After the brain-breaking events of The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia, the fourth installment in Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series offers to fill in some blanks that were seemingly skimmed over. So, if you haven’t already checked out our previous recaps, do that NOW, because we’re about to switch narrators and you need to remember who this lamb of a human being is. And in case that doesn’t caution you away, we feel the need to warn you again:
Great, so, A Conspiracy of Kings. Let’s dig in. After an attempted assassination and kidnapping, Sophos, heir to the throne of Sounis, has been disappeared. We heard about these events during the last book from messengers and informants, but now it’s time that we see what happened, firsthand. Get it? Firsthand? Anyway…
On with Sophos’s reign as our favorite cinnamon roll, and on with A Conspiracy of Kings!
• First Impression: As a reminder, we first met Sophos in The Thief. He joined our heroes on their heist, and though Gen dubbed him “Useless the Younger,” he ultimately charmed us by being his sweet, loyal self. Sophos also met Eddis for the first time and crushed hard.
• How Far We’ve Come: Since those days, much has changed. Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia all fought in a three-way war with interruptions from Nahuseresh and the Medes, and the war between Sounis and Attolia is still ongoing. At the end of The King of Attolia, the other characters witnessed civil war tear Sounis apart and heard that Sophos had been disappeared. At the end of the last book, the heir to Sounis is presumed dead, killed by rebels
You can find everyone we’ve already met—Eugenides, Irene, Helen, the magus, and more—in our previous recaps, so head to The Thief and The Queen of Attolia for the bulk of those introductions.
• Sophos: Okay, yes, we’ve met Sophos before, but that was many moons ago and through Eugenides’s point of view. He’s the nephew and heir to the king of Sounis. Sophos is a clever scholar but is generally seen as a useless and unfit heir by everyone, including himself.
• Ina and Eurydice: Sophos’s younger sisters.
• Hyacinth: Sophos’s one friend on Letnos, a brown-nosing suckup.
• Baron Hanaktos: A traitorous baron of Sounis.
• Berrone Hanaktos: The baron’s daughter. Sophos calls her the stupidest person he knows, but she is also very kind.
• Long Live the King: The King and Queen of Attolia are riding in an open carriage, and their citizens have come to cheer them along, including a young man with a scarred face and an older man. The young man hits the king in the face with a pea and is detained by the Guards. When Attolis arrives, he pulls them both into a tight hug. They are Sophos and the magus of Sounis, old friends, traveling in disguise. Sophos tells Attolis that his uncle is dead and he is now King of Sounis. Attolis seems genuinely grieved and apologizes. Sophos asks why. The magus says that is because Eugenides and Sophos must now meet as kings, not as friends.
• You’re Malatest-ing Me: We jump back in time to when Sophos still lived on his parents’ villa. His father, Sounis’s brother, has just brought in a new tutor, a man named Malatesta, and news comes that Sounis is to marry Agape, the cousin of the Queen of Eddis. A day later, the villa is attacked by unknown men. Sophos manages to kill two attackers and rushes to find his mother and sisters. Sophos hides his family and their maids in the icehouse, locks them in, and passes the key under the door before running off to rally the rest of the servants. The servants, worried more about saving themselves, betray him.
• More Like Hyasnitch: Sophos is bound, gagged, and carried off, but not before hearing the men give orders to set fire to the villa, including the icehouse where his mother and sisters are hiding. Hyacinth told the men where to go and when the family would be most vulnerable. Sophos convinces the men to untie him, and then he tries to choke Hyacinth to death, but he’s pulled off before he can finish the job.
• Little Lion Man: The leader, Basrus, beats Sophos until he is unrecognizable, drugs him, cuts and dyes his hair, and disguises him as a slave. Sophos is billed as a mankiller to keep the others away from him and sailed off the island. Despite the violence, Basrus is strangely kind and deferential, in his rough way. At the next port, Sophos crosses paths with the family of Baron Hanaktos. Gagged, he can’t shout to them, but he pleads silently with the daughter, Berrone, a kind but stupid girl. Basrus leaves to arrange to sell Sophos to the mastermind behind the kidnapping, but while he’s gone, Berrone returns for Sophos. Basrus’s guards, not knowing who Sophos is, sells him to Berrone.
