I do normally give myself a little more space between books in the same series, since I have so much else to read lying around the house, but I admit, I was really curious to see how Gen would fare in this book (the last in the trilogy).
In The Queen of Attolia, the story ends with the Queen of Attolia agreeing to marry Gen (The Thief of Eddis, cousin of Eddis’ queen). It’s a political marriage, but Gen also loves the Queen, and though it’s his job to lie, he does manage to convince her that he’s been in love with her for years.
So this book is the story of how he convinces the Attolians that he’s worthy to be their King. The action starts when Costis, a young guardsman, is goaded one morning into punching Gen in the face. Rather than executing him on the spot, as he has the right to do, Gen takes Costis out of the guard and promotes him. Costis is confused beyond belief, but in the course of trailing along with the King, sees how badly some of the Attolians are treating Gen, but also that Gen, while outwardly seeming to tolerate the treatment, is clearly very well aware of everything that’s going on. Costis even starts to respect Gen.
I’ll admit, I did not think this was the path that this character would take, based on what I read in the first book of the series (The Thief). I really liked this last story. I thought it was a fascinating way to show how Gen is more than just the Thief, but that it’s the Thief that makes him great. This is a great overall story – really glad I was able to get my hands on it.