Published By: Firefly Press
Pages: 240
Released On: 04/06/2026
Reading Age: 8+
Tom Friday was never meant to be a museum-guarding, artefact-finding, super-brave explorer. But on a visit to the Natural History Museum he gets embroiled in the world of the Questers Academy – protectors of mythical treasures and artefacts from around the world.
Questers student Leesha is determined to be the youngest ever agent for Questers, but first she’ll need to prove her worth. That’s where Tom comes in. Tom is a super-recogniser, someone with the ability to pick out people from a crowd after barely glimpsing them for a moment. Together Leesha is sure they can solve a complex and intriguing quest: to find the key to the mythical Box of Locks, before it falls into the wrong hands.
Faced with a bunch of complicated ciphers and coded clues, the new friends must learn to trust each other in order to beat the forces of darkness and save the world from potential apocalypse.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Firefly Press for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I love a good kids book. Adults who aren’t reading kids books are missing out.
This is the first of Sam’s books I am reading but I’ll definitely be checking out her others and I recommend this book to young and older readers alike.
I usually write notes down as I read a review book to help me when it comes to typing it up, but I was so engrossed that I had hardly any.
As a near 33 year old, it’s almost impossible to identify with protagonists who are children, and whilst I won’t go as far as to say I did identify with them, but I did enjoy reading about them. The main protagonist of Tom is a delight. He really has a big character arc and I was so with him on his journey. There are quite a lot of other characters, good and bad, and they all work well in Tom’s story.
It’s got elements of thriller and mystery about it, the occasional historical element, and magical fantasy. It’s got a bit of everything really.
It’s fun and quick to read, fast paced, exciting, thrilling, funny, tense – just such an enjoyable read.
It reminded me of Sam Sedgman’s Isaac Turner series (which I also love) and yet still feels fresh and original.
I love the Natural History Museum and have been numerous times over the years and this has given me a completely different view of it, and I’ll definitely be looking out for mysterious magical items on my next visit.
I can assume there will be more instalments. It ends well but there’s definitely scope for more, and on NetGalley it does say “Book 1” so here’s hoping.
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