The Guild of Gatekeepers, book 1: A Skin of a DragonFrances Jones2018

THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS IN MAGIC
1648, England

One rainy mid-September day Tom Wild, the 15-year-old son of a fisherman and smuggler, discovers a small wooden box near his home off the southern coast of England. Drawn to the box, Tom hides it with no awareness of the terrible shift his life is about to take. Soon after, Tom is kidnapped by a mysterious stranger and forced to answer for his crimes in London.

Threatened with execution and bound to his captors, Tom joins the Guild of Gatekeepers, a secret group of magical weavers, hunters, illusionists, and traders to protect the world of magic from destruction. As Tom begins his new life as an apprentice, he stumbles upon a plot against the Crown that will enable Oliver Cromwell to finally win the English Civil War.

With the help of the Guild weaver’s apprentice, Eliza, and a few renegade magicians, Tom sets out on a quest to thwart an evil magician, save the king, and recover the family he lost.

Perfect for fans of Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust, Frances Hardinge’s A Skinful of Shadows, and V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series. This book is a fast-paced Young Adult historical fantasy that showcases 17th Century English history juxtaposed against the magic of Dragons, a Shadow Horse and the real purpose of the ravens at the Tower of London.