

She devotes much energy to making that point. Question: If everybody has such powers, why don’t they get together and clean up the city of London and the River Thames? As described by Brandes, these are highly insalubrious places. If your color is green, for instance, you can do magic involving plants and other green things. Everybody except for those in the lowest stratum of society has a mask of a particular color which gives them telekinetic power over things pertaining to that color. This much I get: the Keepers are Catholics, the Igniters are Protestants.īut instead of Christianity, we have this business of “colors” and masks. “Igniters,” with the Igniters in power, persecuting the Keepers, and the Keepers hatch a plot to overthrow the Igniters. In the book, Christianity is replaced by something else entirely: no Bible, no church. In real life, this feud was between Protestants and Catholics. Shakespeare is still alive, James I is King of England, and the country is embroiled in violent religious controversy. We give her full marks for originality, but I’m afraid I’ll have to take off points for execution.

The author takes a fairly well-known historical incident, Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, 1605, and twists it into an alternative history-type fantasy. I’m having a hard time with this review, mostly because the story is an allegory and I’m not sure I’ve correctly deciphered it. Fawkes, by Nadine Brandes, is directed to a teenage audience. I’m always on the lookout for books suitable for Christian readers, young and old.
