A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner

[sophia_sol]

So I finished reading A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner on Friday night and haven't posted about it yet because I keep on NOT BEING SURE WHAT TO SAY.

So here's the thing, I read The Thief and was like, pretty good book, but nothing special. And then I read The Queen of Attolia and I was like REALLY EXCELLENT BOOK minus a couple quibbles, and then I read The King of Attolia and I was like PERFECT BOOK????? (my thoughts about the three from when I read them last September)

So it was really hard not going into A Conspiracy of Kings expecting it to be EVEN BETTER THAN PERFECT because Megan Whalen Turner had been doing an amazing job of leveling up after every book. And then I read this book and it WASN'T better than The King of Attolia, and in fact I didn't like it nearly so well, and that was really disappointing!

But the thing is, unlike The Queen of Attolia and The Thief where I could easily point out where my frustrations were, with this one I have NO IDEA how to even begin. It's largely a very good book and I DO like it! It's just........AUGH. WORDS ARE NOT WORDING WELL FOR ME. MY THOUGHTS ARE INCOHERENT. I give up. Those of you who have read this book, please talk to me about your opinions so I can try to get a handle on mine!

Comments

[cahn]

ahahaha. Yes. I think the real problem with aCoK is that it's a transitional book. It's clear that she's setting stuff up in a big way for the next (two?) book(s), but they didn't... quite... pay off in this book. So there's sort of this feeling of "oh, that's it?"

Also, the "explanation" scene where Gen's all "You shot him? HAHAHAHA" didn't really work well for me. I understand what she was trying to do -- the continuing theme of the ruthlessness of kings, plus Gen's a little hysterical at that point -- but there wasn't enough to really sell the angst of ruthlessness, and it doesn't sit well with me that everyone seems to just forget about that guy Sophos killed, and treat it as a joke. So there's that.

But man, while I was rereading various bits while trying to remember what bothered me about this book, I was all "oh heck, this was brilliant!" so, um, yeah, I'm gonna have to go reread it. I suspect it's the kind of book that is better when read knowing that I'll have issues with some bits (rather than being blindsided by the issues).

[sophia_sol]

Oh good, I'm glad I'm not the only one who had this sort of reaction to the book! I think you've nailed at least a bit of why I was bothered, yeah.

What bits were you noting as being particularly brilliant? I'm curious!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

YAY ATTOLIA POST. Uh, I am here via sineala, and I saw an Attolia post and how could I not comment because you are so right, King of Attolia is the best book basically ever. Gen/Attolia and their adorably baffling trust of each other! Costis's ridiculous crush on Gen! Political shenanigans!

And then A Conspiracy of Kings was kind of a let down, although I don't at this juncture remember quite why. It seems less complete than KoA? A lot of things happen, but it isn't satisfying in and of itself, unlike Gen-establishing-himself-as-king-of-Attolia. (Also, no Costis. I liked Costis an awful lot.)

Also, I found it strangely irritating how Conspiracy of Kings switched between first person and third person, but that was really rather a petty thing to be annoyed about.