#ambiades

[lilaccatholic]

To be fair to the Magus in The Thief, a perilous road trip with three teenagers who can't stop fighting would drive me to threaten violence, too

[mothsartart]

another bit in my modern au

[pomodoriyum]

the thing about ambiades is that he doesnt *really* want the magus and sophos and pol to suffer for his betrayal. he all but told the magus ‘we need to take the main road’ and yeah; he should have been more insistent. he shouldve never told the attolians. but i think if he’d told the magus what he’d done the magus would have had pol kill him and then they’d leave attolia some other way. so yea, ambiades is a shit and he should never have prioritized money over the person who was reponsible to / for him and his education. but also…idk if the magus would have been willing to support him financially since his dad couldnt. like he should have just fucking gotten a job but noooooo

[firefletch]

I'm almost half-way through the Thief (first book of the Queen's Thief series)! I've been meaning to read it since forever and there's certainly a lot to enjoy/appreciate about the book

I started it because so many mutuals like it I felt like I HAD to register the event on tumblr lol

[mentacosee]

someone please discuss the queen's thief with me. my reread was SO entertaining, there's just things about it i never understood

[fallenangelontheceiling]

I refuse to read Sophos as straight

[deadmomjokes]

Getting the spouse to read The Thief and Y'ALL

He's too smart for this.

He's calling it! All of it!! He's picking up the hints and clues the first time thru with zero context!!!

I mean, there was this moment y'all may have seen, but also, just this morning:

"So, the magus is ethnocentric as heck and that whole scene was really gross, but also.... Gen is actually the King's Thief of Eddis, right? That's obvious? I feel like we were supposed to be distracted by all the storytelling and racism, but like.... It's not even subtle at this point."

and

"Obviously Ambiades took that food, right? My only question is why Gen let him get away with it...."

And the speculations are off in the right direction, too!

"So why is Gen here instead of with the King in Eddis? He was in prison for a while but nobody seems to be concerned or even aware that the King's Thief is missing from Eddis--at least the magus didn't, and he seems pretty aware of current events. But Gen isn't here on business, because what would Eddis want with Sounis's king's seal? So why is he here and not there...?"

I'm not saying a dang word, yea or nay, and he knows it. He's just speculating out loud, and I quote, "Because I need a witness to having called it when I turn out to be right." (And also because he likes watching me squirm when I'm forced to keep my mouth shut and put on my overdramatic poker face.)

I mean, he's been wrong, too. He's leaning towards "the woman who fell out the window" being a caretaker instead of his actual mom, or the alternate explanation that it was his mom and Gen's family had to flee Eddis for some reason or other, which is why nobody's worried he's gone. But he's also "keeping his thoughts open to new clues." But he's still been on the right trail more often than he's been wrong.

I'm gonna bust a blood vessel over here. He's too smart, guys. He's gonna figure it all out the first run through and I have no idea how.

[tenebrius-excellium]

Hi, who would you fancast as Gen, Irene, Sophos and Helen? Also, what would you do if ROTT ever gets a movie adaptation, one depicting the war with the Mede anyway? 🙈 🥺👉👈

Hii!!!! Oh my gosh fancasting Tqt is NOT easy...

...especially since a couple fancasts have already been made that I am SO down to agree with. I hope you'll forgive me if I partly choose people that have already been named within the fandom before...?

[Insert: ARE YOU KIDDING ME YOU MADE ME CREATE WHOLE POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS FOR THEM I SPENT THE ENTIRE AFTERNOON ON THIS AND I DO NOT REGRET IT]

Eugenides: Luke Pasqualino

Who else. He could pull off Young Gen, King Gen, and God Gen. I love his chill mannerisms and his cheekiness. But whoever has watched BBC's "The Musketeers" knows he can portray a dark, rash and dangerous side as well. The actor has Italian roots btw.

Irene Attolia: Irene Papas

Sadly, this awesome actress died in 2022. She was Greek and played in "The Trojan Women" as well as "Iphigenia" - so, you know, she has the ideal Greek Aristocratic face. Isn't she the perfect Attolia?

