False Covenant

Gr 9 Up—In this Renaissance-esque sequel to Thief's Covenant (PYR, 2012), Widdershins is fighting to keep her tavern afloat. In the guise of Madeleine Valois, she plays the role of an aristocrat at parties but reverts to her more natural persona, black-leather-clad Widdershins the thief, stealing from the hosts of the soirees she attends. However, she soon finds herself caught up in a battle to save not only her inheritance from a man hell-bent on her demise, but also the town that she loves from a horrific beast. Even with her personal god Olgun always present, she quickly learns that she must enlist the help of her fellow thieves from the Finder's Guild, as well as oh-so-irresistible Commander of the Guard Julien Bouniard, the Church, and yes, even her devious would-be murderer Evrard d'Arras. Together they must discover how the fairy-tale creature Irouch has come to life, and what they must do to stop him. Marmell successfully weaves in enough backstory to keep new readers interested, but they will be clamoring to read Thief's Covenant, and will eagerly await the next books in the series.—Wendy M. Scalfaro, G. Ray Bodley High School, Fulton, NY