Onward, to Thick as Thieves! Which feels a little like hitting on the breaks after the momentum of the previous books, but I think makes sense for the series as a whole because it's a return to its roots with a road trip underpinned by a lie Eugenides has set into motion from the beginning, plus as a breather of sorts before the final book. I think I was a little impatient with the book the first time I read it, despite very much enjoying Kamet and Costis's dynamic, but this time round I relaxed myself into the worldbuilding and set up for the open confrontation with the Medes that was obviously going to happen in the final book.

Then, FINALLY, Return of the Thief. I've only read it once but I think I'll read it one more time before I arrange the whole series properly on my bookshelf. I enjoyed it a lot but it's such a bittersweet read for having to say goodbye to the characters and the world, and by necessity this book had to be more straightforward in tying all the plot threads and set up together.

I said in a previous post that The Queen of Attolia didn't work for me as much because although it has so much happening plot-wise, the lack of a strong POV to hook our emotions onto weakened it for me, and here! Return of the Thief does EXACTLY what I wanted QoA to do, by introducing a compelling new character to follow and to be the eyes with which we view the plot, and Pheris SO GREAT. I love him, what a good boy, and amazingly Turner has made yet another new POV character that's distinct and different from everyone who's come before, especially in terms of interrogating the series' thing about unreliable narrators by having a character who is at pains to notice and make sense of the world's truths, even the awful ones, and good gravy is his personal story tough to get through.

( A little crit behind the cut )

Onward to The King of Attolia, my fav in the series! This is the high point for me, though it requires everything before it to have the impact it does, and it needs everything afterward to bring the greater story to its conclusion. It's still so good, so well-paced, so satisfying, and this time I greatly appreciated how they have the assassination attempt just a little before halfway into the book (instead of the near end), so Costis becomes privy to the deception that Eugenides has been pulling on everyone and is given the rest of the book to process this information, and thus share in our frustration as the reader by knowing that Eugenides isn't what he appears to be.

( cut for length )