Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner

The Keepers Trilogy #1. Delacorte Books (Sep. 2010) Library

Welcome to the tyrannical city of Jewel, where impatience is a sin and boldness is a crime.

Goldie Roth has lived in Jewel all her life. Like every child in the city, she wears a silver guardchain and is forced to obey the dreaded Blessed Guardians. She has never done anything by herself and won’t be allowed out on the streets unchained until Separation Day.   

When Separation Day is canceled, Goldie, who has always been both impatient and bold, runs away, risking not only her own life but also the lives of those she has left behind. In the chaos that follows, she is lured to the mysterious Museum of Dunt, where she meets the boy Toadspit and discovers terrible secrets. Only the cunning mind of a thief can understand the museum’s strange, shifting rooms. Fortunately, Goldie has a talent for thieving.                                                                                                  

Which is just as well, because the leader of the Blessed Guardians has his own plans for the museum—plans that threaten the lives of everyone Goldie loves. And it will take a daring thief to stop him. . . .                                                                 

Museum of Thieves is a thrilling tale of destiny and danger, and of a courageous girl who has never been allowed to grow up—until now.

I can't tell you how many times I've ordered this book from the library and then ended up returning it without reading a single page. My mom took advantage of how long I've had the Museum of Thieves by reading not only this book but the rest of the trilogy while I hadn't even started the first book. I finally gave this book a chance and it proved to be as amazing as a dystopian could be. The time flew as I became entranced by the museum and its characters. The world in which Goldie lived in was filled with injustice. Children are forced to be chained to their parents or a Blessed Guardian at all times. All Goldie wants is her freedom yet when she takes the chance she places her family in danger. As a fugitive she crosses paths with Sinew, a master of concealment, who brings her to the Museum of Dunt where she will learn the secrets of being a thief and what perils the city of Jewel is about to face.

Illustration by Sebastian Ciaffaglione

The Museum of Thieves was way better than I expected. It's chalk full of originality. I was irritated whenever the Blessed Guardians appeared - they had chapters dedicated to their POV. I could just hear their smug voices resonating through my head. The whole concept of children being chained up to them for their "protection" was both brilliant and aggravating only because the characters in Goldie's world were ignorant to how wrong they were treating their children. The Museum of Dunt is actually this labyrinth that keeps evil at bay. It's this alive structure that is starting to become infuriated by events unfolding in the city of Jewel. When the Blessed Guardians and the Fugleman start plotting something big it's up to the thieves of the museum to stop him at all costs before they unleash terror to the city streets of Jewel.                                                                                                                                                     Goldie learns everything about how to be a thief from the caretakers of the museum including Toadspit, another runaway who doesn't take too kindly to her presence. She also meets the last brizzlehound a creature that can be a small dog one moment and a huge ferocious animal the next. All the characters have a very distinct personality and most of them being thieves makes them even more interesting. I don't have anything bad to say about any of them or this book. It had a great setting, cast of characters, and I was thoroughly entertained. I'm eager to read the rest of the series. Considering the ending of this story the next book is going to awesome.