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Book Review: Thick as Thieves
Feb. 18th, 2022 07:35 amI mentioned in my review of A Conspiracy of Kings that one of Megan Whalen Turner’s themes in the Queen’s Thief series is power, not just power between nations but power between individual people, and the way that a seemingly powerless person will use whatever scraps of influence they can pick up to try to influence their fate.
Thick as Thieves picks up where A Conspiracy of Kings left off to consider this question at much greater length and from more angles. Sophos, the protagonist of A Conspiracy of Kings, has spent most of his life trying to avoid power struggles entirely, and ends the book still something of a novice (although an unexpectedly effective one, to his own surprise as much as anyone). Kamet, the protagonist of Thick as Thieves, has not had that luxury. He has been a slave since he was kidnapped as a child, and not just any slave, but the secretary of Nahusuresh, one of the most prominent men in the Mede Empire, who is training Kamet to make him a fit present for the emperor himself.
Kamet has therefore lived his life swimming through power currents that run like a powerful and deadly set of rapids, which has made him “wholly attentive to any detail that might someday be used to my advantage.” He is a slave, and in some ways powerless to protect himself; the book starts with Nahusuresh hurling a statue at Kamet’s face in a fit of pique. And yet Kamet also has great power, too: he is in charge of Nahusuresh’s household, controls the accounts that pay the tradesman and free servants, and someday, he will be in a position to pull the strings of empire.
At any rate, that’s where Kamet thinks his life is going until some random Attolian shows up and offers to take him to freedom if Kamet shows up at the docks that night.
( Spoilers )
Thick as Thieves picks up where A Conspiracy of Kings left off to consider this question at much greater length and from more angles. Sophos, the protagonist of A Conspiracy of Kings, has spent most of his life trying to avoid power struggles entirely, and ends the book still something of a novice (although an unexpectedly effective one, to his own surprise as much as anyone). Kamet, the protagonist of Thick as Thieves, has not had that luxury. He has been a slave since he was kidnapped as a child, and not just any slave, but the secretary of Nahusuresh, one of the most prominent men in the Mede Empire, who is training Kamet to make him a fit present for the emperor himself.
Kamet has therefore lived his life swimming through power currents that run like a powerful and deadly set of rapids, which has made him “wholly attentive to any detail that might someday be used to my advantage.” He is a slave, and in some ways powerless to protect himself; the book starts with Nahusuresh hurling a statue at Kamet’s face in a fit of pique. And yet Kamet also has great power, too: he is in charge of Nahusuresh’s household, controls the accounts that pay the tradesman and free servants, and someday, he will be in a position to pull the strings of empire.
At any rate, that’s where Kamet thinks his life is going until some random Attolian shows up and offers to take him to freedom if Kamet shows up at the docks that night.
( Spoilers )
