Review by Booklist Review
Tom Morgan is a 13-year-old orphan on the streets of London who has managed to evade workhouse snatchers, thanks to his bond with other orphans and knack for trickery. But when his friends are captured, Tom grows desperate and determined to break them free. With no money and few options, he is enticed by a mysterious recruitment card promising fortune to the daring and capable. Following this card leads him to a mysterious recruiter and, later, to the remote location of the Beaufort School for Deceptive Arts. As he begins to learn the ropes of this unconventional boarding school preparing new thieves for the Shadow League, Tom wonders if he's gotten in over his head. Morgan leads readers on a fast-paced journey of jewelry heists and boarding school brawls, delivering a dabbling of dark academia to the middle-grade audience. The story can be difficult to follow with its large cast of characters, but once a reader is absorbed, they'll root for Tom on his quest to become a Shadow League graduate.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Orphaned 13-year-old Tom Morgan has spent years perfecting the art of thievery. With no knowledge of his parents beyond his mother possibly being from Egypt, he survives by picking strangers' pockets on the streets of London, all the while avoiding snatchers who would lock him up in a workhouse if caught. Things look grim when his friends are captured by snatchers. Then Tom receives the chance of a lifetime after a mysterious man hands him a card that reads, "Wanted: the clever, the cunning, and the fearless. Must be willing to risk death daily. Fortunes available for the most daring and capable." Tom soon finds himself whisked away to Beaufort's School for Deceptive Arts, an elite boarding academy for thieves, where he hopes to learn the skills necessary to save his friends. But as he immerses himself within this new world of sneak and cunning, it becomes clear that there is more to Beaufort's than meets the eye. In his children's debut, Burns (This Is Your Everest, for adults) deploys propulsive pacing and action-packed plotting to spin a page-turning, edge-of-the-seat adventure. Meticulously unraveled secrets and personable characters will have readers clamoring for the next volume of this enthralling series starter. Ages 10--up. (Aug.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An orphaned street urchin is recruited into an elite school for thieves. In an alternate world where France is the dominant world power, 13-year-old Tom Morgan has had to scrimp, starve, and steal on the streets of London to survive. Born into a workhouse, he doesn't know anything about his father, while his mother may have been from North Africa. One thing he does know is the sort of cruelty that awaits the poor who are sent to the workhouse, and he's determined not to go back. But when their camp is raided and his friends are captured by workhouse agents, the only thing Tom can think of is how to get them out. Enter the Corsair, a cunning and mysterious man with a proposition: He wants to recruit Tom into Beaufort's School for Deceptive Arts. From nabbing treasures to forging identity papers, Beaufort's promises to teach Tom everything he needs to know to become a Shadow Thief and a member of the Shadow League, the secret global organization that helps keep the world's political power in balance. But Beaufort's has its own rules and secrets, and if Tom is to survive long enough to help his friends, he'll need to figure them out quickly. Clever and gripping, this fast-paced boarding school story will appeal to fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society and Spy School series. A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series.(Adventure. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
