Child of the Night Guild (Queen of Thieves, Book 1)

FANTASY:  Viola is no longer Viola; she is Number 7. She no longer has a name or an identity, she is merely 7, sold to the Night Guild as an apprentice thief to pay her father’s debt. For ten long years she must endure the abuse and training required of her as an apprentice of the Night Guild. She will learn to be quick and agile, a shadow in the night and she must steal enough every day to pay her debts. Being sold to the Night Guild as an apprentice doesn’t mean she gets to have a roof over her head and food in her belly for free. She must steal enough to cover the costs of living. If that isn’t tough enough, she must fight a bigger foe, one that lives within the same walls as she.

Intense, gritty and dark, this tale is not for the faint of heart. Mr. Peloquin knows how to write a gripping and heart-wrenching story. Viola is an amazingly strong character that one will find themselves rooting for, cringing for and tearing up for. However, the time spent on her training does seem to drag on a bit too long, feeling redundant at times. It’s also hard to grasp that Viola is only 8 years old, she seems much older. Those issues will be forgotten though because there is so much emotion and depth to the characters, that one will want to keeping flipping pages to find out how the story ends. Nice work!

Lynne Bryant