After twelve-year-old orphan, Alli Rosco, is cursed with a deadly spell, she must join the legendary Thieves Guild in order to try and save herself in this high-stakes debut. Twelve-year-old Alli Rosco is smart, resourceful, and totally incapable of keeping her mouth shut. Some of these traits have served her well during her nine years in Azeland’s orphanage, and others have proved more troublesome…but now that she’s escaped to try her luck on the streets, she has bigger problems than extra chores to contend with. Surviving would be hard enough, but after a run-in with one of the city’s Protectors, she’s marked by a curse that’s slowly working its way to her heart. There is a cure, but the cost is astronomical—and seems well out of her reach. Enter Beck, a boy with a gift for theft and a touch of magic, who seems almost too good to be true. He tells Alli that the legendary Thieves Guild, long thought to be a myth, is real. Even better, Beck is a member and thinks she could be, too. All she has to do is pass the trial that the King of Thieves will assign to her. Join the Guild, collect her yearly reward and buy a cure. Plus, Alli hopes the Guild will be the home—the family —that Alli has always wanted. But when their trial goes wrong, innocent lives are put in danger, and Alli has to decide how much she can sacrifice in order to survive. Gr 4–6—Alli Rosco escapes from her orphanage, but during her first day of freedom, she is hit by a curse. The cure is expensive, so she teams up with a boy named Beck to try to pass the trial to join the Thieves Guild and earn the money she needs. As Beck teaches Alli the rules of being a thief, she will have to decide what she is willing to do and what conflicts with her own set of values. This debut novel introduces readers to a fantastic world of orphans, thieves, magic, and adventure. Characters are well developed and balanced, though some of the secondary players are a little flat. While the world is well imagined, the background details are scarce. The plot is fast-paced and addresses ethical dilemmas. There are enough remaining loose ends to spawn a sequel, though this title can stand alone. VERDICT This compelling debut fantasy novel with complex themes, lots of action, and a good cast of characters will appeal to fantasy readers across the spectrum.—Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK Alexandra Ott holds a BA in English from the University of Tulsa. She currently lives in Oklahoma with her tiny canine overlord. She is the author of the Rules for Thieves and Seekers of the Wild Realm series. Visit her online at AlexandraOtt.com and on Twitter at @Alexandra_Ott. Rules for Thieves Chapter One Adoption Day is the worst. Way too early in the morning, Sister Perla stands over my bed, her wrinkled face illuminated in the flickering candlelight. Wisps of gray hair frame her grim expression, a stark contrast to her white robes. I throw my blanket over my head, resolving that today, of all days, I will not get up. I close my eyes. “Alli,” she says, “don’t you know what today is?” She yanks the blanket off me. “Well, since yesterday was the fifty-second day of Ilaina’s Month, I’d guess today is the fifty-third,” I say without opening my eyes. “Yes,” she snaps. “Adoption Day. And if you aren’t up in one minute you’ll have kitchen duty for a week.” Now I look at her. The hard set of her jaw means she’s not bluffing. This is not the day to test her. I toss aside my blanket, shivering in the drafty morning air. The bare wood floor is gritty under my feet as I reach for a set of clothing. Around me, the other girls rush to put on their nicest clothes and brush their hair, frantically trying to look their best. With a muttered curse, I find my oldest, grayest uniform and throw it on. It helps that I still have a black eye from yesterday. Sister Perla herds us upstairs to the chapel, where Headmistress Morgila is waiting to give us her annual lecture. We must be on our very best behavior, we must smile and be polite and use our manners, blah, blah, blah. I always roll my eyes and sigh as many times as possible during the speech just to remind her how I feel about all this. In the past few years, she’s taken to ignoring me, and this year is no exception. She knows lecturing me is a waste of her time and mine. Once Sister Morgila finishes her speech, we line up to leave gifts or offerings for Harona. People call on Harona a lot around here, since she’s supposed to be the patron saint of children and families. And since Adoption Day is held on Harona’s Day, the pleas to her are more desperate now than usual. I haven’t said any prayers or left any gifts on this holiday since I was eight. Harona and I are not on good terms. With our obligatory gift giving complete, we all troop downstairs into the big playroom, where a few old toys are strewn across the juice-stained rug, and a drooping map of Azeland fails to hide the peeling puke-yellow paint that c