@article{Foster2023,
  author    = {Foster, Frances},
  title     = {Gods and Magic in Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief},
  series = {thersites 17},
  volume    = {2023},
  journal   = {thersites 17},
  number    = {17},
  editor    = {Potter, Amanda and Gardner, Hunter H.},
  issn      = {2364-7612},
  doi       = {10.34679/thersites.vol17.242},
  pages     = {32 -- 54},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Megan Whalen Turner's series The Queen's Thief (1996 - 2020) centres on the political intrigues in a group of countries which are at once very like - but also very unlike - Bronze Age and archaic Greece threatened by a powerful Persian Empire. The first book in the series, The Thief (1996), begins as a political adventure haunted by stories of the gods. When those gods directly influence the action, the narrative changes from present political intrigue to a fantasy from the distant past. The mythology in The Thief reflects, imitates and distorts archaic Greek creation myths - stories about how the earth and sky were formed, the divine pantheon and heroes. I examine the presentation of this divine pantheon against the narratives about the gods in Hesiod, the Homeric hymns and Homer's epics. I evaluate how the supernatural element interacts with the largely political narrative of The Thief. In so doing, I explore how the text blends a 'classical supernatural' with a world that is like - but in many ways very unlike - Bronze Age and archaic Greece.},
  language  = {en}
}