Goldie lives in the city of Jewel. At a glance, it is perfect, just as its name suggests. A lovely, clean place where children are valued above all things and are protected from slavers, disease and drowning by the attentive Blessed Guardians. Goldie knows better. The Blessed Guardians are more like jailers than protectors and, at twelve, she is desperate for the day that she will finally be cut free from the silver chains that tie her to safety.

It is a sin in Jewel to be impatient or bold; and Goldie has sinned more than anyone in her class. On Separation Day, the day that should have been the happiest of her life, everything goes wrong and she ends up committing a sin worse than all of her other sins combined.

Alone and hunted she finds the Museum of Dunt; a place where wildness still roams, waiting for the chance to get free. There she, along with the Museum’s keepers – Toadspit, Herro Dan, Sinew and Olga Ciavolga – must fight to protect the Museum from Jewel and Jewel from the Museum.

Having fallen in love with the historic-looking book cover of Museum of Thieves a few years ago, it has been on my to-buy list for a while. Finally having taken the plunge, this novel surpassed my wildest expectations. One of the reasons I hesitated to buy it immediately was that I was aware that Museum of Thieves was for readers who are younger than the age I usually read. With both main characters being twelve, I worried that the tone might be too simplistic or patronising. I have judged Lian Tanner unfairly. She does a brilliant job of writing a book that all age-groups will enjoy, whilst having a moral stance that doesn’t overwhelm readers.

While plot, world-building and ethics combine to put Thieves in a league of its own for children’s fantasy; it was the characters who won me from the start. Tanner writes characters in a bold and courageous way that I don’t often find. This isn’t to say that her characters are necessarily bold and courageous, but that she is in the writing of them. She throws them onto the page, warts and all, with an almost blind trust that they will win readers in spite of their myriad of faults. And it works. Toadspit is hostile, treating Goldie with unconcealed contempt, and often trying to undermine her. Goldie makes decisions without considering the consequences to those she loves the most. All of the Keepers are thieves. When Tanner made boldness a sin in the world of Museum of Thieves, she knew that she would have to give her main characters some pretty unpleasant personality traits. Unlike some authors, she doesn’t shy away from this. She embraces it. The characters are bold, self-assured and stubborn. Sometimes it makes them unlikeable; mostly it makes me want them to succeed.

Despite being a book for younger readers, the world in Museum of Thieves is well thought out. Jewel is a city that has been leached of all of its dangers and wildness, throwing nature out of balance. To re-establish some of that balance, the Museum of Dunt keeps all of the wild things that the city has shunned. As such, it is a place of constant, broiling dangers, kept under control by the Keepers alone; a sleeping giant that may awaken and destroy Jewel should the Keepers ever fail in their task. Tanner contrasts the safety of the city against the hazards of the Museum to full effect. The people of Jewel have been safe for so long that they have no ability to defend themselves should things go wrong. The danger in Museum of Thieves is tied in flawlessly with the problems of Jewel’s society, making a compelling read and an even more compelling argument on the hazards of cocooning a society in ignorance.

With an abundance of characters you love to love and those you love to hate, Museum of Thieves is riveting from the first page to the last. Suited to anyone who likes a character-strong fantasy, this is a must-read for anyone who likes Diana Wynne-Jones.

Museum of Thieves – Lian Tanner

Allen & Unwin (September 28, 2012)

ISBN: 9781742376561