DNF Review: Museum of Thieves (Lian Tanner)

Title: Museum of Thieves
Series: The Keepers, Book 1
Author: Lian Tanner
Publisher: Delacorte Press
US Release Date: September 28, 2010
Genre: Middle Grade Dystopian Fantasy
Content Rating: Older Middle Grade (to Page 107: child abuse and murder, bombing, violence)
Format Read: ARC
Find On: Goodreads
Purchase: Indiebound | B&N | BookDepo | Azon
Summary:

Welcome to the tyrannical city of Jewel, where impatience is a sin and boldness is a crime.

Goldie Roth has lived in Jewel all her life. Like every child in the city, she wears a silver guardchain and is forced to obey the dreaded Blessed Guardians. She has never done anything by herself and won’t be allowed out on the streets unchained until Separation Day.

When Separation Day is canceled, Goldie, who has always been both impatient and bold, runs away, risking not only her own life but also the lives of those she has left behind. In the chaos that follows, she is lured to the mysterious Museum of Dunt, where she meets the boy Toadspit and discovers terrible secrets. Only the cunning mind of a thief can understand the museum’s strange, shifting rooms. Fortunately, Goldie has a talent for thieving.

Which is just as well, because the leader of the Blessed Guardians has his own plans for the museum—plans that threaten the lives of everyone Goldie loves. And it will take a daring thief to stop him. . .

Museum of Thieves is a thrilling tale of destiny and danger, and of a courageous girl who has never been allowed to grow up—until now.

*          *          *

**I did not finish this book.** 
I stopped at Page 107.

Series: This is the first book in The Keepers Trilogy. All books in the series are released and available.

With its imaginative cover and living museum premise, I've been looking forward to reading this story for a while now. But when I finally did, right from the start I found myself struggling to generate the interest to continue, and to my disappointment I ultimately could not bring myself to finish.

Museum of Thieves was nothing like I anticipated. It's set in some kind of alternate reality dystopian world with too many similarities to our own to be fully fantastical but too fantastical to be truly our own, making it extremely confusing and hard to accept. The structure of Jewel's civilization was especially odd - somewhat understandable given the historical circumstances, I guess, but just too weird to intrigue me personally.

And then there were the characters. Although main character Goldie showed great spirit and daring before and during her escape, afterwards she immediately became weak and hesitant and childish. She would exhibit some spunk occasionally, but generally she was timid and uncertain yet stubborn - reasonable given her upbringing, but not an engaging protagonist for me. If she had leaned more towards one side or the other (strength or timidity) I could've rallied behind her, but as she was I just couldn't like her. As for the other characters, Sinew was interesting and personable and I adored the dog Broo, but the other two adults were rather forgettable and Toadspit was horrid to Goldie and therefore horrid in general. The rest of the cast consisted of interchangeable childhood friends and parents, and villainous Guardians who not even fear should've allowed to be installed as adolescent caretakers. The antagonist wasn't so bad - adequately evil - although he was a little too mustache-twirling to feel truly diabolical.

Despite all this, I kept reading for the living museum, with its anticipated dusty treasures and hidden rooms and thrilling secrets. But when we finally reached it, I was seriously underwhelmed. Devastated, really, by how dull it all was. Perhaps I've read too many better sentient magical buildings, because I found no magic in this one. I felt no danger from it, even as the characters were in danger. I didn't get lost in it, even as the characters got lost. All I found was broken junk and uninteresting strangeness and a measure of frustration, just like the Guardians who searched it.

Still, I tried to give the museum proper time to grow on me. I let Goldie hide there, sleep there, walk its staircase and journey into its darker reaches. She was almost be killed by its perils, began to learn its mysteries, and even tasted its magic - but still I didn't feel engaged. Finally I could push myself to read no more, and at Page 107 of 312, I allowed myself to stop with disappointment but relief.

If you enjoyed books such as The Hotel Between by Sean Easley, Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George, Angel and Bavar by Amy Wilson, or Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, then you may want to consider Museum of Thieves for its similar living building and fantastical adventures. But I would highly recommend those books before I would recommend this one.

Other Reviews That Might Interest: 

The Hotel Between by Sean Easley
Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce