Fawkes by Nadine Brandes

Fawkes

by Nadine Brandes

Guy Fawkes’s son must join his father’s plot to kill the king in this magical retelling of the Gunpowder Plot that will sweep you back in time to a divided England where plagues turn victims to stone.

In 17th-century London two forces rule the people: the color powers and the Stone Plague. Brown masks can manipulate wood. Black masks control the night. And red masks . . . Well, red is the color of blood.

Thomas Fawkes’s Color Test is upon him, and he is sure his father, the infamous Guy Fawkes, will present him with a mask and Thomas will finally bond with a color. He desperately hopes for a gray mask so he can remove the stone that has invaded his body and will ultimately take his life.

But when Guy refuses to give Thomas his mask or even his presence, Thomas has no place in school or society. His only hope is to track down his father and demand a mask to regain what he’s lost. But his father has other plans: to kill the king.

Thomas must join forces with his father if he wants to save his own life. When his errands for the cause bring him time and again to Emma Areben, a former classmate, Thomas is exposed to a whole new brand of magic. And Emma doesn’t control just one color—she controls them all.

Emma wants to show Thomas the full power of color magic, but it goes against everything his father is fighting for. If Thomas sides with his father, he could save his own life—which would destroy Emma and her family. To save one, he must sacrifice the other. No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back.

Praise for Fawkes:

“An imaginative, colorful tale about choosing for yourself between what's right and what others insist is the truth.” —Cynthia Hand, New York Times bestselling author of My Lady Jane

“Hold on to your heart as this slow burning adventure quickly escalates into an explosion of magic, love, and the truth about loyalty.” —Mary Weber, bestselling author of the Storm Siren Trilogy and To Best the Boys

  • Full-length young adult historical fantasy
  • Includes discussion questions for book clubs
  • Also by Nadine Brandes: Romanov and Wishtress, coming September 2022

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

5 of 5 stars

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*Mini Review*
This book is definitely going on my favorite list.
History, fantasy, a strong female character, and seeing things from a young man's perspective and him actually learning and changing along the way! It was amazing! I have no words just OMG! I need more books like this pronto.

*Full Review*
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for a free digital arc in exchange for my honest review.



I read most of this book in a day! This hasn't happened since winter break.


Fawkes is a novel that not only tells the historical story of the plan to blow up parliament but also has a fantasy twist on it that deals with color power, and a plague.




Thomas Fawkes is one of those characters that I wasn't sure if I was going to like or not. I ended up loving him! Seriously he's my new book boyfriend (he's passed Creswell from Stalking Jack the Ripper). Why do I love him so much? Well because not only does he grow and change throughout this book, he's not obsessed with being the hero, all he wants it to be free, and he's good-hearted and doesn't let other people make decisions for him or sway his opinion one way or another. He goes out and finds his own truth, and does what's right even if it harms the people he's grown to care for.


I'm not a romance person, but this relationship that happens in this book. OMG! So natural, so caring, and I WILL GO DOWN WITH THIS SHIP!!


Now time to talk about the history in this book. I'll fully admit that I don't know a lot about the plot to blow up parliament, okay let's be honest, I only knew the song. That's beside the point though. What is the point is that you can tell Brandes did a lot of research for this book to get everything right. From start to finish I was enchanted by this book, and how even though it is a fantasy novel, the history in it was real and yes a few things were changed, but most of it is true.


As for the fantasy color power ability. I loved it! Fantasy can sometimes take me a little while to get into and understand the complexities of it. A quarter of the way into this book I understood what the colors powers were and why they are so important. Brandes did such an amazing job of letting us know what was happening, without it being too much info at once. The beauty and the intricacy of the masks and the color power were so amazing sounding that I cannot wait to see all the fanart that comes from it.


This book has so many intense moments that had me on the edge of my seat, having to know what was going to happen next. I cannot wait to see how everyone else reacts to certain moments because they were just so so good.



I want to read this book again already. I cannot wait for it to come out so I can own a physical copy!


Fawkes is a novel that not only tells the historical story of the plan to blow up parliament but also has a fantasy twist on it that deals with color power, and a plague.




Thomas Fawkes is one of those characters that I wasn't sure if I was going to like or not. I ended up loving him! Seriously he's my new book boyfriend (he's passed Creswell from Stalking Jack the Ripper). Why do I love him so much? Well because not only does he grow and change throughout this book, he's not obsessed with being the hero, all he wants it to be free, and he's good-hearted and doesn't let other people make decisions for him or sway his opinion one way or another. He goes out and finds his own truth, and does what's right even if it harms the people he's grown to care for.


I'm not a romance person, but this relationship that happens in this book. OMG! So natural, so caring, and I WILL GO DOWN WITH THIS SHIP!!


Now time to talk about the history in this book. I'll fully admit that I don't know a lot about the plot to blow up parliament, okay let's be honest, I only knew the song. That's beside the point though. What is the point is that you can tell Brandes did a lot of research for this book to get everything right. From start to finish I was enchanted by this book, and how even though it is a fantasy novel, the history in it was real and yes a few things were changed, but most of it is true.


As for the fantasy color power ability. I loved it! Fantasy can sometimes take me a little while to get into and understand the complexities of it. A quarter of the way into this book I understood what the colors powers were and why they are so important. Brandes did such an amazing job of letting us know what was happening, without it being too much info at once. The beauty and the intricacy of the masks and the color power were so amazing sounding that I cannot wait to see all the fanart that comes from it.


This book has so many intense moments that had me on the edge of my seat, having to know what was going to happen next. I cannot wait to see how everyone else reacts to certain moments because they were just so so good.


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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 21 February, 2018: Finished reading
  • 21 February, 2018: Reviewed