by Leigh Bardugo

Six outcasts, one impossible heist. This book is brilliant: a little like a fantasy version of Mission Impossible, or Oceans Eleven, if instead of being safecracking or forging skills some of the team had magic powers. (Don’t worry, they can pick locks and crack safes too!)

 The plot is inventive and unputdownably exciting, but I also fell in love with all the beautiful, broken misfit characters – especially Kes and Inej. 

The six main characters are the ‘dregs’ of Ketterdam (a canal-lined hub of trade based on 19th century Amsterdam): a criminal prodigy, a spy, a magical heartrender, a convict, a sharpshooter and a runaway. They all have own agendas – and their own demons – but to survive they must somehow work together to pull off the craziest job they have ever done. 

Ages 13+

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