Title: Fawkes

Author: Nadine Brandes

Format: E-Arc (from NetGalley)

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Page count: 448

Release day: 10^th July 2018

Series: Standalone

Rating: 4 stars

What is it about?

This book takes place in England 1600, but here people have magical abilities. These powers are based on colours; red, green, yellow, blue, brown, grey and black, there is also something called white light, with which all colours can be controlled. People are divided into two groups, the Keepers, who are against using the white light and the Igniters, who are for using the white light. Everyone gets sorted into the colour they control best, after sorting you wear a mask in that colour crafted by your parents.

At the beginning of this book Thomas is about to be ‘sorted’, but his father does not show up with his mask, which means he can’t be sorted. So he sets out to London to find his dad and ask for his mask. He ends up in the middle of a ‘war’ between Keepers and Igniters, at that point in time there are more Igniters.

Besides the magic and the war there is also the Stone plague, when you’re infected you slowly turn into stone. The plague is the worst in London. And Thomas tries to fix it all.

What I thought:

I was really excited for this book, and it did not disappoint!

The beginning was quite confusing, since you are thrown into a world without a lot of explanation about what is going on, but after a while it was all clear, or at least as good as it needed to be.

I really liked that there was a male main character in in YA! (Thomas Fawkes.. à now the title makes sense)

The first two chapters really gave Divergent feels, with getting ‘sorted for a colour’, which in my opinion is not a bad thing.

There were some parts that were quite predictable, like the romance and the ending, but the way to that was, in my case, not predictable. Which I really liked, because otherwise I would have taken another star.

Also I learned from this book that I actually really enjoy historical fantasy! I’m usually not a big fan of books based on history, this book has quite a lot of similarities with the ‘real’ history, so now I have to find more books like this!

Quotes:

‘You can’t judge an entire group of people by the actions of a few’

‘They acted as though the skin determines the worth of a human. As though being ‘cured’ or being of fair skin is the ultimate perfection’ ‘But they’re wrong. Your skin and plague don’t define you’

Recommend:

For fans of divergent and history!