This One's a Keeper - Museum of Thieves (The Keepers trilogy) by Lian Tanner

Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner is the story of a young girl called Goldie who lives in a world where impatience and boldness are sinful crimes. For her entire life she has worn a guardchain which keeps her shackled to her parents or the city’s guardians at all times. When her ‘Separation Day’ is cancelled, Goldie runs away and finds herself in the Museum of Dunt, a museum of shifting rooms and peculiar secrets. The book follows Goldie’s experiences in the museum as well as the government’s heinous plans to destroy it.

This was a book that I just one day happened to pick up off the shelf in a bookstore for no particular reason. I was simply drawn to the title and the cover, as well as the brief synopsis in the blurb. When I first read this book it was a bit difficult to get into it and I actually left in for several months before coming back and properly reading it. Although it took me awhile to get engrossed in the story, I absolutely loved it, the characters and the world. I enjoyed how the story played with the ideas of freedom vs. safety and how the city was keeping their children safe at the expense of their ability to grow and flourish into capable adults.

This was one of the first book series which I read before I started regularly reading books and I found it to be a very fun and exciting story. The characters are brilliantly written. The museum’s band of misfits all fit together and are so comfortable with each but their connection doesn’t spoil their individual characters and their is always something more to know about each of these characters.

I also loved how Tanner created a world with unique culture, unique religion, unique animals and unique geography. The detail that she put into this book’s world is fascinating and it felt like she put a lot of thought into the world before she even constructed the story.

I honestly just had a nice time reading this book and I never felt like I was forcing myself to read it. If you do experience what I did and don’t get into the story on your first reading, put it aside for a few months and then come back to it and see what you think. I give this book a 9 out of 10 and recommend it to middle-grade to young adult readers.

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