Five & Chance

Royal Spy Institute #2

by Elise Hennessy

I can’t earn a coveted Altarian espionage position alone; I need my crew.

My friends and I have become the spy candidate team Five & Chance. Our diverse talents came together to impress the Spymaster once, but we’ve since been promoted to the Intermediate level within RSI. We now strive to stand out amongst older, more experienced teams while juggling specialized classes and apprenticeships out in the city.

So far, my crew’s differences have been our strengths, but now they threaten to pull us apart. Stress and pressure to perform threatens the fine balance between us to a breaking point.

I discover what could be our big break to make it to the top of the Intermediate teams. The Morashi are hosting an illegal auction and little wonders are what’s for sale. I will do anything to stop it, even reach out directly to Sivana Walker, Hero of Altare, for help.

The Gilded Wolves meets Six of Crows in this YA fantasy series in which a former thief uses her skills to become a spy. If you like clever heroines, strong friendships, and found family, then you’ll love Royal Spy Institute.

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2024

About the author

Elise Hennessy has developed a life-long passion for reading that inspires her imagination. She holds a master's degree in journalism and enjoys the process of telling stories. Now, she teaches future generations to love books too.

She focuses on writing tales of paranormal romance and young adult fantasy. Elise lives in Texas with her family and is owned by two cats.

Find out more about her books at: www.elisehennessy.com

Reviews

[Cath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book two of the Royal Spy Institute: Five and Chance series and the main character is Heather aka Mouse, who stole the Eye of Acuity in the previous book and got caught and put in jail, thinking she was either going to die or have her hand cut off as punishment, until the headmaster of the RSI (Royal Spy Institute) school, came to give her a different offer. She had been part of the Menagerie, a gang who gathered orphans and street kids to work under Uncle Jace, to steal and do jobs for him. Stealing the necklace has a bigger gang after her gang siblings to get at her and the necklace, and she eventually manages to get her sister Jackie and many of her gang siblings taken in by the RSI school. She is now in a crew with four others, Carmen, the fighter, Fariq, the genius, Vance, the mage, and Margot, the noblewoman, plus her ‘little’ Chance, a talking mouse with thumbs. The story starts in the summer break when Carmen and Heather are on an extracurricular mission to help out Margot, after her uncle and cousin stole her dowry and inheritance. Vance isn’t allowed to leave the RSI school premises and Fariq is busy at his guild already. To et the mission approved by the school, they will be updating the Crown’s financial information of her uncle’s ledgers. Heather has been sent into Margot’ cousin’s room to rescue papers and funds Margot had hidden under her old bed, whilst Margot copies the ledgers whilst Carmen keeps a look out. Once back at the school, Carmen and Heather leave almost immediately, to go to her gym, where she has automatically become a master of Tosh Zorena, after the deaths of her father and uncle. Heather is her first trainee and being taught all of the secrets behind it by Carmen. It will come in handy later on, during some difficult situations!

The RSI school masquerades as the Radcliffe-Stone Institute for Troubled Youth and they are easily recognised in the town by their uniform. Now they are in the next year of their course and had been promoted into the intermediate level before the summer break due to their success with their last mission, they have a lot more on their plates. They are competing for placings against much older crews, who have spent up to five years trying to get to the next level and then become spies for real. Each student is assigned to their specific track depending on specific spy traits the teachers have observed so far, as well as have to take up an apprenticeship which would take up the whole weekend. If their crew fails to reach the next level, they will be classed as informants and never be able to reach the top rung of spy, which Heather is desperate to reach! Heather has been tasked with keeping the Eye of Acuity safe within the RSI buildings and out of the hands of Madam Morashi, a particularly evil gang leader, often spoke of as myth. But Vance knows all about her dark and evil side, as he was once part of the Morashi Venom gang, and now hid his facial markings with his shapeshifting magic. He wasn’t allowed to leave the school buildings until he told the spymaster and headmaster what they wanted to know about her and the gang. Only Jackie, out of her former family knew exactly what the school really was, and she is soon in another crew vying against Heather’s, much to her surprise. The others haven’t figured it out yet and so go to normal classes, until they do ad are sworn to secrecy. Their new welcome letter contains simple details of three extra credit challenges for the coming year and if they could achieve any of them, it might help propel them to the next level, but it seems not everyone in hr crew are as eager to do so, as she is!

