This book is wholly unique. I love that they get color masks for color magic. Guy Fawkes is training for his color mask, but he's got the plague. He has been trying to hide it, and only a few know he has it. He sent a letter to his father explaining the situation, and on his color day he never expected his father would not show up with a mask. So he is thrown out and he goes on a dangerous hunt for his father to get his mask. This book is original, unique, fun, exciting, thrilling, and full of adventure. I expect big things from this author in future books! I will be reading more. Amazing!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I loved the cover of this book, it is so beautiful that was the first point that made me interested in this book, secondly I read it’s description and it was so interesting to me that I had to read it. This book takes place is the 17th century when England is being affected by the plague, aside from the historical aspect there is an interesting magic system going on, the characters are very interesting and it is really fast paced.
I loved the writing of this book, it’s so easy to read, however I need to consider this a downside as this book takes place in the 17th century I found it hard to portrait the lines that characters spoke to such time, as it seemed that characters where talking in present time and just an 17th century plot and scenery. Despite that downside I’d highly recommend this book to young audiences due to the fact that this magical system is easy to understand and really well explained.
Thank you once again for this ARC I adored the book and I’ll be sure to check out for other books by the author

Very cool story. I wasn’t crazy about the beginning of it because there really wasn’t much world building before I had to “buy in” to the plot line and characters, but she kept the story moving and I was always intrigued. I love that it is based in historical fact and that there were mostly male characters with a strong female.

Thomas Fawkes has the plague - he is turning to stone. In order to graduate from his school and prevent himself from turning completely stone, he needs a mask from his father, Guy Fawkes. But Guy Fawkes refuses to give it to him, unless Thomas takes part in The Gunpowder Plot to murder the king.

This book is a fantasy, alternate-history retelling of The Gunpowder Plot. And I am stoked about it! Can you believe I was afraid that this newest book from a favorite author would not live up to the others she wrote? Those fears were totally unfounded! I'm in love with this book!

Okay, so, the book. It is definitely a coming of age book, as Thomas Fawkes struggles with his identity, relationship with his father, and beliefs. He originally had no goals beyond not-dying of the stone plague, and he believed what he believed because of his family, not his own convictions. This plot changed him.

The storyworld was pretty cool. It was alternate-history fantasy, meaning that the setting is exactly the same as it would have been historically, except that there is magic. The author changed the religious/political struggle between Protestants and Catholics into a struggle based on a magical relationship with Color. (It was changed in a similar way to those religious factions in [book:My Lady Jane|22840421], if you're familiar with it.) People with a colored mask can talk to/control items with the matching color; White can talk to/control any color. But white is like God, and one faction thinks one should talk to/control White and the other disagrees. I really liked this setup because it allowed for epic magical battles, internal searching, and Christian allegory. It was extremely clever and well-done!

I really enjoyed this world, the characters, snarky and sarcastic White, the plot, and the layered allegory. I highly recommend it to YA/NA fantasy fans.

I received a complementary copy of this book via the publisher on NetGalley. All opinions are my own, and I received no compensation for sharing them.

I altered my Goodreads review to remove all the spoilers!

This is a ~1k word review, so take your time and proceed with caution haha. Spoilers are tagged as such!

My first ARC! And I’m glad it was this one.

Let’s talk about the plot for a sec. Boy (yes, Thomas, boy) joins a secret plot to overthrow the government so he can chat with his dad and eventually receive his magical powers. Things are bound to go awry, and you know what? They do.

The first few chapters made me feel like I definitely wasn’t the target audience for this book. Which, y’know, was okay and I fully accepted that. Luckily for me, that feeling lessened as I read on. Thomas had to grow on me and I immediately liked Emma. Despite his good intentions, I didn’t trust Norwood somehow?? That’s my own fault probably.

The mast thing everyone has going on was really interesting! I’d never heard of something like this before, having one specific color to focus on and being able to control everything that is that color?? Fun stuff. It does make me wonder, however, how many people have color power and how many people don’t. As far as I know, people without a mask are common, but apart from maids and such (and Thomas of course) not that much maskless people appear.

