Win THE THIEF by Megan Whalen Turner!

Megan Whalen Turner shared her thoughts on the difficulties of Loyalty on Monday, and today she's generously offered to give away 20 -- yes, twenty -- copies of her first book in the featured series, The Thief, to 20 lucky readergirlz!

Here's how it works: Send an e-mail to Megan at meganwhalenturner AT harpercollins DOT com including your mailing address and a description of how you will share the book if you receive a copy (through a blog or by sharing with a friend or librarian or anyone!).

The first 20 emailers will receive a paperback copy of The Thief with the understanding that they will somehow pass it on to a new reader after they've read it.

Sound good? Good! Now get to emailing Megan, readergirlz!

****UPDATE: Megan has well over 20 entrants now, so the winners are chosen! (But if you just want to say hi and tell her you love her books, I'm sure she's still open for that.)****

Featured Title: A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS, by Megan Whalen Turner

Hello, readergirlz, and welcome to our first official Featured Title of February! This month's theme is Loyalty, and our trusty postergirlz have done an amazing job, as always, of selecting books that perfectly embody that theme!


Today I'm so happy to shine our spotlight on A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS, by Megan Whalen Turner. 

"Teenaged Sophos is his uncle's heir, but his love of poetry and lack of interest in ruling have caused his father to send him to a remote villa. When it is attacked by the king's enemies, Sophos is sold into slavery, where he begins to mature and develop both physically, from the hard manual labor, and emotionally. He makes the decision to escape slavery and try to resume his place as heir and eventually king of Sounis, traveling to Attolia to try to recruit support from its queen and king, Sophos's friend, Eugenides, the protagonist of The Thief and The King of Attolia. Layers of intrigue follow Sophos as he tries to protect Sounis from various groups of enemies, leading to a surprising twist at the conclusion."
--School Library Journal


Here's what Megan Whalen Turner has to say to us about Loyalty: 

When I was younger, I had an idea that virtues like patience, honesty and loyalty were pretty simple and always for the good. (That’s what it meant to be a virtue. Duh.) They might not be easy to practice, but the concepts involved didn’t seem particularly convoluted. That lasted right up until I had two friends who got into a huge fight and stopped speaking to each other. Divided loyalties are not only complicated, they are almost inevitable. We have loyalty to our families, loyalties to our friends, loyalties to our jobs or our co-workers, or our communities. In that tangle there are bound to be conflicts somewhere. Sometimes, it’s hard to see what the virtuous options are. Is honesty always the best policy?  Is patience always the best course of action? Should you stand by your man? Really?

Almost all of my stories are Fantasy, set in made up worlds with supernatural elements, but that’s not because they have nothing to do with real life. My main character in A Conspiracy of Kings is Sophos.  He is the heir to the King of Sounis and would do almost anything to avoid inheriting a kingdom when his uncle dies. He thinks he wouldn’t make a good king, and by avoiding the responsibility he is being virtuous. Real virtue turns out to be more complicated than he thought.

Really, everything is more complicated than he thought. Sophos wants to trust his friend Gen not only with his life, but with the kingdom of Sounis. He’s more than a little surprised when his friend dumps that loyalty back into Sophos’s lap with a big “No, thank you.”

Sophos has to figure out for himself just what friendship and loyalty mean when you are responsible for an entire country. Then he has to convince Gen to see things his way. Even if it means dumping Gen on his ass to do it.  

So true - loyalty may seem like one of those "easy" dictates of virtue, but often, real life is way more complicated. Have you read this book yet? Has Sophos inspired you to rethink your own definition of loyalty? What about someone else in your life - real OR literary? 

Rgz Street Team: Priya reviews Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson + A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.

Today, Priya reviews two fantastic reads. Up first, one of last month's featured books, Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson:

"As Scarlett Martin's rigorous sophomore year begins in New York City, her life takes a turn for the extraordinary. Her eccentric boss' demands are getting weirder and weirder, her brother suddenly becomes a notorious and hated TV villain... and that's just the beginning.

"Scarlett Fever is the sequel to the hilarious novel Suite Scarlett, and it is every bit as witty and exciting as its predecessor, if not more..."

Read the rest of this review on Priya's blog.

Next, Priya reviews A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner:

"A Conspiracy of Kings is the fourth book in The Queen's Thief series, and in my opinion, it's the best one. This book focuses on Sophos (one of the minor characters in the previous books) and his dangerous adventures and epic rise to power as the king of Sounis.

"There were three main things that made me enjoy A Conspiracy of Kings: the characters, the writing, and the plot. I really liked Sophos' character in this book - he was easier to sympathize with than some of the other characters. I felt that he was more accessible to readers and more people would be able to connect with him and understand his actions.

"The writing was wonderful as usual - suspenseful and fast-paced. The plot was also fabulous, with several twists and turns. Megan Whalen Turner has this amazing ability to completely fool the reader and take them on this journey only to reveal some secret or something..."

Read the complete review on Priya's blog.

Guest blog from Megan Whalen Turner

In September, the postergirlz included Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books on their list of books to recommend alongside Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Megan graced (no pun intended!) us with her presence at Kristin's chat, then wrote up this guest post:

Yikes, the round-up posts at readergirlz reminded me that it was the end of September (where did it go?) and I hadn't collected my thoughts into a blog post about Graceling.

I've been thinking about the question from the live chat: What's your favorite scene?

My pick is the fight between Katsa and Po when she realized that he reads minds. It's so important to the plot and yet so very far from being a plot-coupon because it rings true - Katsa has a good reason to be angry and Po has a good reason to have deceived her - but also because it is so carefully layered. Katsa is angry because Po lied, but also because he has escaped her fate of being wholly defined by her Grace. The cause of the anger is also the seed for the reconciliation when Katsa realizes she too can assert her own identity.

On top of all that, and maybe the reason I like it best . . . Katsa showed that she may be completely clueless about interpersonal relationships, but she's a smart cookie. Po doesn't have to confess, she figures him out.

-- Megan Whalen Turner