• From Prince to Pauper: Only once they have left the market does Sophos learn the twist. Hanaktos had forbidden his daughter from buying Sophos, because he was in league with Basrus. Berron didn’t recognize Sophos but felt sorry for him, so she went behind her father’s back to buy the presumed mankiller. Sophos is put to work in the field.
• Little Bunny Sophos: Sophos finds his place among the workers, who are scared of him because of his murderous reputation but also appreciate his poetry recitations. Sophos compensates for his own timidity by imitating Eugenides as best he can. He thinks his freedom a small price to pay for no longer burdened with the destiny of heir. When asked his name, Sophos gives the first he could think of—Zec, which means rabbit—and the other men took to calling him Zecush as a joke: Bunny the mankiller. After naming himself, Sophos dreams regularly of a library with walls of books and a window that overlooked snow-covered mountains. Sophos spends his dreams reading every book he could wish for, and a tutor visits him, a woman dressed in white. They talk about what makes a good king, the nature of man, and the connectedness of life.
• Morpos and the Wolf: Sophos’s dream tutor tells him a story of Morpos, a pipe player who lived near a bandit-filled forest. In the forest was a temple dedicated to Atrape, goddess of wise decisions, filled with treasure, and guarded by a wolf. Anyone who made it past the wolf would receive a treasure, but then they would have to face the bandits outside. Morpos dreamed that the wolf had once been a king, and that the easiest way to get past him was to offer the wolf your throat. After dreaming this night after night, Morpos went and offered his throat to the wolf. The wolf invited him in and told him of the others who came before—those who took treasure were mugged and those who took weapons spent the rest of their lives fighting. The goddess appeared and told Morpos he must pick one. Faced with an impossible choice, Morpos instead took the wolf, and they left together.
• Like a Dust Mote in the Shadows: Sophos is beaten for defending a fellow worker against a drunk soldier. Sophos remembers the time the magus beat Eugenides and how the Thief’s pride had seemed more injured than his back. Sophos wonders where his own wounded pride is. Dirnes, the man Sophos defended, is angry to be indebted with no way to pay off the obligation. Sophos dreams less of the library and pays little attention to the ongoing rebellion against the King of Sounis, until one day he looks up and sees his own father riding past. In his dreams, Sophos’s tutor tells him that he can stay where he is and no god will be displeased, but asks what it is he wants. Sophos realizes he wants to stay where he is and fade into ignominy, but he doesn’t want it to be his choice. He wants the right to blame others for his own inaction.
• Birdbrained Berrone Saves the Day: Sophos chooses to go. Ochto and the other men—his friends—choose to let him. Sophos runs to the house and finds Berrone, then tells her an overwrought tale of hardship about a missing sister, a sister that only their new visitors could help him save. While they are scheming, Sophos learns that his father will be murdered at dinner. Sophos reaches his father and warns him of the attack, then warns each of his father’s men with the help of the lion’s head ring his father lends him. Sophos slips out to ready the horses but is caught by the soldier he fought. Before the soldier can sound the alarm, Ochto and Dirnes appear and club him from behind. Sophos asks them to run away with him, but they decline. Sophos returns to the great hall and together, he, his father, and his father’s men fight their way free on Hanaktos’s estate.
• You Are Sounis: At dawn, the fleeing men reach camp, where the magus is waiting. Sophos finds out that his mother and sisters are not dead but are being held elsewhere by Hanaktos. The magus and Sophos’s father bicker over whether Hanaktos is working with the Medes. And then they tell Sophos that his uncle is dead and that Sophos is now King of Sounis. The magus argues that they need to make an alliance with Melenze, a country to the north, before the Medes find out the old king is dead and try to attack. Sophos’s father argues that they need to ally with the Medes before war breaks out between Melenze and Attolia. They both want Sophos, as king, to choose their side.
• Nosy Neshy: They are interrupted by the Mede ambassador, Akretenesh, who has heard everything. Sophos’s father talks up his son, explaining that while Sophos has not been confirmed by the barons yet, it’s really a formality. Akretenesh asks if Sophos will have a regent, and Sophos says he should, meaning the magus. Sophos’s father and the magus have a rip-roaring fight in front of the ambassador, until the magus suddenly turns purple and collapses. Sophos takes the magus to his tent and calls for a doctor, but the magus is only faking. They have to leave, he explains. Now. Too many of the men in camp support the Mede, and Sophos has proven he won’t be installed as a puppet—or, if he were, it would be the magus pulling the strings. They need to go before Sophos is assassinated. Sophos’s father will take the army north. The magus and Sophos will flee to Attolia to plead for aid from its king and queen.
• The Arms of a Friend(?): As they travel, the magus tells Sophos that his mother and sisters left the icehouse before the fire but also were betrayed by Hyacinth and are being held in Brimedius. They arrive at the King and Queen of Attolia’s carriage and arrange to meet with Eugenides with the help of a pea. Once bathed and dressed, they’re taken to the throne room to formally meet Attolis and Attolia. Sounis is technically still at war with Attolia, but Sophos begs his case, saying it wouldn’t benefit Attolia for his country to fall to the Mede or to Melenze. Eugenides speaks, not as a friend but as Attolis. “The simplest way to end a war is to admit you have lost it.”
• Hey Helen: The Queen of Eddis arrives. We learn that Sophos’s last letter to Eddis contained a proposal of marriage, but he never received the answer. Eddis and Sophos argue over what he should do. Sophos is willing to give Attolis his allegiance as a tributary, but he won’t give up his crown. Eddis reveals that Gen sent her to persuade him to make sure he keeps to that decision. Sophos calls Gen an idiot, but also has already decided to forgive him. Before Eddis leaves, she accepts Sophos’s long-ago proposal. They’ll be married once he’s crowned Sounis.
• Man’s Best Friend: Eddis tells Sophos the story of Polystrictes, who is given goats by a god, but the goats only respond to their own names, and there are too many, so the god gives him a dog to mind the goats so Polystrictes only needed to remember the dog’s name.
• So Smart… and Still So Stupid: Sophos and Attolis talk, but as kings in front of an audience. It’s stiff and formal and Sophos is frustrated by the end, but he offers his allegiance and Attolis accepts. Negotiations are slow, mostly because Attolis won’t discuss things directly or privately. Attolis lends a few troops to Sophos to return to Sounis, but there aren’t enough, and Sophos is growing angrier. Sophos is later cornered by Melheret, the Mede ambassador to Attolia. Melheret gets Sophos drunk and tries to secure an alliance and drive a wedge between Sophos and Attolia.
• On Guard: The next morning, Attolis and Melheret spar while Sophos watches. Melheret wins. Once he leaves, Attolis throws his sword in a fit. Only when they are in private does Sophos learn that Attolis was deliberately baiting Melheret to tease out his fighting style and weaknesses. Melheret trained Nahuseresh and Attolis wants to be prepared should he ever meet his old foe again. When Attolis makes a snide remark about it, Sophos realizes that if he waits, Attolis—Eugenides—will only grow more remote. So he pushes the king of Attolia, who flops like a ragdoll. That’s all it takes. Gen collapses in a heap of laughter, then Sophos helps him to his feet, friends once more.
• Boys’ Night: Eugenides wakes him in the middle of the night for a boys’ night out. As they sneak out of the palace and into town, Sophos asks if Gen always knew that he loved Attolia. No, the king admits. He didn’t know until after he had stolen the Gift, when he had snuck into Attolia to spy on its queen and had to restrain himself from jumping a prospective suitor. Poor Dite. They go to a tavern in disguise, and Gen complains about his court, his physicians, and his attendants, all of whom, he says, are like Ambiadeses, waiting to betray him. Sophos wonders otherwise.
