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The Fourth Ruby

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
Jack and Gwen are back in this dynamic follow-up to The Lost Property Office.
It's been a year since Jack Buckles discovered the Keep beneath Baker Street, an underground tower no Section Thirteen was ever supposed to see; a year since his dad fell into a coma. Nothing has been the same since. Jack's tracker abilities are on the fritz, Gwen's not speaking to him and, what's worse, there's a pounding voice in his head calling for "the flame."

Then, Jack and Gwen are framed for the theft of a historic crown jewel—the Black Prince's Ruby, one of three cursed rubies said to bring knowledge, loyalty, and the command of nations to whomever wields them all. Now, they must retrieve the other jewels before the true thief does, or risk unleashing a reign of terror unlike anything history's ever seen.
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    • Kirkus

      October 1, 2017
      A lighthearted foray into a world of mystery, riddles, and sorcery in London's underbelly.Jack Buckles is a tracker by birth--the result of a forbidden "confluence of tracker bloodlines." His ability to "spark," or send visions to his brain by touching objects, helped him stop the villainous Clockmaker nearly a year ago in series opener The Lost Property Office (2016). Lately, Jack's unusually keen senses have been failing him, but he soon finds he has far bigger problems to solve. He is framed for the disappearance of the crown jewels and is forced to team up with his disgruntled friend, the irrepressible clerk Gwen, to discover the secrets of the cursed rubies and to clear his name. The duo stays steps ahead of the Ministry of Secrets, dodging dragons and maneuvering skiffs through secret underground waterways on their way to find answers in the Thieves' Guild. As they journey far and wide, Jack frequently finds himself confronting his past, as images of his ill father and missing mentor disrupt his visions. This adventure reads like an urban version of preteen wizardry and maintains a dizzying pace that can't quite disguise the essentially pedestrian nature of the central plot. The good-natured characters and their British humor distract readers from the lack of depth. Gwen is white, Jack is revealed to have a hitherto-unknown smidgen of Mongolian heritage, and there are several secondary characters of color.Entertaining characters and a fast pace help to mitigate a lackluster plot. (Adventure. 8-12)

      COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.3
  • Lexile® Measure:710
  • Interest Level:4-8(MG)
  • Text Difficulty:3-4

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