But the story gains a relentless momentum in the second half, when Christopher shines as a humorous narrator who is flawed enough to be relatable, but not so flawed that we can’t imagine him succeeding in his quest. Though Sands avoids, for the most part, the dreaded fantasy-novel “info dump,” the early narrative is occasionally slowed by Christopher’s flashbacks. It all feels very real, despite fantastical touches like a mystical cult and a substance that harnesses “the power of God Himself.” We meet paranoid politicians, witness the casual abuse of children and hear the ubiquity of Christian idioms and ideologies. Sands’s representation of the teeming, stinking streets of 17th-century London is remarkable in its detail.

In this impeccably researched debut, Christopher learns that there was much more to his kindly, distracted master than he realized - and that his own intellect and confidence are the strongest weapons against evil. His loyal and often unappreciated best friend, Tom, accompanies him on a quest that tests both boys’ mettle, their ability to solve complicated riddles and the strength of their friendship. After Christopher’s master is pulled into the gruesome affair, the boy tries to learn who is behind the murders. But soon apothecaries start turning up dead all over London. Other than an unfortunate incident involving gunpowder and a stuffed bear, his master is happy with him. When Christopher Rowe, the central character of Kevin Sands’s “The Blackthorn Key,” is taken from a miserable life at an orphanage and apprenticed to the gentle, absent-minded apothecary Master Benedict Blackthorn, he displays both curiosity and intelligence.

The blackthorn key book 1