City of Lies

August 1, 2011

The second title in Tanner's Keepers Trilogy delivers a fantasy as thickly plotted as but less successful than Museum of Thieves (2010).

When Goldie and Toadspit witness the kidnapping of Toadspit's sister Bonnie, the two stow away in pursuit on a boat bound for the city of Spoke. When Toadspit is likewise captured, it's up to Goldie to find the siblings and bring them safely back to the city of Jewel. At times aided by two street urchins, Pounce and mute Mouse (whose dozen white mice play supporting roles), and accompanied by a mysterious cat and the Museum's slaughterbird, Morg, Goldie tracks elusive villains during Spoke's Festival of Lies. Everything's back to front and upside down, and masked people talk in opposites. When Goldie captures one of the Big Lies—a maelstrom-like force in which one's spoken question is enacted like a wild dream—she connects with her mythical warrior alter-ego, Princess Frisia. By leveraging the Museum's power and through their own wits, the children thwart their captors. Goldie vows to fight anew for Jewel, where a war fomented by the duplicitous Fugleman is about to begin. The chapters depicting powerful activity in the Big Lie and at the Museum aren't fully integrated into the main plot—and the clunky Festival of Lies can't hold a candle to the alluring tumult of the magical Museum.

Muddy, if often riveting. (Fantasy. 9-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2012

Gr 4-8-In this fast-paced and lively sequel to Museum of Thieves (Delacorte, 2010), Goldie Roth struggles to accept her destiny as Keeper of the Museum of Dunt even as she becomes embroiled in another adventure. Mysterious villains snatch her friends Toadspit and Bonnie, shipping them to Spoke. Goldie follows their trail and faces the labyrinthine challenges of the city's annual Festival of Lies. The festival demands citizens speak only untruths, with a lucky few winning a "Big Lie," a prize that allows magic to make the falsehood true. Searching for the criminal who kidnapped her friends, she meets some new comrades, including a mute boy whose pet mice tell frighteningly accurate fortunes and a large cat with uncanny instincts. When Goldie locates her friends, she must try to tap into a big, time-traveling lie to save them from a sticky situation. The "Big Lie" transforms the characters into legends from the past and explains Goldie's unique abilities. The novel ends with Goldie and company heading off to face the evil Fugleman once again. Goldie's puzzle solving, the prescient mice and enormous cat, and the tricky dialogue will appeal to children who like memorable characters and a twisting and untwisting plot. Libraries that own the first book will want to purchase this installment.-Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Library Association, CT

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
Grades 5-8 The second book in the Keepers Trilogy finds intrepid Goldie Roth, having helped bring down the Flugelman and his Blessed Guardians, home caring for her parents instead of becoming the Fifth Keeper as she has been called to do. When her pal Toadspit and sister Bonnie are spirited away by snottie stealers, Goldie must leave her parents to find her friends. The backstory is neatly delivered, and the adventure and its new locale are exhilarating. Still, this seems mostly an interesting interlude until Goldie and crew return home to Jewel to fight for the fate of their city.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2011
As the second volume in the Keepers trilogy opens, it's been six months since the climactic events of Museum of Thieves (rev. 11/10). Goldie Roth is hesitant to accept the position she desperately wants -- the Fifth Keeper of the Museum of Dunt -- because of her ailing parents, but when Bonnie, the younger sister of her friend Toadspit, is kidnapped, Goldie and Toadspit follow her trail to the neighboring city of Spoke. Toadspit, too, is captured, and Goldie must navigate the strange city during the Festival of Lies, when everything is topsy-turvy -- especially the truth. While the first volume had a complete narrative arc, the second lacks resolution, ending with a cliffhanger. The storytelling remains just as accomplished, and the tantalizing mysteries deepen, but be aware that this book serves primarily as a bridge to the third and concluding volume. jonathan hunt

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2012
On the trail of Toadspit's kidnapped sister, Goldie Roth (Museum of Thieves) must navigate a strange city during the Festival of Lies, when everything is topsy-turvy--especially the truth. Tanner's storytelling remains just as accomplished as in the first book, and the series' tantalizing mysteries deepen; a cliffhanger ending concludes the volume.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)