Megan Whalen Turner, you sly minx. I spent the first HALF of the book wanting to beat myself with a horsewhip after each and every detailed description of the horses and stale bread and rocky path that our motley yet intrepid crew of five set out on. Led by the King of Sounis' magus, or advisor, our protagonist thief Gen is dragged from his prison cell to undertake a mission at the behest of the King. Gen just has to steal a stone that may not even exist and has never been stolen before -- that or die in prison. He's joined on this quest by two of the magus's apprentices, who he christens Useless the Elder and Useless the Younger, and a soldier named Pol. The seemingly endless trek from Sounis to the Super Secret Special Stone Spot is painful for both Gen and the reader. By the 20th olive tree mention, you've either fallen asleep along with Gen or strongly considered abandoning the book. But then the second half starts and things start happening! They've reached A place and at this point, you don't even care if it's THE place. And then the action picks up some more and 2/3 into the book, you realize that all those meaningless details in the first half of the book are actually breadcrumbs that set the stage for the story -- that's really going to take place in Book Two. A slow clap for Ms. Whalen Turner because she has me. I am invested in the story, in Gen, in the queens, in the heirs, and in her world. But damn, was it an arduous fucking trip to get here.