... what he had taken for the roughness of sleep was the king’s accent. While half asleep, he had spoken with an Eddisian accent, which was only to be expected, but Costis had never heard it before, nor had anyone he knew. Awake, the king sounded like an Attolian. It made Costis wonder what else the king could hide so well that no one even thought to look for it.[p. 219]
Eugenides has become King of Attolia, but is not well-received by the courtiers and soldiers of the city. They believe he's a barbarian who forced the Queen to marry him, and who has not consummated the marriage. (There is a rude song about this.) They put snakes in his bed and sand in his food: they regard him as helpless and inept.
But this is not his story -- or, rather, not his narrative. It's the story of Costis Ormentiedes, a young soldier in the King's Guard, who we first see trying to compose a letter to his father after having punched the King in the face.
I continue to marvel at Turner's storytelling skill. Though the focus (and, usually, the viewpoint) is firmly with Costis -- Ornon, the Eddisian ambassador, gets some scenes too, as does the Queen -- the core of the novel is Eugenides' reluctance to become King in truth as well as in name, and in the gods' determination that he will fulfil the role they've crafted for him. Keeping Eugenides at one remove from the narrative distances us from his thoughts and feelings, but there are (as ever with Turner) lots of telling details. The click of a latch, the toss of a coin, the roughness of an accent...
Costis is a likeable narrator, and his gradual realisation that Eugenides isn't what he appears feels authentic and natural. Even the minor characters have agency and agendas: even the villains have redeeming features. And there's a strong sense of the presence, the reality, of the gods: numinosity? A splendid and superbly-crafted novel.
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