Remember When….
"Remember When..." is a monthly meme that showcases a book I read as a child or young teenager and remember fondly. I'm doing this to highlight some of the great older books out there that perhaps don't get the spotlight in the blogosphere because they were written before it's advent. When most book blogs are reviewing and hyping the newest books on the market, which is great, I would like to take a moment every once in a while to look back on what shaped my reading interests.
If you'd like to participate, just leave a link to your "Remember When..." in the comments section.
So, without further ado, here is my October book selection:
The Thief
by Megan Whalen Turner
by Megan Whalen TurnerI can’t stress enough how amazing this book is. It is a traditional ‘quest’ book, so there is an abundance of landscape descriptions, which readers who are not accustomed to reading lengthy descriptions in today’s books may find a bit tedious. But they are not so bad as to put readers off the book entirely. In fact, the characterization of not only the protagonist and his group of travelers, but of the history of the three counties involved in the story, the religion, and the culture is so rich that you can only suspect what the author might do with it in her subsequent books. Since writing The Thief in 1996 she had completed three more book in this series. The last one came out in April 2010, which I have yet to read and am eagerly anticipating the pleasure!
These books are so full of twists and turns, narrative misdirection, and good old-fashion trickery. Each line of dialogue is so filled with purpose and meaning that you could dive into this series – and indeed this single book – and find as many literary elements as any book studied in a high school English class. Books of this caliber are few and far between, and the majority of popular YA fantasy fiction that is written nowadays as a response to current trends cannot hold a candle to perhaps less popular but higher quality books like The Thief. Back in 1996 it was published without much fanfare but nevertheless holds a loyal niche following. If you have not yet discovered this book, you are in for quite a treasure, and I don’t think anyone can call themselves a connoisseur of YA fantasy fiction without having read The Thief.
visit the author's website: http://meganwhalenturner.org/index.html
My Bebe Boy James is really getting into adventure type books, and this looks like one that he would actually WANT to read on his own! Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteJulie @ Knitting and Sundries