The Thief Queen’s Daughter follows the adventures of Ven Polypheme and his friends, picking right up from where The Floating Island left off. This type of fantasy adventure story is what made me fall in love with fantasy in the first place. Thieves, danger, adventure friendship: this book has everything I love about a good fantasy. I’m beginning to absolutely fall in love with all the characters. The King is lovely and I can’t wait to read more about him and his quest for knowledge; Ven and his friends are absolutely fantastic. We learn a lot more about Ida, which I very much appreciated, and we get to learn a whole lot more about The Gated City, which was so much fun.

This isn’t quite as magical as the first book, but it’s still quite good. We see a lot less of magic and fantastical things and a lot more of pure adventure and thrills. With that, we also get a lot more character development. I still love the format of having this series be a “discovered journal” found on archaeological digs, and the illustrations perfectly complement the story. It looks like there’s some stuff being set up for an over-arching narrative that will reach through all the books in the series: the mysterious albatross is still in this book, for example, and seems to be watching Ven. I’m excited to see how that comes into play.

Overall, this is a wonderful middle grade fantasy that I’m so glad I picked up. The characters are great and the adventure is so, so much fun. Haydon is proving that she’s a master of the genre in both adult and middle grade. I’m excited to read the third book in this series.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. ( )

This is the second book in the series, but you don’t miss much of anything with starting with this novel. Ven Polypheme is an explorer, and is asked to go on his second quest by the king. He and a few of his friends venture off to the Gated City, on Market Day looking for a special stone. Will Ven solve the mystery before the day is over, or will he be trapped inside this Gated City forever? ( )

Asked by the king, Ven goes into the gated city market with some of his friends. His goal is to find what this special stone is. They go through the market asking and looking but they have to be careful because this is also called the market of thiefs. They get to a tent that might help them out. So they decide they will go and see. Inside there is a women who is like forchen teller. She will be playing an important role in the next book though. Then the Gwadd girl that can speak to plant is gone lost. So one of the kids go and get a girl that is knows the market of thiefs. Once she comes into play she takes them to her mother which is the Queen of thiefs, which also had the Gwadd girl. The Queen of the thief locked them up Then they escaped the Queen and the market city. They then go to back to where they dwelled to listen for news that they are safe.

I liked this book because it full of adventure and mysteries. I like how it is a page turner where I was literally stay late at night read. I love read books like this author. It is still weird how it writes in third person. This book could be better in first person. I am starting think that this book is a story that someone is telling someone. I also liked the 3rd book of this series. ( )

Summary: A young Nain explorer, Ven Polypheme, begins his second quest at the king's request -- What is the history of an artifact inherited from the previous king? Ven's search starts in the Gated City, on Market Day. Will the mystery be solved before the day ends and Ven is trapped inside?

The Take-Away: As stated, this is a second in the series, but Haydon doesn't spend unnecessary time with the previous story. I didn't feel like I was missing out by not starting at the beginning. Ven's circle of friends must have been established in the first book, however, and it's a vast circle. The variety leads me to believe that this will be a longer series with good adventures.

The target audience is young adult, however, it has the feel to the book as the first Harry Potter titles did. Fun, adventurous, but easily developed into something more. This is a series I would keep my eye on, depending on how the stakes are raised in the next book.

One of my favorite characters was McLean, a StorySinger who knows the histories, songs and stories of various people of the land. His role is minor, but he is interesting. McLean is completely trustworthy; StorySinger take an oath to never lie. I'm hoping that this is a set-up for a future book.

Recommendation: Keep an eye out. This could have the same cross over effect that Harry Potter did, depending on how the series continues.

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