Now that I’m on the topic of representation, let’s talk about how many women appeared in this book. We have Emma, our queen and savior, we have Thomas’ grandma, although I forgot if she got to speak, and Queen Anne, who didn’t have many lines either, if at all. So let’s say one 17yo woman against 16 men? Maybe 20? Not the best ratio I could ask for.

About the most important characters:
Thomas “I-need-my-mask-also-I’m-half-blind” Fawkes likes to be a man. Therefor he can’t handle being called a boy throughout most of the book. I get it, dude, you’re 16yo, ready to take on the adult world. Unfortunately for him, other adults know what I know. Being 16 doesn’t really make you automatically an adult. But he learns and he gets less annoyingly boyish as the story progresses.

Emma is my queen. I like that she isn’t afraid to stand up for herself and decides for herself what risks she takes. Thomas and her relationship is a good one too. He doesn’t feel threatened by her fierceness, doesn’t feel the need to protect her all the time (except at the end, which made me a little sad because it was going SO WELL). Emma on herself almost made up for all the other absent women.

Guy Fawkes is the ~mysterious~ character every story has. He has his reasons and Thomas just has to accept that. Not much if explained about him, other than he’s in his thirties, and he’s a Keeper through and through.

Even the rest of the plotting people didn’t leave much of an impression on me, unfortunately. Or maybe I’m just bad with names.

There are a few (kinda) huge things that bother me, one about the book itself and one about the context.
1. The ebook/Kindle edition I read had some typesetting problems, which was fine to be honest, aside from some reading problems I have because of it.
2. The other thing is about the masks. It’s a really cool thing, but what do the masks look like exactly? On the cover, we see a mask that covers (haha) only someone’s eyes and part of their nose, but in the book, I think all masks are full-faced?? The only masks that are described in detail were full-faced, as far as I remember. I think.
3. I liked that Thomas was blind to his left eye.

TL;DR if you want to read about one (1) very good female character, one boy-man who doesn’t take anything he hears for granted and instead forms his own opinions, some weird plot to murder the king and some very interesting magical powers, I definitely recommend this book. Thank you for reading my TED talk.
I probably forgot mentioning stuff, despite me rambling on ^^’

“I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.”
What an exciting read from the 16th century, I felt like I was there with Thomas and his friends.
Thomas attends a school that teaches its students how to use specific colors to have a certain profession, skill or talent. A child is supposed to receive a special mask made by his/her parent after they have taken a Color Test to see which color(s) they will be using in their life. Thomas is waiting for his father to arrive with his mask, but he does not come, he left a note saying that he would not be there for Thomas’s ceremony, so Thomas is thrown out of his school and he has to try to find his father in London.
But Thomas has three strikes against him, he does not have a mask, so he is powerless, he is a member of the despised One Color party, the Keepers, and he has the Plague in his eye. The Plague attacks a certain part of the body and turns it into stone, if it spreads over the whole body, it can kill a person.
If a Keeper is wounded, his blood is red with no additional color - if you are of the other party, the Igniters, who could control many colors, and their blood has white mixed in from the White Light.
Thomas is captured with other Keepers and they are being taken to London to be hung. Thomas asks the other keepers to help them escape, but they do not have their masks,, they were taken away. Thomas asks a fellow prisoner if any color could help, and he learns that White Light can speak to a person but it is very powerful.
Thomas takes a risk and he talks to the White Light and he asks it to free him, which she does.
Thomas finally finds his father, Guy Fawkes, who is involved with a plot to kill the king because he is killing Keepers.
You will have to read the book for yourself to learn more about Colors,Guy Fawkes, Thomas’ father, and what happens to Thomas in his search for a mask and his destiny!

An excellent blend of fantasy and historical fiction.

Thomas Fawkes, the son of Guy Fawkes is waiting for his rite of passage to be complete, to receive a color mask from his father.

But his father never comes. Thomas has contracted the stone plague and Guy has already written him off.

Thomas, forced to leave school, determines to walk all the way to London, find his father, and get the mask that's rightfully his.

But instead he joins his father's plot to rid their kingdom of the king. The one intent on the persecution of his kind.

A slight spin on a well known part of history. A completely clean read for teenagers as well. and parents concerned with content.

Well written. Suspenseful.

This was a fantastic mix of historical fiction and a magical system. England in the 17th century is interesting enough, but take a well known historical event and layer over it with magic? Quirky and clever, I was very pleased with the way this story came together.

This was an enjoyable historical fantasy. The world building was solid, the story was unique and exciting, and the characters were well developed. I felt like it dragged just a teeny bit in the middle, but for the most part it was very good and hard to put down. I'd definitely read more from Nadine Brandes.

This book... just wow!! What a delightful combination of fantasy and historical fiction, and an all around stellar and brilliant read! Also, can we just take a minute to rave about the cover? All the heart eyes from me!

I loved how imaginative and complex so many of the concepts were, along with simply the story itself. While I do feel that the story did drag a bit in the middle, I was overall very pleased with how Brandes pieces this story together... and I feel did so in a rather flawless way.

One of the things that I enjoyed most about this book was the characters, as I found that they were just so well written and developed! While I didn’t completely care for Thomas (a bit whiny for my taste), I absolutely LOVED Emma, and Guy Fawkes himself was so complex that I couldn’t help but love his character as well!

This is a definitely a read that I won’t be forgetting for a long time to come, and I’m not sure I could find another quite like it if I tried.

Thank you so much NetGalley for the free review copy!

I really enjoyed this book!
The idea was really original! (eventhough it has a bit of divirgent feels)
Full review is on my blog! (http://evelynreads.com/review-fawkes/)

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

So first thing first, I'm far from England and I haven't been to England, so the Historic part is pretty unknown to me.. I had to google the Gunpowder plot after my read.

The quote 'reading is dreaming with eyes open,' is just so perferct for this book.. Isn't it a wonderful dream to have colors as a source of power? To have a control over the colors? I just find it fascinating. I actually dont know how to right this without having spoilers along the way. An advice though, if you dont know anything about the gunpowder plot dont look it up on google if you haven't read the story yet, cause this stayed true to the history part, as far as i know from reading google. Search google after.

I love the characters, though I was annoyed at first by how Thomas acts, I think he feels so entitled because he's carrying the Fawkes' name, but then at the end he pulled through, from whinny entitled to responsible and committed hero. And that's how we want our characters to develop and mature, from someone unlikable to someone worthy. And also, I love how it showed, that people are corruptable and that we have to look deeper and think deeper to see who are to be trusted.
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Spoiler alert
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It's a wonderful fantasy, but I think its way beyond that. Being a historical fantasy novel, and after running to google, I learned that the war was about religion. So I love how the color (source) represented that part so well, that there's something ultimate and we just have to learn how to listen.
I like that it showed how a father ( Guy) love his son (Thomas) in an offstandish kind of way but ultimately, when danger is present he'll protect his own.
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I'll stop there. I dont want to give out spoilers. To sum it up, I enjoyed reading it. A historical fantasy that leads you to google the events after are to my opinion a good read. Learning some part of a history while having fun is better than not knowing. So I highly recommend for you to read it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

In this splendid blend of fantasy and history, "Fawkes" turns the 17th century England into a place of colors and magic. Nadine Brandes brought a historic period to life in a striking way.

Aside from the beautiful book cover, the premise of the story is the thing that really caught my attention. I watched the mini-series "Gunpowder," so I somehow knew what might happen in the story. It is about the Gunpowder Treason Plot which is a true event that happened in England in the early 1600s where a group of provincial Catholics attempted to assassinate King James I of England in an effort to end the persecution of Roman Catholics by the English Government. However, in Fawkes, the society is divided into two groups: the Keepers and the Igniters. Both blame each other for causing a plague that spreads throughout England. Also, both groups believe that the death of one another will end the plague.

The story started a little bit slow but picked up when Thomas left his school after a terrible occurrence. By then, the magical system is explained to the readers. Basically, "color powers" allow a person to control things based on well, a color. Then, each person has their dominant color, which will be the color of their masks that they will wear. For a long time, every person only controlled one color, but as the time passed, others learned to control other colors as well. It is a very interesting concept, but there are some things about it that aren't explained well such as the need for wearing masks and their correlation to a person's color power. Lastly, I also like how the story reflected the issues and concerns relevant to the chosen time period.