Sophos - Christian Martyn

How I found this actor, I don't know. I am not familiar with him, though he played Gilbert Blythe in "Anne with an E". Look. LOOK. Bear with me. He seems innocent, is the definition of too Nice™ and has this precious aura of childlike chaos about him. But he is also able to glow up into a warrior when necessary O_O

Helen Eddis: Nathalie Emmanuel

Okay, look. While I'm personally highly satisfied with the above casts, I know full and well that this one isn't perfect. First of all, Emmanuel is far too thin and pretty to be Eddis. They'd have to change her nose at least, if not give her a rounder body type. But she is dark-skinned, her hair is short, her smile is fun and captivating, and I think this does reflect who Eddis is to some degree. I'm sorry I didn't find anything more accurate.

To comfort you, here are some more random character casts that I found/came up with while working on the others:

King of Sounis - Jack Black

Nahuseresh - Dev Patel. Imagine the reddish beard oh my gosh

Kamet - Riz Ahmed (that one was the author's choice, I believe)

Ambiades - Austin North. Like, come on. He's gotta be the evil version of Sophos and he would be perfect.

Costis - he's honestly just that one real life Kristoff edit from Frozen. No, he's really Channing Tatum in "The Eagle". Look him up.

As for what would happen if The Queen's Thief Series got turned into a movie, I would SCREAM YELL CRY HAPPY TEARS.

They could turn the 6 books into 3 movies, I believe.

The Thief & The Queen of Attolia (the story would have to be slightly changed, e.g. older Gen and different politics, but they can really pull together the whole 125 pages of travelling to the temple into a 5min montage)

The King of Attolia & A Conspiracy of Kings (how Costis became King isn't as important, but it could serve as a sideplot/what Gen is actually contributing politically behind the facade)

Thick as Thieves and Return of the Thief (again, how Kamet came to Attolia isn't as important as the message he brought.)

The Queen's Thief reminds me much of Narnia (the world, the values, the fashion, the colors), Percy Jackson (adventure Greek setting), and Sinbad (adventure + navigating the Gods). If they ever turned that into a movie, I'D WATCH THE HECK OUT OF IT.

Thank you very much for asking!!!

[incomingalbatross]

Psych AU of Queen's Thief that I wrote a year and a half ago and then left in my drafts and forgot! Covering the plot of The Thief in the world of Psych, specifically.

So Gen's dad is obviously a cop. I'm keeping his mom's death, because I DON'T want to add a divorce to this family and I think it would change too much, but there's still a strain and Gen runs away from home for a bit in his teens

The Magus is a private detective, who was hired by Sounis to prove Helen committed some crime and is hyped about it because it will make his career (I don't know Helen's role, but she's probably rich?). Sophos is there, supposedly as the liaison between the Magus and Sounis's business, but actually basically as the Magus's sidekick. Pol is his bodyguard and Ambiades is the one ACTUALLY trying to do the liaison job.

The Magus picks up fake-psychic Gen (going by his mom's surname) to help him in his investigation--not knowing that Gen constructed this entire identity specifically to get into his investigation and use that access to clear his cousin Helen.

Helen was framed by Sounis, which is very embarrassing to the Magus and would be very embarrassing to Sounis's nephew if the kid hadn't already fallen hard for their previous prime suspect. Sophos is too relieved Helen didn't murder anybody to care much about his (very unpleasant) uncle going to jail.

(Ambiades is also going to jail, btw—turns out his REAL job was to throw off the Magus's investigation, which is very disappointing to the Magus).

Gen, however, is in new trouble--in the course of this investigating he REALLY ticked off the new police chief, Irene Attolia (known mainly for having taken down her own partner years ago, with it only coming out afterwards that he was corrupt). She interrupts his Big Reveal by very nearly proving his "psychic powers" are fake and he obtained illegal evidence--his dad steps in and backs him up, but Gen knows he's on thin ice.

Gen sticks around anyway, because this whole thing was weirdly fun and satisfying.

And maybe he is suddenly less sure if his psychic powers are entirely fake. I like him having to deal with Eugenides here too. Somehow.

[brehaaorgana]

So my theory that Eugenides has the ability to hear when someone else is saying a lie is fun because I can't PROVE it, but I have great text evidence. Cut for spoilers for book #3

Okay so I wish I had more citations to establish the first thing BUT, we know other people can tell when Gen draws on his power/channels The Thief when they look him DIRECTLY in the eyes.

You gotta trust me, I forgot to take screencaps of the times this is true. But you can see it in his eyes.

So, so, so, in KOA:

In fact, during one baron's particularly drawn-out accountings of his tax payment, the king leaned his head back and closed his eyes, to all appearances asleep.