Heather finds her new syllabus shows her assigned to the Tailor Guild and that is not something she is really suited for, as is soon shown. She is also in Agility class, for preparation for the Stealth Track, something she was used to in the Menagerie. But this also brings about a fear she had not known she had of small places built of stone, that remind her of the jail cell and give her panic attacks that she must learn to overcome. She doesn’t share as many classes with the rest of her crew as she was used to, and their differences are making it harder to become a stronger team. She needs them to pull together to reach her dream of joining the advanced level, but she will soon come across a major issue, she hopes her crew can solve. Once she is travelling into the town regularly, Chance asks if they can visit his family, but he only has vague memories of where it is. Finding what seems to be a pet shop, has her in fact finding a family who protect other ‘little wonders’ like Chance, creatures similar to their regular counterparts, but with a magical difference, skill or ability. Chance had linked with Heather, s she was able to understand him as he talks to her, but she can’t understand other littles. She starts visiting the family on her way back to school every Sunday, but soon finds out that littles are going missing all around the land. It turns out the Morashi are holding an illegal auction and selling little wonders and even baby gryphons! Eather comes up with a plan, but so have numerous other crews, as well as the Peacekeepers, and she learns she has to wait and see which plan the Spymaster chooses. Hearing of the number of gryphons being put up for sale, she contacts Sivana Walker, the first female gryphon rider and Hero of Altare, to see if she could help by providing a diversion, as they try to get the other littles out!

An enthralling read of magic and mayhem, as Heather must learn how to work with her crew and others, as well as face her fears and even start to fall in love. Heather is protective of those in her new family, as well as her former gang family, and the older ones help out in this dangerous mission to stop the sale of the littles, even as they face increasing odds against them from powerful mages. Heather won’t allow any of Chance’s family and other littles to be taken and will do all she can to stop it. Perhaps even a much better suited guild may turn up, as she definitely isn’t suited to tailoring. She will get a taste of Madam Morashi’s venom and luckily survive to fight another day. It was lovely to see Sivana and Ari, as well as the other gryphons and riders, being part of the story. I can’t wait to see what happens next to Heather and her crew, as they get older, wiser and stronger, as well as learning new skills to take into their adult lives. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout, and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

[Kayla Nowakowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Royal Spy Institute series and it was just as amazing as the first book! In this book we get to see more of the city outside of the school and discover the most amazing little pet shop. The little wonders were definitely my favorite part. Now that the team has made it to intermediate level we get to see higher stakes at play and as a result we also see an increase in maturity level and the reality of struggling to keep a group together when everyone has more stuff going on. And the aftermath of the latest job?! Wow! I am so invested in this series and need another book, like, now! 😂

[Rukshy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heather, a former thief, and her band of misfit friends formed a spy candidate team Five & Chance. Recently promoted to the Intermediate level, they continue to strive to climb the ranks. However, illegal auctions of small wonders magical creatures continue - which Heather and her friends strive to disrupt. Great tale with a good plot.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Christinaraven · Rating 5 out of 5]

The team is back and have been promoted to the intermediate level at school but of course they must do their thing and keep learning and deal with their next issue. Enjoyed seeing everyone and enjoyed this one just as much as the first as they deal with school and each other. Get to see more of the city and more. Fun read that had me laughing at times.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second book in the series was just as entertaining as the first book in my opinion. The characters are known as the drama continues and the suspenseful nature of the story made for an exciting adventure. Well placed secrets and revelations enhanced my enjoyment. Great story.

I received a copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Babydoclaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved Heather and Chance's continuing story and how it dovetails into events we've already seen in Wild Flight, Gryphon Rider Academy #4. Now I need to reread GRA #4 for the other perspective. You can read this as a standalone, but the enjoyment is greater if you've read RSI #1. If you haven't read the GRA series, you will want to read it. The characters are amazing and getting to know all of them is a joy. Can't wait until the next one.

[Christina Luberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

There Back!! They have promoted to the intermediate level, can they handle everything? Can they stop the auction? I think teens and young adults will love this story as much as this old lady.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

good tie in to Gryphon Riders Academy!!!

[Cleocutie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great continuation of the series. We get to see more of the city outside of the school and see the characters maturing as they face even more challenges.

[Andria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though i knew what would happen because i read the other series, i was still highly engaged in the story.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it all

Mouse and her friends kept me fascinated by their adventures. I love how Elise Hennessy showed their growth and development.

[Leah Dynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun second addition to the story, with fun ties to the gryphon academy series. I enjoyed the storyline and watching the characters progress, and I’m excited to see what’s next for them.