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

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