Then he says "I close my eyes to listen better."

"What did you hear?"

"I'm not sure. That's why I was listening so closely. I may have to ask the baron to repeat some parts of his report on his grain tax."

My theory is this: Eugenides can hear when someone is lying, but he doesn't immediately or necessarily always know what the lie is. He isn't sure what he heard, just that he knows the man is lying. But if he gets him to repeat the report he may be able to identify what, specifically, is the lie.

I also think Attolia is being genuine here. I think she has figured this out for herself, that Eugenides can tell when someone lies, and is asking what he heard. Gen isn't yet sure.

The avoidance of eye contact and people seeing his eyes seems deliberate.

"He slumped back on the throne and stared at his feet or at the ceiling. He never appeared to be listening and at times appeared to be asleep..."

Now. Gen COULD just be fucking with everyone and doing this to be provoking. But that's also the simplest and most obvious answer to what is happening. I wish I'd taken pictures of it but there's that Naval Undersecretary who looks Eugenides in the eyes and realizes he's seeing the Thief and is terrified.

I think the avoiding looking at people is INTENTIONAL.

"Your master of spies is a liar, and this time he is lying," the king said slowly, "to you."

Remember back in book one where Gen says he and Ambiades both recognize each other as people deceiving the others and working for someone else?

That's also this moment. The Thief is a consummate liar and can literally recognize other liars. Think about it! The Eddisians also basically have a taboo about talking about the Thief and what they do, but we KNOW they can depose a corrupt ruler, and they reserve the right to do so. HOW do they reinforce that?

The thief never takes an oath of loyalty to the throne, only Eddis. Everyone is afraid of the role of Thief, but WHY? It makes sense for the ruler to be afraid but why everyone else?

What if the thief Hears lies? What if they can KNOW when someone is telling a lie, even if they don't always know exactly what the lie is? What if that relates to why Gen's cousins hated him?

I don't think we're ever explicitly told Eugenides is a god of liars as well as thieves, but "liars and thieves," generally goes together. If Eugenides is also a god of liars, then it would make sense that Gen knows when someone is lying if he is channelling his power intentionally.

[pomodoriyum]

the thing about ambiades that makes me crazy is that in the book hes like the shell bits and outside structure of a *really* compelling character (at least 2 me), and its enough to make me think megan whalen turner had fully fleshed him out but just didnt have the space for that in the book due to its constraints. like. augh. i wanna know what all was going on that guy was such a cunt while also being like Im The Littlest Guy Ever about it

[cats-inthe-cradle]

I love them alllll

Okay I loved everything about this chapter so much I love Gen I love magus I love Pol I love Ambiades I love Sophos and I'm gonna be heartbroken if anything happens to any of them or if any of them turn out to not be lovable characters

[beyond-mogai-pride-flags]

Female Aphrodisian Pride Flag

Salmacian or aphrodisian: a term for people who desire or currently have mixed sex traits (such as gonadal, genital, corporeal, etc.); projecting oneself as ambiguously sexed (ambisexed); or conceptualizing one's body as sexually ambiguous (ambiadic).

[if-one-of-us-falls]

the #1 change i would make if i were to make an adaptation for The Thief is genderbend Ambiades. No other changes to the character - just the very angry granddaughter of a disgraced duke beating sophos's ass at sword practice and tying gen's hands too tight and stomping around being mean

[ao3feed-queensthief]

But At Least He's My Idiot

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/TIw9EGA by MysticBlade This is an alternate Universe where the Little Peninsula has been dropped in a highschool setting that will loosely follow the themes of 10 things I hate about you, which loosely follows the themes of The Taming of the Shrew. So really I've written a new shakespeare play. Sophos has just moved to a new school, and meets a wide variety of characters, while discovering that maybe has some character himself. Read and Enjoy hopefully! Words: 3627, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, Gen Characters: Moira, Pol, Eugenides, Gen - Character, Helen Eddis, Irene Attolia, Sophos Sounis, Costis Ormentiedes, The Magus (Queen's Thief), Hilarion, Sejanus, Ambiades, Relius, Kamet, Teleus, Hector (Queen's Thief) Relationships: Attolia | Irene/Eugenides, Eddis | Helen/Sophos, Eugenides & Sophos (Queen's Thief), Costis/Sophos, Magus/Gen, Helen/Everybody Loves Her, Irene/Everybody is scared of her, Pol/Sophos, Pol/Gen, Moira/Gen, More to Come but I dont want to spoil Additional Tags: Inspired by 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Alternate Universe - 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) Fusion, Alternate Universe - High School, Social Anxiety, Rom-com, Sophos is Bisexual but still wants Helen, Gen is an angsty teen, Professor Magus, Happy Ending, funny?, Costis is an ASB kid, Pol ??, Weird Deadpool Esque 4th wall Breakage by Anonymous Writer, just read it already read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/TIw9EGA

