"Fawkes" by Nadine Brandes

About this book:

  “Thomas Fawkes is turning to stone, and the only cure to the Stone Plague is to join his father’s plot to assassinate the king of England.
  Silent wars leave the most carnage. The wars that are never declared, but are carried out in dark alleys with masks and hidden knives. Wars where color power alters the natural rhythm of 17th century London. And when the king calls for peace, no one listens until he finally calls for death.
  But what if death finds him first?
  Keepers think the Igniters caused the plague. Igniters think the Keepers did. But all Thomas knows is that the Stone Plague infecting his eye is spreading. And if he doesn’t do something soon, he’ll be a lifeless statue. So when his Keeper father, Guy Fawkes, invites him to join the Gunpowder Plot—claiming it will put an end to the plague—Thomas is in.
  The plan: use 36 barrels of gunpowder to blow up the Igniter King.
  The problem: Doing so will destroy the family of the girl Thomas loves. But backing out of the plot will send his father and the other plotters to the gallows. To save one, Thomas will lose 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.”


Series: No.


Spiritual Content- Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of cathedrals & churches; Mentions of a school named after a saint; Mentions of Christmas (though not the reason for the celebrating); A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A couple mentions of God; A mention of a miracle;

             *Note: “Home sweet hell” is said once; Mentions of someone likening himself to a god & someone resembling God’s divine power on earth; A few mentions of people believing dark skin is of the devil & evil; A mention of someone sounding cursed.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘curse *name*’, an ‘idiot’, two ‘stinking’s, two ‘what in Thames’ name’s, twelve forms of ‘blast it all’, and twenty-five forms of ‘blast’; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); A bit of sarcasm & sass; Fighting, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, Cutting one’s own self, & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Thomas is hit & put in jail; Thomas faces prejudice for having the plague; Seeing a handful of hangings, near hangings, those fixing to be hung, people being cut, blood/bleeding, & mockers (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a group of people drown (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing fights, people shot and dying/die, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); All about mentions of a plan to assassinate the king and government & kidnap a child; Many mentions of exiles, being hunted, hangings, beheadings, awful death sentences, executions/murders, & treason; Mentions of past hangings, dead bodies, those set for execution, blood/bleeding, tarring, & torture (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a massacre & blood (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a death through stoning (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a fire, drownings, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of duels & killing; Mentions of deaths from a plague; Mentions of being hit, slapped/slapping, nearly being stabbed, injuries, blood/bleeding, & pain (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of fights, fighting, & blood (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of prison, inmates/criminals, & the smell of blood; Mentions of thieves, stealing, & crimes; Mentions of wars; Mentions of slavery, slaves, & people being captured and sold; Mentions of hatred & threats; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of prejudice & comments that Thomas faces; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & drunks; Mentions of animals dying from the plague; Mentions of hunting animals & trips; A few mentions of animals & blood at a butcher’s (up to semi-detailed): A few mentions of whips & whipping animals; A few mentions of animal and human waste & stench; A couple mentions of poison; A couple mentions of blackmail; A couple mentions of gambling; A couple mentions of pipes & tobacco.

Sexual Content- a semi-detailed kiss; A few touches & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Some noticing; Mentions of flirting, a blown kiss, & hand kisses; A couple mentions of a kiss & kissing; A mention of a young man forcing himself upon a girl & castration (did not happened); A mention of a carnal lover; A mention of a concubine; A bit of love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A few mentions of a man having two wives & him abandoning the first; A few mentions of nakedness; A mention of women showing cleavage; A mention of a boot to a rear-end.

-Thomas Fawkes, age 16-17
                                1^st person P.O.V. of Thomas

                                          Set in 1604-1606 (Fantasy)
                                                        448 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

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My personal Rating-

{Not for those sensitive to hangings or magic.}

If there’s one author I hear a lot about on the bookish Instagram community (especially the Christian fiction branch), it’s Nadine Brandes. While I’ve followed her account for a while now, this was my first time reading one of her books.

Thoughts on “Fawkes”? Hang on a second, we’ll get there.

In the first couple of chapters of starting this novel, I decided to look into the actual Gunpowder plot of 1605. After reading the Wikipedia page, my only thoughts were, “This isn’t going to end well.”

I’ve said many times before that I’m truly not a fantasy fan and was honestly worried if I would be able to keep up with this mix of historical and fantasy plot. Not to mention the fact that this novel is four-hundred and forty-eight pages long. I’m proud to say that I was able to follow along well as nothing seemed too confusing; props to the author on that note. I do believe that I was able to understand the fantasy elements of this one more due to the author sharing behind the scenes and information about the masks on Instagram.

The original Gunpowder plot was based on religions while this one was based on the masks and powers of those in the society. A reader who knows the actual history could read into and possibly put in them names of the actual groups that were fighting each other while reading this novel. That aside, “Fawkes” did not have any true Spiritual Content, which while I wasn’t shocked over the fact, I was a bit disappointed. It seems the true history does have the faith and Christian content in it, however.

Overall, this novel was cleaner than I was expecting due to the plot to assassinate a king and government. There were still hangings, blood, and fighting, but nothing went over semi-detailed, which I really appreciated.

Some families who follow this site might prefer not to read books with magic, so this would be one to stay away from. No witchcraft type magic, but there are those who abuse their powers.

I personally found “Fawkes” to be a unique plot and I enjoyed parts of it (especially Emma). I hope to read the author’s next book releasing next May, but I do hope it’ll have more faith content than this one. :)

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Thomas Nelson) for this honest review.