• Onea Realia: The monarchs continue to talk politics as the summer progresses. Attolia advises Sophos to find his most significant adversary at home and have that person killed to cement his own power. Melheret corners Sophos again and baits him with news of home. Sophos and the magus prepare to return home with their borrowed troops to rescue Sophos’s family. Attolia gives Sophos a gift: a case with a dueling pistol inscribed with the words Onea realia, “The queen made me.” Attolis tells him that there is a secret chamber below with his gift to Sophos. Attolia’s gift is tied to her previous advice on how to cement his reign as Sounis and Sophos must make up his mind about that advice before looking beneath. Sophos bids his friends goodbye, and it’s only then that Eddis realizes that she isn’t just fond of the boy king. She loves him.
• Nasty Neshy Reappears: Before Sophos can reach his family, his troops are pinned by the Sounisian rebel barons in front and back. Sophos falls off his horse and is captured by the rebels, where Akretenesh is also waiting. Sophos is allowed to keep his gift from Attolia, but his love letter from Eddis is taken. The Mede argues that the rift between Sophos and his barons are all a misunderstanding. Sophos is slowly browbeaten into good behavior by subtle threats to his family, whom he is still not allowed to see. But then clever Eddis manages to send Sophos a coded message—his mother and sisters are not hostages. They are safe, in Eddis, with her. Relieved, Sophos pretends to give in at last, asking Akretenesh for proof that the Medes can make him king.
• The Barons Meet: Akretenesh takes Sophos to the Barons’ Meet, the official ceremony where the barons of Sounis must vote to confirm their new king. The sacred space is too small to allow armies, so the barons’ and the Mede soldiers all wait in a nearby port, while Sophos, Akretenesh, and their guards continue on. While riding, Akretenesh recommends Sophos take Baron Comeneus as his regent, and Sophos wonders if he’s had a falling out with Hanaktos. As heir, Sophos must meet with each baron before the vote and persuade them not only to crown him, but to crown him without a regent. . None of the barons listen. The rebels want Sophos as a puppet-king, and the loyalists don’t trust Sophos not to immediately capitulate to Attolia or the Medes.
• Ah, He’s Learning: Sophos has his attendant bring news of the lies the Mede sows among the barons so Sophos can try to correct them in the next day’s meetings. Sophos finally meets Comeneus, who is rude, arrogant, blustering, and condescending, but still the Medes’ proposed pick for a regent.
• The Barons’ Meet: The day of the official Meet, Sophos dresses in the finery paid for by Attolis. He joins Akretenesh and his barons in the amphitheater of the sacred space, then takes the stage to argue against regency. The barons vote: Regent. Akretenesh asks Sophos if he really thought the barons would ever make him king alone, but his voice carries in the ampitheater and the barons recoil as one. Sophos says no, he didn’t. Not in the first vote. Opening his coat, he pulls Attolia’s gun from the pocket and shoots Hanaktos dead. With the other hand, he reaches into the second pocket and pulls out the gift from Eugenides—a matching gun that reads Realisa onum, “I make the king.” This one he points at Akretenesh and smiles. The scar from his beating twists Sophos’s lip into a sneer. He looks like his uncle. He calls for another vote. The result is unanimous. King. No regent required. Sophos is crowned Sounis
• Here Doggy, Doggy: The voting over, Sounis orders Akretenesh to leave for good. Akretenesh throws open the doors, revealing his own soldiers. Before he can order them to fire, Sounis shoots and wounds him, and the soldiers hidden in the bushes by the barons shoot the would-be assassins. Sounis reveals that his capture on the road from Attolia was planned to give his borrowed troops time to scatter and hide in the hills surrounding the Meet. Unfortunately, Akretenesh is still smug, because he has close to 10,000 soldiers waiting to invade, not the few thousand Sounis had planned for.
• This Man’s Best Friend: Sounis is livid. With so many Mede soldiers waiting, at least some of his barons must have known. He calls for Basrus, his own god-given dog to his flock of barons, to find out who. Basrus ferrets out some of the traitors, who tell Sounis about the enemy infantry waiting to march from the nearby court.
