Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

If you like exciting adventures with surprising twists and cool world-building, read this middle grade fantasy book next! Abandoned by their mom, Tell and Wren live with their dad on the mountain but their dad gets blinded in an accident. The mountain rule is that if you can’t work, you can’t drain the resources and must be killed. So the children go down the mountain to trade their dad’s black glass and find a cure. They’ve never been to the big city since it is forbidden for children. In the city, they immediately lose everything and discover an unfamiliar world with different rules, lies, treachery, and feuding families and sorcerers. Wren and Tell make tentative friendships but must use their cleverness and new and old knowledge to survive the secrets revealed and the chaos of war.

This was fantastic! Much darker than I was expecting, and such an original story! The harshness of their world was so realistic and felt so immediate and real - despite being so far from the realm of anything I have known. That takes skill.

The writing itself was excellent; clear, concise, full of profound truths, and managing to capture the way the children's perspective shifted as they grew used to the city of Halfway and began to leave their Mountain ways of thinking behind. I could almost see their brains expanding and their thoughts blooming.

The children, Wren and Tell, and their friends Rumi and Cormoran, were excellent characters. So were the adults, although not many of them were particularly likeable. The children were all so clever and capable, but also the fact that they were children was never forgotten. They made mistakes it was believable that children would make. At the same time, they were able to succeed in a lot of their risky plans *because* they were children and either small or overlooked.
I was never sure who was winning or even ahead - or even on which side. And by the end of the book it's still not entirely clear, and I love that. It's messy and so it feels even more real.

I can't wait for the next adventure, for Wren and Tell and their found family's adventure on the Mountain and then maybe also after they've regrouped and figured out a way to move forward. I can't really picture what that will look like - will they try to retake the city? Will they try to forge a new path somewhere else? I don't know but I can't wait to find out because I know that, whatever, they do, they will be clever and engaging whilst they do it.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books for providing an early copy for review.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

Children of the Black Glass is the first book in a nuanced new series from Anthony Peckham.

At the center of the story are Tell and Rumi, siblings who have already lost their mother and most likely will lose their father, too. With their family and way of life crumbling around them, the duo has no choice but to set out on their own. They figure they can handle it. They’ve been trained. They know the path. But everything goes wrong from the start.

Tell is the older of the siblings. He’s trained his entire life to take over from his father and maybe someday become chief. Wren is a sort of wild thing, able to cling to rocks as if she was born to do it. The two are inseparable. Their bond is a theme that runs throughout the book.

Peckham has done a fine job setting the scene and balancing the amount of fantasy with “real world.” He’s created a believable world that feels like you could walk into if given the chance.

That said, Children of the Black Glass is a darker middle-grade novel. Tell and Wren come from a harsh place, and Halfway isn’t any better, just different. The mood of the novel is echoed perfectly in its cover, which truly captures its essence. The overall tone and themes — death, violence, betrayal and revenge — are better suited to older, more mature middle readers, ages 10 and up.

Peckham gives readers a morally gray world with morally gray characters that’s compelling. There are moments of hope and happiness sprinkled here and there that feel natural and help lighten the tone. It’s a well-paced novel, and I look forward to reading it’s sequel.

I wanted to love this book. Really. But... once we get down the mountain to Halfway, once we start trying to sell the glass and defeat the people who would cheat Tell and Wren, it starts to become just one of many vaguely medieval societies with sects/clans/guilds/groups fighting for dominance and taking down the other sects/clans/guilds/groups that are not like them. And that mother? Ugh.

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.(I had to go to Edelweiss since I don't read eARCs on my iphone or laptop)

Children of the Black glass by Anthony Peckham is a different story in the children's adventure genre. Tell and Wren take on the burden of traveling down from their mountain home to Halfway to sell the black glass their village harvests. The people they encounter and the trials they run into make for a rousing story. An anticipated sequel is something to look forward to.