Joelene Reviews: Lian Tanner's - "City of Lies"

Goldie Roth is back with the second in The Keepers series, City of Lies. Danger once again threatens the city of Jewel when a child is kidnapped. Bonnie, however, is not just any child; she’s Toadspit’s little sister. So Goldie and Toadspit, the two youngest keepers, set off to track the kidnappers down.

When Toadspit, too, is captured, Goldie is left alone in to the city of Spoke where the gods are the same, but the customs couldn’t be more different. Relying on her talents in concealment, ability to lie and her nature as a thief she must make new allies if she is ever to save her friends. But not all is as it seems in the treacherous Spoke. Lies surround Goldie and the people she needs as allies might just as easily betray her for the price of a meal.

Meanwhile, in Jewel, the Museum of Dunt is growing dangerously restless with two of its keepers in peril. And the Fugleman is back, more broken and humble than before, with an offer that his sister, the Grand Protector, cannot afford to refuse.

Lian Tanner just keeps getting better. In City of Lies she pulls all of the safety nets out from under Goldie, leaving her to sink or swim on the merit of her own talents. Away from the familiarity of her own city and without her parents, Toadspit or any of the other keepers to fall back on Goldie shines like, well, gold as she navigates the confusion and perils of Spoke. Her spirit, rather than withering in the face of adversity, expands; and, while Goldie may think herself unequal to the task, she never wavers from it.

This is one of the few trilogies out there that really teaches girls that they can be strong, brave and confident. Unlike all too many others, Lian Tanner never sets up a dichotomy with her girls. Goldie is not only brilliant in contrast to the other girls in the novel. The other girls in the novel are brilliant too. While being kidnapped by two men far larger than her, ten year old Bonnie manages to fight back enough to draw blood. The Grand Protector is a woman who is smart enough to see what’s wrong with her city and ethical enough to work at fixing it. The message isn’t, ‘You can be strong as a girl, if you’re not like the other girls’. The message here is, ‘Girls are pretty flipping amazing’.

I’ll admit that when I saw that the second in The Keepers series would be set in a different city, I was apprehensive. Jewel was such a strong presence in the first book, and I wanted to go right back to it and see how it was going. With world-building that was so vivid in the first book, Museum of Thieves, Jewel was a place I wasn’t ready to leave. After having read City of Lies, I have to say that I’m glad Tanner took the risk of changing the setting. The city of Spoke is just as strong a presence as Jewel, but in a completely different way. Both cities very much take on a character of their own, but the problems of Spoke are just as compelling as those in Jewel. Spoke is a darker city, with more danger lurking in the shadows and citizens who are too worldly rather than the too ignorant citizens of Jewel.

Museum of Thieves was an incredible read, but the stakes are higher in City of Lies, the characters are brighter, the setting is more exciting. Though the series is aimed at the ten to fourteen year-old age group, this is one that anyone can read and enjoy. There’s action, adventure and magic enough for any young reader; but there’s also enough subtlety for older readers. Definitely a series I wish I had grown up with.

City of Lies – Lian Tanner

Allen & Unwin (September 27, 2011)

ISBN: 9781742379999