This is my favorite Queen's Thief book.

When I go too long between re-reads I start waffling like, "Well, I really like Queen of Attolia too, and I love Sophos in Conspiracy of Kings so much..." But no. When I say foolish, ignorant things like these, please ignore me. The King of Attolia is my absolute FAVORITE Queen's Thief book. Hands down. No contest.

The first half of the book is murder. You, the reader, are the only person who really knows Eugenides, and are trapped on the outside of the book, helpless, as everyone else absolutely embarrasses themselves. It's agony, when you're seeing everything and all the characters are so blind. After the halfway point and the fall of Erondites it just gets better and better, at an exponential rather than a linear rate. Each individual dramatic reveal is food for my greedy soul and off the top of my head I can count at least three or four of them.

The outsider POV is perfect, and Costis is so great. You start out thinking, "Um, who is this unfamiliar character and why is he taking up so much space when I really want to hear about Eugenides and Attolia." This attitude quickly falls away, though, until by the end you can barely remember ever feeling that way. Costis is lovely.

I, personally, am waiting with baited breath for the moment when Costis and Sophos will be in the same room.