"The Blackthorn Key" by Kevin Sands - Review

Christopher Rowe is extremely lucky in an otherwise unfortunate life – after growing up in an orphanage he gets the opportunity to become an apothecary’s apprentice and ends up with Benedict Blackthorn who is probably the only apothecary in London in 1665 who would never beat him. He studies hard, the recipes and how to encode them, and he finds a father figure in Master Benedict who tries to bring his curiosity under control when he almost blows up the apothecary shop again with one of his unauthorized experiments. Actually, everything could be perfect, if it wasn’t for the mysterious murders that keep happening in the city – the victims primarily being apothecaries. Christopher worries for his master and a race against time begins where he has to try, with the help of his masters codes, to lift the secret of the murderers.

Kevin Sands’ debut “The Blackthorn Key” is an exciting mix of adventure, crime and a tad of fantasy that gets a slight historic spin from its setting. Young Christopher Rowe and his master grow close to the reader very quickly, the other characters are designed with a lot of love as well, and the plot is worked out with loads of details and pretty much impossible to solve by yourself. “The Blackthorn Key” is recommended for children between 10 and 13, but the now grown up Harry Potter- and Bartimæus-fans will probably like it just as much.

"Masterminds" by Gordon Korman - Review

Imagine growing up in a small town in New Mexico. There is no crime, no one is unemployed, no poverty, everyone is peaceful, share everything justly and are completely honest with each other.

Sounds good, right? Almost too good.

Serenity is such a paradise. Although a bit boring. Except for the plastic factory that no one can enter without working there and the Serenity trophy, a gift from Roosevelt himself, there’s not much to see. Eli Baris still feels pretty good about living there, and most of his classmates agree with him. That’s why hardly anyone of them ever crossed the city borders, not even for a vacation with their parents. Why should they? Serenity holds everything you need, and out there you only get violence and hate.

And an old car that Eli and his best friend Randy want to explore, somewhere in the forest just beyond the city limits. But Eli never gets there because when reaching the border he suddenly collapses with pain and nausea. What fist seems to be a coincidence turns out to be a complex plan to keep Eli and ten other kids inside the city. But why them? And why does it seem as if in this peaceful idyll so much is a lie or even life-threatening?

“Masterminds” by Gordon Korman is an exceptional novel for young readers 12 years or older. In about 330 pages happens so much that would actually be part of a dystopian novel like “Hunger Games” or “Divergent”, and yet while reading you realize quickly that what’s happening in this book could happen just as well in real life. To be honest it is not easy to review this book without spoilers – and there’s much to spoil given the loads of revelations and plot twists “Masterminds” has to offer. Thus, there’s not much more to do than simply express a clear recommendation: For everyone who likes mystery, for everyone who’s flirting with the thought of reading “Divergent” but would prefer less death – and for everyone who likes to question right and wrong.