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sophia_sol) wrote2020-10-13 12:41 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2020-10-13 12:41 pm
Return of the Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner
It's.....it's weird to think that the series is finally over??? Like what the heck! I've known and loved it as an incomplete series for so long and to think that the end has been reached feels unreal.
I did a bit of a break-neck reread of most of the series leading up to the release date of Return of the Thief because I wanted to make sure I'd have the previous events clear in my mind to follow what happened at the end.
Rereading the other books made me think about how in all the other books in this series with a first-person narrator, that narrator is the focus of the book, but in this one.....he isn't, entirely. It's a lot about Eugenides instead.
This makes sense both for the needs of the book and for the kind of person Pheris has had to become (prefers being invisible when possible), but it makes me sad because I got invested in Pheris, and I feel like there isn't enough narrative focus on the conclusion of his emotional arc!
Like, Costis and Sophos and Kamet each got their own arc in the book they narrate - the plot was highly influenced by Eugenides, yes, but the narrator had a satisfying conclusion of his own. They weren't just about Eugenides through the eyes of someone else. But this one feels a little too much like it IS that. The first bit is about Pheris and then in book 2 he lets himself fade into the background for a lot of it. I think a lot of readers are in this series for Eugenides, and like, don't get me wrong I do find him a fascinating character, but he's not the be-all and end-all. I wanted more Pheris!
As Eugenides becomes more and more the powerful and god-touched Annux over the course of the series, I think he's best in the narrative in smaller doses. I don't like the way he overshadows so much else of what's going on in this book. I feel the same about the gods - best in the narrative in smaller doses, and too present in this particular book. Although actually I think the problem for me is that they are present in the wrong way?skygiants's review was helpful for me in figuring this out! It feels like Eugenides and co are just like, uncomplicatedly allied with the gods now, instead of the more difficult relationships with the gods in the previous books. I want something more uncomfortable out of my fictional god experience!
I also uh. Am possibly too anti-royalty for this series all about royalty, it turns out? I thought the end was going to shake things up more politically! The end of Conspiracy of Kings was more in line with the thrust of the series than I had wanted to think, with its in-earnest-seeming discussion about there being a different morality for rulers. And then the series end turns out to be Yay happy monarchy with extra monarchy on top! And like, I'm generally fine with fantasies about monarchs as long as the narrative doesn't focus on that, but as soon as you make the narrative be at all about questions of monarchy and rulership then sweeping the issues under the rug for a pro-monarchy ending doesn't satisfy me.
The amount that Eugenides is uncomfortable with the idea of having huge amounts of political power doesn't actually make it any better that he has it and uses it however he sees fit. I think I would be happier if the book made it clear that the person Eugenides became is not fully admirable, even though it's what he felt he had to become in order to save his country, instead of continuing to encourage the reader to sympathise with him for how hard it is to be Eugenides. The bit at the end where the narrative is all like, isn't it so funny and cute how Eugenides is incapable of asking for things instead of demanding things...UNCOMFORTABLE.
For the record, there are lots of things I love about this book too! (The Erondites family drama! Pheris and Relius's mentor-mentee relationship! Pheris!!!) But when I feel that the whole focus and thematic thrust of the book is off, that's kind of a pervasive issue.
Also the end felt a bit too much like it was deliberately tying everything up tidily and conservatively, giving the lead couples children (and naming the kids after other people, so that their role is just to tie into emotions about pre-existing characters instead of being their own individuals) and pairing off many of the other characters and making sure nobody we really cared about died, even though SO MANY people died in that war! It gives the horrifying nature of the war less weight imo. It's not that I wanted any of them to die, but if you're going to choose to deliberately write a seemingly-unwinnable war with terrible casualties against a vast army, it just....feels weird that they all make it through, like they're too ~special~ to die. I do particularly appreciate though that neither character in the one newly confirmed queer couple - Teleus/Relius omg! - ends up actually dead.
IDK. Maybe I'm just grouchy because no book could possibly have lived up to the high expectations I had for the end of this series, and maybe I'll like this book better on reread. And maybe I missed some nuances in my rush to find out what happened next and I'll change my mind about all of the above when I reread, or when I read more fannish analysis!
Anyway in conclusion Thick as Thieves continues to be the best forever the end.
I did a bit of a break-neck reread of most of the series leading up to the release date of Return of the Thief because I wanted to make sure I'd have the previous events clear in my mind to follow what happened at the end.
Rereading the other books made me think about how in all the other books in this series with a first-person narrator, that narrator is the focus of the book, but in this one.....he isn't, entirely. It's a lot about Eugenides instead.
