10 Things You Should Know About Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief Series Before Reading Thick As Thieves

But when disaster strikes, Kamet finds himself on the run with a young Attolian soldier, who claims his king will grant Kamet freedom and safety. Kamet is determined to abandon the Attolian—after all, Attolia is a backward, uneducated country ruled by a weak, petty king and a beastly queen. Why would he ever want to go back? Yet, as he and the soldier face down challenge after challenge together, ditching the man who has shown him so much courtesy and respect gets harder and harder to do. It’s an epic bromance on the scale of Frodo and Sam, Sherlock and Watson, or Gilgamesh and Enkidu that’ll have you ready for Whalen Turner’s next installment in the series before you’re even through.
And speaking of next books, we recently had the chance to attend a “casual meet-up” with Megan Whalen Turner at the Clarendon Market Commons Barnes & Noble, where she talked about inspiration, point of view, and more. Here are just a few of the things we learned about the series wide world.
1. Thick As Thieves began as the second half of The King of Attolia.
But when Whalen Turner realized she couldn’t do justice to both stories in the same book, she split out Kamet’s plot and focused on Eugenides.
2. You’ll never read a novel told from the Queen of Attolia’s first-person perspective.
We’re all eager to learn more about the formidable Irene, but according to Whalen Turner, both she and Eddis are too “perfect” to take on as narrators.

3. She expected her readers to see the plot twist in The Thief coming.
She wrote the book so it would still be enjoyable for readers who knew what was up—but then “everybody was surprised. And I was surprised that they were surprised.”
4. It’s all about Eugenides.
Perspective may change throughout the series, but even when a new character is telling the tale, each book allows us to see a unique glimpse of our favorite thief.
5. She was inspired by Rosemary Sutcliff.
Sutcliff’s book The Eagle of the Ninth encouraged Turner to write characters who experience unexpected physical limitations. Speaking of unexpected physical limitations…

6. She didn’t tell anyone what was happening to Gen in The Queen of Attolia until she was done with the book.
“I knew that if even one person looked at me and said, ‘Really?’ then I wouldn’t do it.”
7. The Minister of War has a name.
But she’s not telling any time soon.
8. She’ll also never tell you how old Eugenides is.
Turner has a policy against answering questions about her characters or stories—she’d rather watch her readers figure it out on their own based on what’s in the books.
9. There are Easter eggs in her books.
Sometimes she takes pieces of description or dialogue from her favorite authors and hides them in her books for fellow fans to find, so keep an eye out.
10. Book Six is in the works.
Turner’s not done with Eugenides yet, and she has already begun writing the next book!