Museum of Thieves (The Keepers, Book 1)
Lian Tanner

Summary
“Welcome to the tyrannical city of Jewel, where impatience is a sin and boldness is a crime. Goldie Roth has lived in Jewel all her life. Like every child in the city, she wears a silver guardchain and is forced to obey the dreaded Blessed Guardians. She has never done anything by herself and won’t be allowed out on the streets unchained until Separation Day.
When Separation Day is canceled, Goldie, who has always been both impatient and bold, runs away, risking not only her own life but also the lives of those she has left behind. In the chaos that follows, she is lured to the mysterious Museum of Dunt, where she meets the boy Toadspit and discovers terrible secrets. Only the cunning mind of a thief can understand the museum’s strange, shifting rooms. Fortunately, Goldie has a talent for thieving.
Which is just as well, because the leader of the Blessed Guardians has his own plans for the museum—plans that threaten the lives of everyone Goldie loves. And it will take a daring thief to stop him. . . .” (via Amazon.com)

Review
The book starts in an almost dystopian society, where children are chained to their parents or one of the Guardians until the age of 16. Well, until this year: the age has been dropped to 12 and while Goldie is thrilled, there are those in the city who think this is a terrible idea; and they’re willing to take drastic measures. I flew through this book; it’s the kind of book I would have read over and over again when I was younger, and then pretended to be Goldie in the backyard (the age range says 9-12). Nothing irritates me faster than a book where the only adults refuse to listen, but this book had a few who actually let the kids make mistakes and gave them advice rather than lecture (the best kind, in my opinion).

The world is well constructed and some of the characters terrifying. Besides the mystical library (that “speaks” to its inhabitants), there are other forces at work that seem like magic. Definitely a book for younger fans of Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. It has plenty of action and a museum that literally has a mind of its own. I’m looking forward to the next book, and seeing what else the museum has hidden.

Museum of Thieves comes out September 28th