The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Summary from Goodreads:

By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making.

Then he drags a naive young guard into the center of the political maelstrom. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king's caprice, but his contempt for Eugenides slowly turns to grudging respect. Though struggling against his fate, the newly crowned king is much more than he appears. Soon the corrupt Attolian court will learn that its subtle and dangerous intrigue is no match for Eugenides.

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

It's official. King of Attolia just cemented my love for The Thief of Eddis Series and Megan Whalen Turner. I don't know how she does it but it just keeps getting better and better, one book after another.

I always love it when every book in a series presents a changed protagonist each time. The Eugenides from book 1 is a far cry from the Eugenides that I see here. He was introduced as a sure-of-himself, cocky thief in the first book, a thief who, because of profession, is most likely to lead a solitary, unattached life. In the second book, I saw a sad, angry, depressed and broken Eugenides. And now in third book, he's back to his original and true form, witty and arrogant. But for the most part he's different. He's a man in love. It was a nice and unexpected character development, and while it was abrupt, it did not at all seem improbably or fake. It was nice seeing him and The Queen being romantic. It took me some getting used to, but I got there, eventually. Speaking of The Queen, hers is yet another character development that I enjoyed. Seeing her less ruthless, and more human this time around. The new character, Costis, is a welcome addition, playing the upright, and honorable guard that Gen dragged into his web. And despite these two being yin and yang, Costis started out as every bit an underdog as Gen was, and that sort of tied them up as a duo. 

Plotwise, it's a whole new level of political intrigue. Gen, an Eddisian, a man from an enemy territory, gets crowned as King of Attolia. And of course, the Attolians aren't too happy about that. He might have wormed his way into the Attolian Throne but they can be sure to make it a living hell for him there. He was treated as a joke, and a farce. His servants and his guards bullied him and did not treat him with any ounce of respect.  Aside from that he finds himself amidst political diversion and assassination threats. Ambitious and duplicitous Barons abound, who have their eyes on Gen's throne. So, it was one thing for The Thief of Eddis to wake up a married man, and another a King to an enemy country. The twists and turns were every bit as enjoyable and unexpected, as I have come to know of this particular series. I admit, seeing Gen get walked on, all over by the Attolians was terribly painful. I wanted to throttle him and then yell at him to assert himself. But that would have been unnecessary because true to being Gen, he was one step ahead of these people. I soon found out that a game does not end until Eugenides wins it. And in this book, the former Thief of Eddis just pulled off his biggest heist yet. Stealing a Kingdom's Loyalty.

On the downside though, I got confused once or twice that I had to backread. I found one particular incident in the story, that up until now, I still can't figure out it's significance. 

I seem to get the feeling that not many people know about MWT. I also have a feeling that my review is lousy and confusing and I just short changed this series. But no use getting worked up over that. Let me just do some last minute fangirling before I end this post... This series is AWESOME, FANTASTIC, EXCELLENT, FIRST-RATE, TOP, FLY, CAPITAL. GO READ IT NOW!  :)

Awards Received: Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (2011), ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2007)

AWBRC Entry No. 8