[rhetoricandlogic]

REVIEW: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Dear Ms. Turner,

Your young adult fantasy novel, The Thief, was named a 1997 Newbery Honor Book, an ALA Notable Book, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. After hearing good things about the series that begins with this book from two different friends, I was eager to begin reading it.

So it comes about that Gen agrees, and the next day, he begins a journey to an unknown destination in the company of the Magus, a soldier named Pol, and two young men that Gen dubs Useless the Elder and Useless the Younger. Gen must make the journey on horseback, and he is not very good on horses. He is also weak and hungry because of the time he spent in prison. Therefore he is not always on his best behavior as the group travels, and tensions begin to develop in the group.

Since Gen bragged about stealing the king's seal, the Magus thinks Gen is a good thief but a stupid one. He plans to use Gen as he might a tool, like a hammer, but he doesn't accord him anymore respect than he would a hammer. Gen, who had reasons for bragging about his thieving that he doesn't want to reveal, is chafed by the Magus' attitude.

Then there is Useless the Elder, whose real name is Ambiades. He is the kind of person who looks down at anyone from a lower station, and sees most people as being below himself. To say that Ambiades is difficult to get along with is an understatement, and Gen doesn't even bother trying.

On the other hand, Gen comes to like Pol and Useless the Younger, whose real name is Sophos. Pol is very capable and Sophos friendly to Gen.

During their travels, the group passes from the Kingdom of Sounis to that of Eddis. Gen's mother was from Eddis, and he is familiar with its religion, in which a different, older set of gods is worshipped than the ones prayed to in Sounis and Attolia. To make the journey more enjoyable and to educate Ambiades and Sophos, the Magus begins to tell Eddis's creation myth to the other men. Gen knows different variations of these stories from his mother, and eventually, he too begins to tell the others stories about the old gods.

Some of the dynamics between Gen and his companions begin to change as the journey progresses. Gen also learns that the object he will be stealing is something that could shift the balance of power between the three kingdoms of Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia. When, about halfway through, the travelers reach their destination, the place turns out to be more mysterious and magical than Gen imagined.

Will Gen succeed in stealing something where countless others have failed? And what will happen to him and his companions after this attempt? What will happen to the balance of power between Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia? Those things are left to the reader to discover, and in the process, we also learn that not everything is what it appears to be.

It took me a while to get involved in the story because although Gen's narration was very well written, his character was not instantly sympathetic to me. In the beginning of the book he is portrayed as a rather selfish person who cares mostly about his own comfort and about becoming famous through an extraordinary theft. This does change as the book continues, and I gradually grew to like him better.

The first half of the book seemed somewhat slow to me. The tension between Gen and his companions begins with mild annoyances, and I felt a bit impatient while waiting for something of greater significance to happen. The myths of the old gods held my interest, and I thought that you did a terrific job of making them unique, and giving them the flavor of mythology at the same time.

The second half of the book held more excitement, and I especially liked what happened when Gen and his traveling companions reached the place where the object he came to steal was located. There were some twists that were revealed at the end of the book, and even though I had guessed one of them all along, there were others that surprised me.

The setting of The Thief is based on Greece, and it was refreshing to read a fantasy with a Mediterranean flavor. I enjoyed the little details such as the characters eating olives and cheese for lunch and yogurt for breakfast, but one little detail that threw me was the mention of guns. Although they were said to be less accurate than crossbows, I still had to revise my mental picture of the society of this world. Because everyone traveled on horseback and there were no other inventions as advanced that were mentioned, I had not anticipated that guns would exist in Sounis, Eddis or Attolia.

While I can’t rave about The Thief, I enjoyed it enough to look for the next book in the series, especially in light of a spoiler I’ve know about and in light of how passionately some readers love that book.

As for this book, although I think it may be a better read for young adults than for grownups like me, it’s still good enough to get a a B- from me.

Sincerely,

Janine