Teenage heroes uncover fae secrets and fight the forces of evil. Rags is a skilled thief chosen to break into an elaborately guarded fae ruin. Inside, he awakens a handsome, tattooed fae warrior who vows to protect him, and Rags is thrust unwittingly into adventure. Soon the cast expands to an ensemble of six heroes and a diverse supporting cast of friends and foes. The team seeks to assemble the pieces of an ancient fae weapon that look like giant silver animals. They also have to outsmart the evil sorcerer Morien, aid the Resistance against the queen, and discover the terrible secret at the heart of the court. Meanwhile, Rags is trying to figure out his own feelings toward the fae warrior Shining Talon. Jones and Bennett play the hits--magical companion animals, ethereal magic warriors, an evil queen--yet do so with skill, excitement, and a unique aesthetic. This world of court intrigue and immortal fae with skin covered in black tattoos feels at once comfortably familiar and intriguingly new. By the end, readers will be itching for more. Of the heroes, four are White, one is brown-skinned, and one is a fantasy race with golden skin and black hair. One has a disability, not handled with great sensitivity--he is "familiar with curses, having been born one to his mother," readers are told, and his arm and leg are repeatedly described as "withered"; another is transgender. A captivating and satisfying queer fantasy. (pronunciation guide) (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 8 Up--When Rags the thief gets too cocky, one of Queen Ever-Bright's mages captures him and implants a shard of mirrorglass in his heart. Rags must navigate a multi-trapped, ancient Fae labyrinth for the mage, or die. So far, the labyrinth has killed all the mage's other thieves, much as the ruthless Queen and her Queensguard exterminated the Fae. Foul-mouthed, iconoclastic Rags is determined to survive, but what he finds is not exactly the treasure the Queen demands; it is the start of another quest that will draw in more of the remaining good souls in a world rapidly falling to Queen Ever-Bright's evil. Told in many voices--human, Fae, magical Fae creation--this imaginative fantasy maintains a breakneck pace while still imbuing every main character with heart, nuance, and, for most, witty banter. While ethnicity is not overt, the authors describe characters with a variety of skin tones. The novel also features queer and trans protagonists, and a disabled character. Although evil characters are more one-note, the world is well built, and the magic is dazzling and creative. Violence and profanity abound, appropriate to the situations, characters, and genre. The occasional sweet touches of romance do not, as yet, go beyond kisses. VERDICT This sterling start to a high fantasy series features creative world-building, nuanced and witty characters, good versus evil, a perilous quest, and a touch of romance for both queer and straight characters. Recommended for most fantasy lovers.--Rebecca Moore, The Overlake Sch., Redmond, WA

Classic YA fantasy tropes break into a fast-paced fantasy revolution whose heart, grit, and consequences are more than the sum of its parts. When 16-year-old thief Rags is caught stealing, royal sorcerer Morien gives him an offer he can't refuse: either die or search a trap-studded ruin in the eerie Lost-Lands, once home to the extinct black-boned fae. Rags finds glass-entombed--and charmingly literal--fae prince Shining Talon and mechanized lizard One, the first sentient fragment of an overwhelmingly powerful weapon that humanity twisted against its own fae makers. Compelled to locate the weapon's other fragments and the human masters who can wield them--and help Morien's autocratic, deathless Queen crush a struggling Resistance--characters including a fae, a common thief, a defector, a banished noble scion, and a disabled prince with a "withered side" must decide whose side they're on. Jones and Bennett (the Volstovic Cycle, for adults) overcome a misleadingly simplistic opening act to deliver a smart, stakes-loaded LGBTQ fantasy well worth sticking with, for fans of Six of Crows and Megan Whalen Turner. Ages 13--up. Agent (for Jones and Bennett): Tamar Rydzinski, Laura Dail Literary. (Nov.)

The coauthors of the adult fantasy series the Volstovic Cycle make their YA debut with this romance-tinged fantasy setting a cast of unlikely characters on a quest to find an ancient fae relic for Queen Catriona's sinister plot. Gifted thief Rags is enlisted by Morien the Last, a powerful sorcerer bending people's will with the torturous magic of mirrorcraft. Things take a turn when Rags awakens Shining Talon, a fae prince whose kind was believed to have been wiped out. With old fae magic at play and secrets afoot, all the entrapped will need to trust in one another to make it out alive. Masters of character-driven stories, Jones and Bennett yet again deliver with a foul-mouthed thief, an enchanting fae prince, a headstrong woman, and an ex-Queensguard, to name only a few. The close third-person narrative with alternating points of view works well in establishing backstories and innermost struggles, but the excess of internal exposition slows the momentum and heist story thread. Though the dreamy, queer, fae-mortal romance doesn't flourish until the latter half, fans of the authors will happily subsist on the story's consistent sharp-witted voice alone.