Shadow Thieves
Peter Burns
Farshore

Born in a desolate workhouse, Tom Morgan has managed to escape and since then by using his wits, observation skills and fleet of foot, he’s survived on the London streets. When his friends from the street are taken by child snatchers, Tom promises himself that he’ll rescue them. He meanwhile, is approached by the Corsair, a man who offers him an opportunity not merely to survive but to thrive. Tom accepts and is taken to become a student at Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts or Thieves School, an elite international boarding school shrouded in secrecy.

From the outset he faces challenges – bullies, the amount of work he has to catch up with having joined mid year and making new friends. He learns about the Shadow League, which comprises four guilds – spies, thieves, assassins and politicos – that supposedly keep the balance in the world, and he’s taught to scam, practice deception and tackle tricky obstacles of the physical kind. In so doing he keeps alert, realises that not everyone is to be trusted and puts together some vital clues that will help his friends new and old.

Then, when he goes to the International Shadow Cup with the Corsair, Tom’s skills are tested to the limit.
What exactly is the threat that is constantly lurking as the plot twists this way and that?

Set in an alternative world where the major powers are la Grande République de France, the Japanese Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, with action aplenty, an amazing brave, quick-witted protagonist in Tom and superb world building, this splendid story is one where you keep telling yourself, I’ll just read one more chapter before I stop and then you find you’ve finished the whole book. Now I’m eagerly awaiting the second in the series coming next year.