by an imperial power to provide the appearance of local authority but to allow political and economic control to remain among the dominating nation. A figurehead monarch ...

. Nahuseresh, the Medean ambassador and his slave Kamet were forced to flee the country after the botched invasion. Due to his failure in Attolia, Nahuseresh has fallen out of favor with his powerful brother, heir to the Medean throne. As the secretary and slave to Nahuseresh, Kamet has the ambition and means to become one of the most influential people in the Empire. However, after angering his master, Kamet is offered a risky opportunity to escape slavery by a mysterious foreigner claiming he was sent by the King of Attolia. Kamet is reluctant to leave his prestigious position, but when his fellow slave Laela warns him that their master has been poisoned, he believes he is left with little choice if he wants to live. Fleeing across the desert with the Attolian soldier (later revealed to be Costis of ''

'') from the emperor's soldiers, Kamet attempts to prevent Costis from finding out that Nahuseresh is dead.

Queen's Thief series

* 1996 '' The Thief'' * 2000 '' The Queen of Attolia'' * 2006 ''

'' * 2010 ''

A Conspiracy of Kings ''A Conspiracy of Kings'' is a young adult fantasy novel by Megan Whalen Turner, published by the Greenwillow Books imprint (trade name), imprint of HarperCollins in 2010. It is the fourth novel in the Queen's Thief series that Turner inaugurate ...

'' * 2017 ''Thick as Thieves'' * 2020 ''Return of the Thief''

References

External links

{{Portal , Speculative fiction , Novels
Megan Whalen Turner
(official)
Sounis fan discussion of the series
at LiveJournal 2017 American novels Young adult fantasy novels American fantasy novels American young adult novels 2017 fantasy novels Greenwillow Books books