This makes sense both for the needs of the book and for the kind of person Pheris has had to become (prefers being invisible when possible), but it makes me sad because I got invested in Pheris, and I feel like there isn't enough narrative focus on the conclusion of his emotional arc!
Like, Costis and Sophos and Kamet each got their own arc in the book they narrate - the plot was highly influenced by Eugenides, yes, but the narrator had a satisfying conclusion of his own. They weren't just about Eugenides through the eyes of someone else. But this one feels a little too much like it IS that. The first bit is about Pheris and then in book 2 he lets himself fade into the background for a lot of it. I think a lot of readers are in this series for Eugenides, and like, don't get me wrong I do find him a fascinating character, but he's not the be-all and end-all. I wanted more Pheris!
As Eugenides becomes more and more the powerful and god-touched Annux over the course of the series, I think he's best in the narrative in smaller doses. I don't like the way he overshadows so much else of what's going on in this book. I feel the same about the gods - best in the narrative in smaller doses, and too present in this particular book. Although actually I think the problem for me is that they are present in the wrong way?
skygiants's review was helpful for me in figuring this out! It feels like Eugenides and co are just like, uncomplicatedly allied with the gods now, instead of the more difficult relationships with the gods in the previous books. I want something more uncomfortable out of my fictional god experience! I also uh. Am possibly too anti-royalty for this series all about royalty, it turns out? I thought the end was going to shake things up more politically! The end of Conspiracy of Kings was more in line with the thrust of the series than I had wanted to think, with its in-earnest-seeming discussion about there being a different morality for rulers. And then the series end turns out to be Yay happy monarchy with extra monarchy on top! And like, I'm generally fine with fantasies about monarchs as long as the narrative doesn't focus on that, but as soon as you make the narrative be at all about questions of monarchy and rulership then sweeping the issues under the rug for a pro-monarchy ending doesn't satisfy me.
The amount that Eugenides is uncomfortable with the idea of having huge amounts of political power doesn't actually make it any better that he has it and uses it however he sees fit. I think I would be happier if the book made it clear that the person Eugenides became is not fully admirable, even though it's what he felt he had to become in order to save his country, instead of continuing to encourage the reader to sympathise with him for how hard it is to be Eugenides. The bit at the end where the narrative is all like, isn't it so funny and cute how Eugenides is incapable of asking for things instead of demanding things...UNCOMFORTABLE.
For the record, there are lots of things I love about this book too! (The Erondites family drama! Pheris and Relius's mentor-mentee relationship! Pheris!!!) But when I feel that the whole focus and thematic thrust of the book is off, that's kind of a pervasive issue.
Also the end felt a bit too much like it was deliberately tying everything up tidily and conservatively, giving the lead couples children (and naming the kids after other people, so that their role is just to tie into emotions about pre-existing characters instead of being their own individuals) and pairing off many of the other characters and making sure nobody we really cared about died, even though SO MANY people died in that war! It gives the horrifying nature of the war less weight imo. It's not that I wanted any of them to die, but if you're going to choose to deliberately write a seemingly-unwinnable war with terrible casualties against a vast army, it just....feels weird that they all make it through, like they're too ~special~ to die. I do particularly appreciate though that neither character in the one newly confirmed queer couple - Teleus/Relius omg! - ends up actually dead.
IDK. Maybe I'm just grouchy because no book could possibly have lived up to the high expectations I had for the end of this series, and maybe I'll like this book better on reread. And maybe I missed some nuances in my rush to find out what happened next and I'll change my mind about all of the above when I reread, or when I read more fannish analysis!
Anyway in conclusion Thick as Thieves continues to be the best forever the end.
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Ouch. Sounds like the author read the Harry Potter epilogue and thought "this is an ideal ending for a series which I will now consciously emulate."
Sorry the book didn't do it for you! I haven't read this series but I, uh, have some experience with series finales that disappoint.
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I hadn't thought about the pro-monarchy ending but... yeah... given the discussion in Conspiracy (and Queen and King, for that matter) it does seem rather too happy and shiny.
IDK, I didn't mind them naming one of their two kids after Gen's dad who had just died, I can see the impetus. Though twins does seem very... tidy, somehow? Here, you didn't have a heir, now you have a heir and a spare who will also be heir's Thief! (I think the thing that got me with HP was that when you start naming ALL your kids after people who have been dead for years, then I start being a little suspicious of whether you have some issues floating around :) )
no subject
I do get what you mean about understanding the naming of the kids. But yeah, very tidy. And now that I think about it, very Eugenides-focused also! The one twin is named after Eugenides' dad, the other is named after Eugenides himself, so it's like the two kids are embodying the two sides of Eugenides into the next generation and Attolia isn't a part of things at all. The kids are only Eugenides'.