Turner, Megan Whalen. The Queen of Attolia.

TURNER, Megan Whalen. The Queen of Attolia. HarperCollins. 362p. c2000. 0-06-084182-6. $6.99. JS

To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, March 2000: The infuriating, beguiling Thief returns in this novel (sequel to The Thief) to the imaginary time and place Turner has created so skillfully. Once more, he is caught up in the political struggles of the three small kingdoms introduced in the first novel--struggles in which each country is grasping for survival. Two of the kingdoms are ruled by young queens--the Thief's queen is Eddis and he would die for her; but the fierce neighboring queen Attolia fascinates him. She is hard and cruel. When she has the Thief in her power, she punishes him so severely that his life and his very sanity are threatened. He returns to Eddis a broken young man, and no one is sure whether he will survive. Most of the story involves quite convoluted military and political maneuvering. Eddis fights Attolia to avenge the Thief. They try to outwit the leadership in the third kingdom; ultimately, they must find a way to stop the enemy of all three kingdoms from overrunning their lands and taking away the freedom of them all.

Not every YA reader will be able to struggle through the complex plot. Certainly, no one will who has not already been entranced by the character of the Thief in the first book. Those who persist to the end of the challenge will find it worth the effort. Claire Rosser, KLIATT