Book Description Review ★ “[B]rimful of intrigue, plucky wannabe adventurers, and some suspiciously artful iron….Observant readers will delight in piecing together the clues to puzzle out the knots alongside the Knot….A fascinating, intricate tale of friendship and rescue.”—Kirkus, STARRED review ★ “[A] truly twisty brain-teaser filled with puzzles, misdirection, and adventure, all with just the right balance of emotional weight that is pitch-perfect for a middle-grade audience….Milford’s Nagspeake stories are always a treat, but this one, with its tight, clever plotting; heartening emotional growth, and dynamic setting, shines extra brightly.”—Booklist, STARRED review ★ “This is a perfectly plotted and well-told mystery, and the fascinating settings and characters make it unique…. Readers will delight in this old-fashioned mystery, made fresh with intriguing places and people.”—School Library Journal, STARRED Review “[A] worthy addition to [Milford’s] already established setting of Greenglass House that will also appeal to new readers….Milford’s descriptive writing is a treat.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books “This entry shows all of Milford’s strengths: theme-expanding stories within stories, a thrilling genre fusion, swashbuckling technical mastery…, a vocabulary to delight the word-nerds, and an invented world real enough to live in. Delivering layers upon layers, convincing characters who succeed despite their emotional challenges, and a brain-tingling mystery that unfolds at just the right speed, this ghostly fantasy-adventure is a humdinger of a good read.”—The Horn Book Read more About the Author Kate Milford is the New York Times bestselling author of the Edgar Award-winning, National Book Award nominee Greenglass House, as well as Ghosts of Greenglass House, Bluecrowne, The Thief Knot, and many more. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York. www.greenglasshousebooks.com and www.katemilfordwritesbooks.com, Twitter: @KateMilford Read more Customers Review: The Thief Knot (Greenglass House #4)Kate MilfordTo get the most out of this book the reader must start at the beginning of this Middle School series. In book one “Greenglass House” the reader is introduced to the world of Greenglass House an inn with unusual guests. The inn is owned and run by the Pines,’ Milo’s adoptive parents. Milo completes his homework and is ready to spend his Christmas break with his family. Milo and his new friend Meddy try to discover why the new guest is at the inn.The second book in this series is “Ghosts of Greenglass House.” Readers are reunited with thirteen-year-old Milo. He is searching for hints that will help him find a strange map and a smuggler’s missing booty.Book three in this series “Bluecrowne: A Greenglass House Story.” Once again we return to Greenglass House. In this installment Lucy Bluecrowne, her stepbrother and mother are starting their life over. Twelve-year-old Lucy wants nothing more than to serve with her father on a war ship. She finds life on shore tiresome until two despicable strangers attempt to force her little brother to help them with their vile scheme.That catches you up on what happened previously…now let’s look at book 4 where we meet Marzana. Her parents are procured to assist in unraveling a peculiar crime. Marzana and her friends work together searching secret corridors that change repeatedly. Are looking for the identity and location of abductors.This is definitely not a standalone tale, but it is a good tale and one middle schoolers will love. This is a humorous mystery with some supernatural aspects.
The story is well written and while I didn’t find any mistakes. I did realize that this is NOT a standalone. I was beyond lost in parts and highly disappointing in the underdevelopment of the characters. I did read reviews before going in and non said that I had to read the previous three books to enjoy this one (I might go back and read the others so I can fully enjoy this story).Having stated that, this story does have humor, action, mystery, puzzles and a fun overall story line. If you have read the others I can imagine this is a wonderful story. The idea behind the story is great and I did enjoy the young detectives and their thoughts. I would have just loved a bit more detail into how they were. This would be a great story for middle grade readers. There are no triggers or upsetting aspects of the story.
My favorite Greenglass story is the first one and I loved it so much that I have tried to read all that have followed. From the summary, I wasn’t sure if I would like “The Thief Knot” but I have trust in author Kate Milford so I decided to give it a try.I wasn’t disappointed. It does go too long, in my opinion, and the pacing is a little uneven, but on the whole, it is another fine tale in the Nagspeake world. In this story, the setting is Liberty of Gammerbund, which is a city within the city and according to the young girls who open the story, it is a place where nothing happens.For Marzana Hakelbarend and her best friend, Nialla Giddis, this isn’t a good thing. Of course, something eventually does happen in which the adults seem to not care so it is left to the younger generation to get something done.The plot may seem familiar but the hook of the Nagspeake tales is the details and intricacies of connections that Milford weaves throughout that keeps the reader intrigued and guessing. The characters are also well drawn. Marzana seems the standard ‘spunky’ heroine but her personality trait of introversion is a real challenge for her. Each character has something about them that makes them different from the other so it is easy to keep track of them.As noted prior, I did feel that the story does go long but it doesn’t water down the enjoyment. It is always a pleasure to read a tale from this world.
I have not read Milford’s previous book but chose this as it’s billed as a stand-alone. I think this was a mistake. I found the writing excellent but having no background in the setup I found myself occasionally lost.In this book Marzana and Nialla are looking for adventure but always end up being bored – until – an 11 year old girl is kidnapped. Marzana decides to track down the kidnappers with her band of six calling themselves The Thief Knot. There’s a lot of clues tossed into the path of the reader who may delight in the solving – in other words, the “aha factor”. This is a thick book but a quick read. But please, start with the other books in this series.
This series has been hit or miss for me.i really did not like the first book, missed the second one but loved Bluecrowne. This book works well as a stand alone in my opinion. It’s a caper plot filled with some supernatural aspects. I found it to be a very quick read despite the length. I feel like Milford really found her footing here with once and character. The tone is just right. One if the best aspects of this book is the way the locale is woven into the story. The images are so vivid. I think this would appeal to a reader who likes adventure stories. I’d love to see more along this lines in the series.
I have read several chapters of this so far and I really like Milford’s writing. This is a sizeable read at over 460 pages broken down into 30 chapters. There is even a chapter devoted to explaining the origin of the book’s namesake. The book is recommended for 10 to 12 year olds and I would say that is a good starting point. There is a lot of advanced vocabulary and themes include the afterlife and ghosts as well as problem solving and teamwork as the self proclaimed Thief Knot members try to solve a mystery with a trail of clues provided to the reader along the way. This reminds me of the kinds of mystery books I enjoyed as a tween. I like that the author includes some breadth in topics by adding ideas and phrases from additional languages as well as providing the reader with some problem solving ideas. |
19 reviews