• Dealing with the Fallout: Berrone arrives, weeping for her dead father. Her mother blames her for Hanaktos’s death but is also trying to emotionally blackmail Sounis into marrying her pretty daughter. Sounis, again, is furious, but sees an opportunity, since Hanaktos’s widow knew of all his dealings. Sounis interviews his barons again, one by one, with Basrus on one side and Berrone’s sphinx of a mother on the other. These meetings are much more fruitful. He also realizes that all of the attendant his attendant has brought to him throughout the past weeks has been a functionally useless ploy to gain his trust. He was Hanaktos’s man from the beginning; Sounis has him jailed.
• The Road to Oneia: The next morning, Sounis, his little army, his barons, and their men flee to Oneia. It is a dead end road and will only buy them a few more hours, but Sounis is king, so he commands and the rest follow. His army fights cleverly and well, but the Medes outnumber them five times over. The road to Oneia curves, so as Sounis retreats, he can only see so far ahead, so far behind. When they round the last curve, they’re met by a wall of blue and gold. Attolis sent more men! The Medes are chased all the way back to their boats and Akretenesh is packed off with them.
• Don’t Forget Me: Triumphant, Sounis returns to visit Nomenus, his jailed attendant, a final time. His cell is little more than a hole in the ground. Nomenus asks if he will be imprisoned forever. Sounis says no, but for some time still. The ex-attendant pleads not to be forgotten.
• All’s Fair in War: Sounis and his father hurry to Eddis and have an emotional reunion with their missing family. Sounis is told that the Queen of Eddis is waiting for him in Attolia, but he delays, worrying she will no longer want him now that he has been sullied by the dirty decisions of war. In Attolia, Eddis confirms she loves him and doesn’t judge him, but she warns there are complications he hasn’t thought of. Before she can explain, they’re called before Attolis and Attolia. When they reach the throne room, Eugenides is flabbergasted. “You shot the ambassador?” he asks. Sounis points out that Eugenides gave him the gun.
• What’s Fair in Love?: All are in high spirits as Sounis officially swears his loyalty to Attolis, permanently binding the two countries. Then he announces he and Eddis are to be married. Eugenides is thrilled until Attolia points out that they can’t marry, not as they are. The marriage would divide Sounis’s loyalties between his new oath to Attolis and the independent country of Eddis. Eddis must swear fealty and subjugate her country to Attolis as well, or the engagement is off.
• The Thin Veil: The ceremony ends and Sounis and Eddis retreat to speak in private. Eddis confesses she knew all along what would be required and had accepted his proposal anyways. Sounis is horrified. He won’t allow her to go through with it and storms out. Later, he returns and apologizes for being an ass. It wasn’t his choice to make, but hers. Eddis is still angry. Sophos confesses that every night when he dreamed of his library, Eddis was there, too, and he knew everything was as it should be. He begs for forgiveness. Eddis stares at him, then leads Sophos to Attolia’s library for the first time. It’s the library from his dream. Moira, Hephestia’s messenger, was his tutor. Eddis tells Sophos that she dreams as well—of Sounis, studying in the library with Moira, and of the Sacred Mountain exploding, burying the city of Eddis in a river of fire. She needs to move her people out of Eddis, away from the mountain. She needs to marry Sounis, even if it means giving up her sovereignty. And she loves him. Neither of them can overlook that. He wonders aloud what Gen dreams of, and Eddis warns him that they are not dreams for Eugenides. The ex-Thief lives in a world where the veil is thin and he walks in it gingerly.
• Leap of Faith, No Falls Required: Future settled, Sophos visits his friend and King. They talk about the gods, about Eddis, about how much the Eddisians will hate Eugenides for taking his cousin’s sovereignty. Gen confesses he’s relieved Sounis got his message about the reinforcements waiting at Oneia, and is stunned to learn that Sounis hadn’t. Gen asks why Sophos took his troops to Oneia anyways. Because he knew Attolis would send help, even without being told, Sophos says. He needed his king, so Attolis came through.
Want to read more in the Queen’s Thief series?
- Find more recaps here
- Buy A Conspiracy of Kings now, or the next book in the series, Thick as Thieves
- Prepare for the epic finale, The Return of the Thief