Although, the author did a great job using authentic historical characters. She accurately portrayed the ideas, behaviours, values, and habits in the story's time period. She even used the names of the plotters for this book. Moreover, the story consists of diverse and intriguing characters. Although I didn't connect with Thomas Fawkes because of his whiny and selfish attitude, I really admire his love interest, Emma. She's strong, independent, and a perfect heroine that I could ever ask for.

Overall, Fawkes is a historical fiction rich in details and facts, with a dash of action and glamour.

I gave this 4/5 stars.

This is certainly a story for those that love historical books. It took me a couple of chapters to really get into it but as is usually the case once the story picks up around chapter four I was hooked.
The fantasy element mixed in with history really made this story. I loved learning about colour power and how it worked though I feel a little more information could have been given on the subject.
The main plot was rather predictable, you just know as you're reading along how its going to pan out and that has nothing to do with this being based around actual events. It didn't kill the story though.
Over all it was a very enjoyable read.

An interesting premise, but the execution didn’t work for me. The language was not the style I hope for in fiction of this type.

This wasn't bad, but definitely won't be one I would put in my reread pile. A once and done. I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't love it either.

Fawkes by Nadine Brands

4.5/5 While I do not consider myself a pursuer of Historical Fiction, I was very pleasantly surprised by Fawkes. My personal knowledge of history is shady at best, and my complete knowledge on this topic is that I’d seen V for Vendetta. Personally, I think this makes me the perfect reader for fiction reading- I’ve got a child’s grasp on the topic and I’m willing to go along with the plot.
That aside, I was hooked pretty quickly- a color ability is passed from mother to daughter or father to son by the parent making a mask. Different colors respond to different personalities! For example, Grey likes to be commanded while Green likes to be asked. The items that are that color then follow “commands” or asks from the mask wearer- I’m in! The plot (I’m hilarious for this pun) thickens when Thomas is kicked out of his school because his father, Guy Fawkes, refuses to make him a mask. This is because Thomas has been touched by the plague- it slowly turns the infected individual to stone. But Thomas’ plague has stayed contained to his left eye.
Without going into it more than the summary available, Thomas going on an adventure to find his father, get his mask, bond with Grey and command the plague to leave his eye. Along the way, Thomas has to decide if he is going to stay loyal to the Keepers, those that bond with a single color, or listen to the Ignitors, those that talk to “White Light” and bond with all colors. The Keeper vs. Ignitor war is what started the plague, with both sides blaming the other for the outbreak. The conspirators of the plot want to take out Parliament and therefore, the Ignitor King, and free the Keepers from being hunted down, and rid the world of the tempting “White Light”. We meet many in depth characters, one of whom I think everyone will be able to relate to- a strong woman who is going to get things done her way.

The only fault I will mention is that it’s a longer book- 448 pages. I am more of a 320ish kinda gal; so I wish the story moved a little faster in the middle. That’s the only reason for the slight drop from 5 to 4.5. The story is always entertaining, and a little sassy and I found myself up until 1am reading because I couldn’t stop!

I would recommend this book to anyone that wishes they had more magic and wants to find it within themselves to be a hero.

