The Thief (Megan Whalen Turner)
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40 free The Thief (Megan Whalen Turner) trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief looks like a simple quest story: a boastful young prisoner, a royal adviser who needs something stolen, and a long ride towards a treasure nobody has ever brought back. Then the last chapters turn the whole journey inside out, which is why so many readers go straight back to page one. This quiz follows the book from the prison cell to the final reveal. It covers Gen and the companions he needles along the way, the legend of Hamiathes's Gift, the temple maze, the old gods and the stories told around the campfire, and the rival countries of Sounis, Eddis and Attolia. A few questions step outside the plot to the author, the awards, the sequels and the planned screen version. It is pitched at students who have just finished the novel, at book clubs, and at long-time fans of the Queen's Thief series checking how much they remember. Be warned that the questions spoil the ending, so finish the book first. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does Gen brag about stealing in The Thief, landing him in a royal prison in Sounis?
The king's seal
The king's seal backed up a wineshop boast that he could steal anything, and it cost him months in chains.
Q 02How is Gen related to the queen of Eddis, as the final chapters of The Thief reveal?
Her cousin
Her cousin, and so a member of the royal family: the ragged prisoner the party looked down on had been her agent from the start.
Q 03Besides a claim to a throne, what is Hamiathes's Gift rumoured to grant its bearer in The Thief?
Immortality
Immortality is the legend, and the story teases it: Gen is trapped with no way out of the maze, yet wakes outside holding the stone.
Q 04Where is the maze holding Hamiathes's Gift hidden in The Thief, leaving Gen only night-time hours to search?
Beneath a river
Beneath a river, below a waterfall that a dam shuts off at midnight. Megan Whalen Turner modelled the flooded temple on an ancient cistern she had visited.
Q 05Megan Whalen Turner modelled the world of The Thief on which country after holidaying there with her husband?
Greece
Greece gave her the landscape she wanted on her first visit, and she hauled a stack of heavy history books around the country to read by the sea.
Q 06Which distinction did The Thief earn in 1997 as a runner-up for America's top children's book medal?
Newbery Honor
Newbery Honor news came by phone and caught her out: she later admitted she had not even known which day the winners were announced.
Q 07Gen, the narrator of The Thief, is short for which name, shared with his people's god of thieves?
Eugenides
Eugenides is the trickster god of the old stories, and thieves in Gen's homeland are all named after him, a clue many readers skim past.
Q 08Where has Gen hidden Hamiathes's Gift in The Thief while the magus believes an Attolian ambush lost it?
In his hair
In his hair, held by one of the two ties the story keeps mentioning, and he only undoes it in front of his own queen.
Q 09Which traveller on the quest in The Thief turns out to be selling the others out to Attolia?
Ambiades
Ambiades, the poor son of a fallen noble house, sold the party to Attolia's queen in exchange for riches and rank.
Q 10Megan Whalen Turner wanted the landscape of The Thief to look nothing like which famous fantasy realm?
Middle-earth
Middle-earth was the look to avoid: she grew up loving Tolkien but had seen too many fantasy worlds copy his, so she went looking for a different landscape.
Q 11Gen gives both of the magus's apprentices in The Thief a nickname that starts with which insult?
Useless
Useless the Elder and Useless the Younger are his names for the pair, a taste of the snide, sharp voice that reviewers singled out.
Q 12Despite his title, the magus of Sounis in The Thief is not a wizard but which kind of man?
A scholar
A scholar and an ageing soldier, he is the king's most powerful adviser, which is exactly why he has to borrow a thief.
Q 13What is revealed about Sophos, the magus's younger apprentice, in the closing chapters of The Thief?
He is heir to Sounis
He is heir to Sounis, the king's own nephew, which explains why a seasoned bodyguard rides along with a shy student.
Q 21Which Great Goddess rules the old gods in the myths the travellers tell in The Thief?
Hephestia
Hephestia took charge after persuading her quarrelling parents to pass their powers to her, because their fights kept harming humans.
Q 22In the creation story the magus tells in The Thief, which god makes humans after quarrelling with Earth?
Sky
Sky made them, but Earth pitied the weak creatures and gave them fire and tools, then shook the ground when they thanked the wrong god.
Q 23On his last night in the maze in The Thief, Gen spots a hidden door made of which material?
Obsidian
Obsidian: he smashes through the black volcanic glass and climbs a hidden staircase to the court of the gods.
Q 14What does the soldier Pol do to the party's betrayer in The Thief before dying himself?
Pushes him off a cliff
Pushes him off a cliff, then goes over the edge himself, dragging two Attolian soldiers down with him.
Q 15What does the queen of Attolia offer Gen after capturing him and his companions in The Thief?
A place in her service
A place in her service, stealing for her, was on the table, and he turned it down to her face, telling her she was not kind enough.
Q 16In the sequel to The Thief, how does the queen of Attolia punish Gen for spying on her?
She cuts off his hand
She cuts off his hand, an old penalty for theft, when he had expected to hang. Astonishingly, the two are married by the third book.
Q 17Which kind of narrator is Gen usually said to be in The Thief?
Unreliable
Unreliable, though he never tells an outright lie: he simply leaves things out until the moment they matter.
Q 18In the hidden chamber above the maze in The Thief, the gods at first look to Gen like what?
Statues
Statues, he assumes, standing frozen around the Great Goddess, until the god of thieves stirs and tells him to take the stone.
Q 19Megan Whalen Turner says she first wrote The Thief as what, trimming material she assumed she would never use?
A standalone book
A standalone book was the plan until, right after her award call, her editor put a librarian on the line to ask when the sequel was due.
Q 20Which terrain defines Eddis, the small country lying between Sounis and Attolia in The Thief?
Mountains
Mountains wall Eddis in, and it is the one country where the old gods are still worshipped.
Q 24Where is Hamiathes's Gift resting when Gen at last finds it in the court of the gods in The Thief?
On the ruler's lap
On the ruler's lap: the Great Goddess herself holds it, and he hesitates a long moment before daring to take it.
Q 25Before the journey in The Thief, what is Gen shown as the reward that would be posted for his capture?
A chest of gold
A chest of gold: a single coin would make most people rich, so the whole country would turn out to hunt him if he ran.
Q 26Why does the magus whip Gen one morning on the road in The Thief?
Food has gone missing
Food has gone missing and he blames the thief, straight after an evening of storytelling when the two had seemed to grow close.
Q 27Which skill does Gen hate in The Thief, yet turn out to be alarmingly good at against the Attolian guard?
Swordplay
Swordplay: the book cuts away from the fight, and readers learn how good he is only from his companions' stunned reactions.
Q 28As the ending of The Thief reveals, why did Gen let himself be jailed in Sounis?
To catch the magus's eye
To catch the magus's eye: he needed the one man who knew where the Gift lay to hire him, so he could carry it home.
Q 29Gen lets his companions in The Thief think he is gutter-born, but which office does his father hold?
Minister of war
Minister of war of Eddis: the boy the party treats as a street rat comes from a royal household and was highly trained.
Q 30What does the close of The Thief confirm Gen has done with the tale of his adventure?
Written it down himself
Written it down himself: earlier he had grumbled that the magus would take the credit on a public monument while he was forgotten.