
Written by Kevin Sands
Part of the Thieves of Shadow series
Five young talents face a deadly heist against a powerful sorcerer. Success or betrayal awaits.
Five young criminals, each with unique skills, are hired to steal a treasure from the city's most powerful sorcerer. Callan, Meriel, Gareth, Lachlan, and Foxtail must trust each other to succeed. But magic is unpredictable, and failure could be deadly. Can they outsmart the sorcerer, or will their plan unravel?
This stunning tale of betrayal, trickery, and friendship takes the reader on a wild ride. –School Library Journal Ocean’s Eleven meets The False Prince in this thrilling heist story for young readers, in which five kids with unusual talents are brought together to commit an impossible crime. Failure is unacceptable … but success could be deadly. From the bestselling author of the Blackthorn Key series, this magic-infused fantasy brings together a ragtag group of kids to pull off a crime so difficult, countless adults have already tried and failed. Lured by the promise of more money than they’ve ever dreamed of, five young criminals are hired to steal a heavily guarded treasure from the most powerful sorcerer in the city. There’s Callan the con artist, Meriel the expert at acrobatics (and knives!), Gareth the researcher, Lachlan who can obtain anything, and Foxtail, whose mysterious eyeless mask doesn’t hinder her ability to climb walls like a spider. Though their shadowy backgrounds mean that they’ve never trusted anyone but themselves, the five must learn to rely on each other in order to get the job done. But as Callan has been warned most of his life, it’s best to stay away from magic. It can turn on you at any moment, and make you think you’re the one running the con game, when in reality you’re the one being fooled. Faced with these unsurmountable odds, can the friends pull off this legendary heist, or has their luck finally run out?
What families may want to know
Every family reads differently. These are the concepts our editors noticed in this book — worth seeking out for some readers, worth knowing about for others. The list isn't exhaustive, but it's a spoiler-light head start.
Violence
The main character was whipped for being a thief. At one point in the story he describes the experience in which he was chained to a pole and whipped. He has scars from the beating. The villain has used an apprentice's soul to guard a gemstone. It's implied that the apprentice was killed as part of the process.
Magic
In the world invented by the author every object has a trace of magic. There are also enchantments and magical bindings.
Serious Subject Matter
**Spoiler** In one part of the story, the characters enter a casino and steal an object from another character as a gamble during a card game.
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