Thomas is a teen on the verge of becoming a man, the rite of passage is to receive a mask carved by your parent. The day arrives and his father, the famous Guy Fawkes, is a no-show. Thomas takes off and heads to the capital to find his father and confront him - he has denied him his mask and humiliated him in front of his entire class.
This retelling replaces the tension between Catholics and Protestants during this period with the division between Igniters and Keepers. Keepers believe you should have one colour power and that white light is far too powerful to be involved with, however Igniters don't believe in restricting power which is so easily accessible. What makes matters worse is the plague which provides the basis of the Igniters hatred for Keepers - they believe for every Keeper killed, someone is cured from the plague.
The King is an Igniter. Guy Fawkes is a Keeper. This entire book is a fantastic and eye-opening retelling of one of the most famous foiled plots in English history. I love the fantasy element woven into a story that many people know so well - providing a narration from the plotters' point of view. No longer the bad-guys but instead portrayed as the individuals just trying to restore some balance and in the world, fighting for their right to be treated as equals.
A few major plot twists I did see coming which means I'm not going to give this book the full 5* but it was still thoroughly enjoyable.
I particularly liked the way the author was able to capture some diversity with this book despite the tale being set in a distinctly "white" race setting there was still an effort to ensure this story isn't just about white men (as is with the original). I don't think this is a book which should be classed as completely diverse but I appreciate the author's effort to include a more diverse cast.
I also loved the depth of character with our protagonist - his internal conflict really shines through in the book and I can't help but feel sorry for him. Not only does he have to deal with the two sides of his heart, but additionally he's struggling with the plague too. Knowing that his life is hanging in the balance, and yet still making decisions with himself that might just change the course of history. It was really great to see him mature throughout the story too.
The secondary characters have some great development and are really 3-dimensional - given there were quite a few people in the plot, Brandes does a really awesome job of blurring the lines so the characters aren't categorised as ones we know well and others we don't know at all. It's more of a gradient which comes across realistic and provides a nice balance of character descriptions, and enough characters to bulk to story out.
The pace of this book is fairly decent too - particularly the beginning and end. I loved the way Thomas came across his father, and I loved just how close it got to being total chaos at the end. The middle for me was a little slower but it also provided a good opportunity for scene and character development, so I guess that's forgiven.
Overall I'm awarding this book 4.5*/5, I adored the retelling; particularly the fantasy spin and alternative POV telling. The main conflict almost seemed to be within Thomas rather than a country on the verge of all-out civil war. The characters were well-developed and the story - in most part - kept to the traditional and authentic setting of England during the Stuart period. A definite recommendation if you enjoy historical fiction and fantasy; you'll get the best of both worlds here!

I really didn't care so much for this one. The story is painfully slow, the characters brittle, and Thomas irritated me to no end, but my biggest peeve was the way White Light spoke. I mean, we're in England. In the 17th century. White Light's dialogue sounded as if it lived in America in the 21st century. It was the sort of thing that jolts you out of the book and makes you wonder why you ever decided to read it in the first place.

This made me sad, because a lot of people really liked the book and I thought I would as well. The plot was a good idea. There's potential.

"Safety is an illusion, Thomas Fawkes"

* * *
3 / 5

I loved the premise of Fawkes: historical British fiction with a fantasy element. Thomas Fawkes is the (invented?) son of Guy Fawkes but added into this classic story of gunpowder and treason and plot is a really innovative magic system. But on the downside, this was a very long and slow read for the length.

"Hadn't I always dreamed of being her knight? Saving the day? Only I'd saved nothing. She'd been her own knight and I'd stood by like a gaping spectator"

Like any good English child, what I really know about Guy Fawkes is that which we tell around our yearly bonfire and sing-a-long. Obviously I knew how it was going to end, but I wasn't all that clear on the details. I'm reasonably sure that a lot of the characters were lifted from history, which was cool - I'm not a massive historical fiction reader, so I really dug recognising all the little nods to history. Who isn't from history (I don't think)? Thomas Fawkes, a guy with complex father issues, a girl he's loved from afar for years but who is essentially engaged, and who is stuck in the middle of a conflict tearing the country apart.

So we've covered the historical element, but what about the fantasy one? Parents carve their children a mask and when they become of age, the child wears the mask and bonds with a colour power. What does this mean? I'm still not exactly certain, but Keepers only bond with one colour - so if someone bonds with red then they can control things that are red - whilst Igniters have varying degrees of control over all the colours. Keepers think this is the cause of the Stone Plague - the Great Plague that instead of killing people slowly turns them to stone.

"Did murder ever free anyone? This plot was a revolution built on corpses. It wasn't how things were supposed to be"

Fawkes was definitely imaginative, no doubt about it. I loved the mix of real history with magic. But there are so many people in this book, so much going on between Thomas, the romance, the Gunpowder plot, trying to understand the magic and the cause of the conflict. I wanted to savour the complexities, but Fawkes ended up being more confusing and head-scratching than engaging. This made it quite put-down-able and took me a while to finish.

I would definitely recommend Fawkes to the YA and fantasy readers wanting to tentatively dip their toes into the waters of historical fiction. But the book was a bit weak in terms of pacing.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.