A true page turning adventure, Amber Cayley

Brasswitch and Bot (#1 The Rise of the Remarkables)
Gareth Ward
Walker Books
Pub. 2020

 

September 08, 2021

“Until today, being called Brasswitch would have got you killed. Now, it might save your life…”

Brasswitch and Bot (#1 The Rise of the Remarkables) by Gareth Ward tells the tale of an orphaned girl called Wrench who is forced to show her magical powers to stop a steam train from a fatal crash.

The only problem is that those powers have got many like her killed by the infamous Regulators. Saved from an untimely death by the mechanical Bot, they must work together to stop the threat of a mysterious aberration.  Read more

September, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: 1 comment

An enigmatic steampunk adventure, Nell Mace-David

The Traitor and the Thief
Gareth Ward
Walker Books Australia
Pub. 2017

 

August 24, 2021

“If you join us, you too may die, but your sacrifice will save the lives of millions. COG [Covert Operations Group] does not fight for the Empire; it fights for humanity.”

In The Traitor and the Thief by Gareth Ward, 14-year-old Sin lives on the streets of Coxford, picking pockets for a living. He is an orphan, and the closest thing he’s ever had to family is the rough gang he steals for and their mean leader, the Fixer. He didn’t even know that a secret organisation like COG existed, that is, until he met the scar-faced Eldritch Moons.  Read more

August, 2021 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: 1 comment

A fast-paced steampunk adventure, Siobhan Ellis

The Clockill and the Thief
Gareth Ward
Walker Books
pub. 2019

 

September 6, 2020

“Tick-tock, chip-chop, cut out your heart and replace it with a clock, stitch it and sew it and stitch it again, heartless, invincible, with cogs for a brain.”

This is a description of the terrifying Clockill given in the form of a chilling nursery rhyme as featured in the sequel to the award-winning The Traitor and the Thief. Gareth Ward has achieved our high expectations once again. Ward has produced a breathtaking, fast-paced, well-written sequel to his equally stunning first novel. The Clockill and the Thief has not failed in enticing, entrapping, and entertaining the audience.  Read more

September, 2020 Tanya Prince Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers:

Making magic, Denika Mead

 

The Traitor and the Thief
Gareth Ward
Walker Books
2017

“It appeared no one in this new world he inhabited was quite who they seemed.”  This is a quote from the steampunk adventure novel The Traitor and the Thief by Gareth Ward. I was inspired to read this book after meeting the author, also known as The Great Wardini, at Booktown in Featherston, and being his assistant while he performed magic tricks. The Traitor and the Thief is a great book with complex characters, exciting twists and many themes.

When 14-year-old orphan Sin is abducted off the streets, he finds a new life in Covert Operations Group (COG), composed of a group of teens training to stop a war.  Read more

August, 2018 Info Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: , , ,

A steampunk alternative, Ilya Mowll

 

The Traitor and the Thief
Gareth Ward
Walker Books
2017

The Traitor and the Thief is a young adult fiction book by Gareth Ward, published by Walker Books Australia in August 2017, which won the 2016 Storylines Tessa Duder Award. The book is about a 14-year-old boy called Sin who steals on the streets of a steampunk Britannia. Sin is caught stealing and is offered a place in Covert Operation Group (COG) to train and become a spy. But Sin soon discovers that there is a spy in COG and must catch them before they can cause chaos.

The world that Ward has written is set in an alternate version of our world with a steampunk, James Bond twist.  Read more

July, 2018 Info Scroll down to see reviews submitted by YA readers: , , ,
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