Thick as Thieves

From Goodreads:

"Deep within the palace of the Mede emperor, in an alcove off the main room of his master’s apartments,. Kamet minds his master’s business and his own. Carefully keeping the accounts, and his own counsel, Kamet has accumulated a few possessions, a little money stored in the household’s cashbox, and a significant amount of personal power. As a slave, his fate is tied to his master’s. If Nahuseresh’s fortunes improve, so will Kamet’s, and Nahuseresh has been working diligently to promote his fortunes since the debacle in Attolia.

A soldier in the shadows offers escape, but Kamet won’t sacrifice his ambition for a meager and unreliable freedom; not until a whispered warning of poison and murder destroys all of his carefully laid plans. When Kamet flees for his life, he leaves behind everything—his past, his identity, his meticulously crafted defenses—and finds himself woefully unprepared for the journey that lies ahead.

Pursued across rivers, wastelands, salt plains, snowcapped mountains, and storm-tossed seas, Kamet is dead set on regaining control of his future and protecting himself at any cost. Friendships—new and long-forgotten—beckon, lethal enemies circle, secrets accumulate, and the fragile hopes of the little kingdoms of Attolia, Eddis, and Sounis hang in the balance."

****

OH MY GOODNESS. I've got to widen my book news circles, because I had NO IDEA this book was coming out! I've been a huge fan of the Attolia series since I first picked up The Thief back in 2010. The publisher will try to convince you that these books can be read out of order.

Lies.

Such lies.

Enjoy the series in the order it was intended to be read:
The Thief
The Queen of Attolia
The King of Attolia
Conspiracy of Kings
Thick As Thieves

And if you don't absolutely delight in Eugenides by the end of the third book, I will seriously have to question our friendship. Or accept that people have different tastes, but that's not strong enough for me. Eugenides is one of the most smartly-written, deviously intelligent characters I've ever read. My favorite thing about him is his relationship to the divine. He's such a fantastic character.

ANYWAY.

Thick As Thieves is not about Eugenides. I expected to be disappointed by this, but I was not, as the story featured some of my favorite side characters. Kamet is Nasuresh's snarky but submissive servant from Queen of Attolia, and I was sad not to see more of him in the following books. I am SO GLAD he got a story of his own, and it was completely worth it. The friendship he develops with his Attolian ... compatriot, handily highlighted by the almost Grecian stories they tell each other to pass the time as they travel, is very worthy of the story it's built upon. I love reading about a good male friendship, especially as its tried and tested and found to be stronger than the circumstances surrounding it. See also: The friendship between Michael and Fisk in Hilari Bell's Knight and Rogue series or Goblin and Reaper's friendship in the Korean drama Goblin: The Great and Lonely God.

But I should not bring kdramas into this, because they have a tendency to take over EVERYTHING, just as they have taken over my life.

Read this book. You won't be disappointed.