F. E. Higgins

Hector Fitzbaudly is fascinated by the bad side of town until his wealthy father is ruined by a one-eyed blackmailer. Forced to sell everything they own, Hector is soon left an orphan and has to live among the desperate people he had been so curious about. He finds friends, but he swears to avenge his father by making the man responsible pay. As it turns out, the villain is currently living among the depraved local nobility, and Hector finds there's a job opening. Living among them, he can observe and carry out his revenge.
A grim and well-written tale of revenge set in a fictional version of the Victorian era.… (mais)

Ludlow Fitch, a young boy (somewhere around 11-14) lives a hard life in the City, where his parents have taught him to pick-pocket for his and their livelihoods. When his parents and the dentist, Barton Gumbroot, try to pull his teeth out, one by one, for a small profit to his parents, Ludlow escapes his parents and the City and finds himself in the small town of Pagus Parvus.

There, he meets local tyrant Jeremiah Ratchet and the new secret pawnbroker, Joe Zabbidou. Zabbidou takes on Ludlow as his assistant and Ludlow begins to learn what a secret pawnbroker really does, why, and how the people of the world are impacted by it.

Zabbidou and his Black Book of Secrets, of which Ludlow becomes secretary and keeper, infuriate Ratchet, who sees his power slipping from him in an intolerable manner. Ratchet and his efforts to undermine and undo all the work that Zabbidou has done with his secret pawnbroking ultimately culminate in a town-wide confrontation, from which all the involved players will learn something.

Higgins creates a fast-paced, interesting, original, and fun tale. The story is subtly dark and subtly fantastic. This would be a great book (reading level) for older elementary school kids and younger middle schoolers. Of course Higgins' story can appeal to all levels, and I quite enjoyed my read!… (mais)

Full review

Another story to add to the puzzle and mysteries that surround the characters and world of The Black Book of Secrets. I had read TBBS two years ago and fall in to a world of mysteries. The Bone Magician not a prequal or sequel, but rather a paraquel. Now if more authors write series where books' events shadow each other than this word a lot more often.

The first chapter is when Pin witness a dead body being risen only for a few pages before the next few chapters go in to flash backs then back to Pin and the croups. With the beginning being a bit confusing the rest of the story redeem by remained solid.

Some reviewers said that the bone magician plot is push to the side while a murder plot takes its place. I don't think that the case. the way the bone magic is done (hint hint) suggest that there a bit of trickery. I have read book where the story goes completely off the main plot. While this story does keep it together and becomes friends with Juno.… (mais)