#tqt fandom

Everyone: *"Gen is so scary this!!! Attolia is so scary that???"*

A fabulous time at FanExpo Cleveland 2025, thank you @meganwhalenturner as always for everything!

I'm starry-eyed laughing out loud glued to the page I am ENTERTAINED

What was boring and incomprehensible upon the first read is the icing on the cake when you know. The drama. The theatrics. The subtle hints at EVERY corner that nothing is what it seems.

Look it's not the second read that has me hooked on Costis' poor existence it's the THIRD read which has me keeling over.

It takes time to understand!!! Time to get the elaborate production of outsmarting one's enemies and their intrigues. It takes so much time to see Gen's hands in every scene, even when he is not in the room at the moment - oh my gosh, the way the supposed puppet is the puppeteer all along, maaaaaan whaaaaat am I really only starting to discover the symbolism of this series now???

The incredible way that I can sort of start guessing which parts of Gen's actions are clearly staged and where he actually messes up because he is just human as well... the way his consistent lateness is profound and to be given stern attention to...

And do you want to know the best part?? There are STILL scenes that I don't fully understand. There will possibly be MORE for me to discover on an eventual fourth read.

Also POOR COSTIS oh maaaan. Gen is toying with him and Costis is as thick as a skull about it because it's not that he's not smart - he's actually very smart - it's that Gen is just such a foreign concept to him, completely out of his area of expertise, so that Costis struggles to see past what's right in front of him.

Gosh.

He gets sick in his stomach a lot and there are super specific occasions where he chooses to complain and other, equally specific scenarios where he fights to keep his mouth shut about his hurt.

I haven't quite understood that yet because I experience pain, and illness in general, with very different accompanying symptoms. For example, I never really throw up; I'm rather prone to collapse on the spot lol. So to read about a fictional character's body dealing with physical injury in an entirely different way than what I'm personally used to is nothing short of a m a z i n g. But I admit it's hard to identify what's exactly going on.

How do you pronounce...

Hey! Hm, the books have so many great scenes! I don't believe I can pick just one! However, I will limit myself to a select few.

At the end of QoA when Gen finds out it was Moira who told Attolia where to find him and goes to the conservatory to complain pray. That, to me, was a very personal and intimate scene. Someone else has pointed out before that the Queen's Thief series serves as a great example of what it means to have real faith in God. Of course it doesn't center around Christianity, but I um... I felt represented in Eugenides' struggle of knowing his God/the Gods, knowing that He/they will answer your prayer if you seek Him because you are favored by Him... yet experiencing real, painful setbacks in life and discovering that they're all supposed to be part of some greater, all-foreseeing "plan" or whatever. It doesn't matter in the moment when it hurts. There's real loss. There's real hurt. And I feel relief in the depiction of Eugenides who doesn't hesitate to take his very real pain, his confusion, his legitimate anger in front of an altar and bring an offering and lay down and be stubborn enough not to leave until he receives an answer that he can live with. That, my friend, is raw faith. The despair is real, the grief is real, but the God is also real. As real as Eugenides' right hand. As clear as day. And God's answers are as real as the glass that shattered in Attolia's winter garden. That's what faith is, and that's what it looks like. It's as real and as honest as it gets.

2. When Sophos decides to leave the slave barracks, and no one stops him. That was quite a power move back there.

3. When Gen is finally forced to face off against Costis...Costis gets his satisfaction... and Gen steps into being the King!!

4. Costis mending that one Lady's tin pot and then him & Kamet crossing over the Taymets. That was so wonderfully refreshing.

5. The game of catch that the whole court played with Eugenides in ROTT.

6. The entire battle against the Medes, pretty much, from the time Gen rode into battle until they danced out their victory on the roof.