What do you think?
Rate this book
The Traitor and the Thief #2
The Clockill and the Thief
This fantastic follow-up to the Storylines Tessa Duder Award-winning The Traitor and the Thief is just as exciting and action-packed as the first instalment.
Sin is dying, poisoned by his blue blood. His troubles deepen when the traitor who poisoned him escapes from the custody of the Covert Operations Group and sets out for revenge. COG tasks Sin, his friend Zonda Chubb and their frenemy Velvet Von Darque with recapturing the traitor, whatever the cost. Taking to the air in pursuit, they must battle skypirates and the terrifying Clockill to complete their mission. But with his condition worsening, can Sin survive long enough to save his friends, himself and the day?
Sin is dying, poisoned by his blue blood. His troubles deepen when the traitor who poisoned him escapes from the custody of the Covert Operations Group and sets out for revenge. COG tasks Sin, his friend Zonda Chubb and their frenemy Velvet Von Darque with recapturing the traitor, whatever the cost. Taking to the air in pursuit, they must battle skypirates and the terrifying Clockill to complete their mission. But with his condition worsening, can Sin survive long enough to save his friends, himself and the day?
Paperback
Published August 1, 2019
7 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 9, 2019
knocked it out of the park again. i need everyone to go out and buy this book so that Gareth will write another one because I NEED TO KNOW MORE!!
August 5, 2019
Sin is now a valued member of COG (Covert Operations Group), and after revealing the traitor in their midst (in The Traitor and the Thief), he and his friends continue their training in order to prevent another war.
They must learn to walk on the outside of an airship without falling off, improve their fighting skills and also work with explosives. Zonda and Sin are still close, even if tensions rise between them about an ineffectual member of COG – Zonda’s meek friend Jasper. Sin’s intrigued/hate relationship with Velvet Von Darque continues to needle him, but life and death situations smooth out some of their misgivings about one another.
Sin has been given another mission by their leader Nimrod Barm, and Zonda and his ex-street gang friend Stanley are alongside. But disaster for Zonda throws her confidence and she struggles with the consequences. Soon they are putting their training to the test aboard a real airship – first on the way to a fun event, which spirals quickly into a chase after Sky Pirates among the clouds.
What they discover defies description and is the stuff of legend. Everybody knows the Clockill aren’t real….?
With crackling dialogue, avidly rich description of steampunk technology and mekanikal machinery, you will feel the shudder of the airships beneath your feet, the wind whipping your clothes around you as you stand clamped to the airship’s envelope, and hear the explosions that rip throughout the story. Sin, Zonda and Velvet are thrown together in attack and are stretched to their individual limits by a treacherous traitor, power hungry villains, and the Clockill… You have been warned!
Author – Gareth Ward
Age – 10+
(Steampunk, Fantasy, Friendships, Alliances, Traitor, Action, Courage, Hero, Airship, Steam power, Series,NZ Author, Kiwi, Wardini)
They must learn to walk on the outside of an airship without falling off, improve their fighting skills and also work with explosives. Zonda and Sin are still close, even if tensions rise between them about an ineffectual member of COG – Zonda’s meek friend Jasper. Sin’s intrigued/hate relationship with Velvet Von Darque continues to needle him, but life and death situations smooth out some of their misgivings about one another.
Sin has been given another mission by their leader Nimrod Barm, and Zonda and his ex-street gang friend Stanley are alongside. But disaster for Zonda throws her confidence and she struggles with the consequences. Soon they are putting their training to the test aboard a real airship – first on the way to a fun event, which spirals quickly into a chase after Sky Pirates among the clouds.
What they discover defies description and is the stuff of legend. Everybody knows the Clockill aren’t real….?
With crackling dialogue, avidly rich description of steampunk technology and mekanikal machinery, you will feel the shudder of the airships beneath your feet, the wind whipping your clothes around you as you stand clamped to the airship’s envelope, and hear the explosions that rip throughout the story. Sin, Zonda and Velvet are thrown together in attack and are stretched to their individual limits by a treacherous traitor, power hungry villains, and the Clockill… You have been warned!
Author – Gareth Ward
Age – 10+
(Steampunk, Fantasy, Friendships, Alliances, Traitor, Action, Courage, Hero, Airship, Steam power, Series,NZ Author, Kiwi, Wardini)
August 30, 2020
This was a ripping read and I enjoyed it even more than the first one. Ward has really hit his straps in Book 2, and the action, and steam punk world building are well thought out and really deliver. The ending/resolution, while complete, offers an opportunity for Sin's story to continue and I hope it does. Although I had a few minor niggles with a couple of characters, including a key villain, this is a solid sequel to The Traitor and the Thief.
December 22, 2019
A fine sequel to The Traitor and the Thief. A good yarn for the younger end of YA.
September 2, 2019
The Clockill and the Thief Gareth Ward
I absolutely loved this book! It was quirky and idiosyncratic in the best possible way. You couldn't help but fall in love with each and every one of the Sin's COG co-agents, especially Zonda, whose originality and dinstinctive charisma set her apart from the typical side-kick.
The Clockill and the Thief follows on from the first novel in this epic series of furtive secret missions and undisclosed COG training; The Traitor and the Thief. As far as sequels go, this one stood out as a whole new story, diving into the depths of the few loose ends left at the end of the previous book.
The prospect of several antagonists featured throughout this book left you sitting on the edge of your seat, enthralled by the vivid action. Never a bored moment!
Altogther, this was a fantastic story of testing boundaries, over-coming obstacles and the irrevocable power of friendship.
I absolutely loved this book! It was quirky and idiosyncratic in the best possible way. You couldn't help but fall in love with each and every one of the Sin's COG co-agents, especially Zonda, whose originality and dinstinctive charisma set her apart from the typical side-kick.
The Clockill and the Thief follows on from the first novel in this epic series of furtive secret missions and undisclosed COG training; The Traitor and the Thief. As far as sequels go, this one stood out as a whole new story, diving into the depths of the few loose ends left at the end of the previous book.
The prospect of several antagonists featured throughout this book left you sitting on the edge of your seat, enthralled by the vivid action. Never a bored moment!
Altogther, this was a fantastic story of testing boundaries, over-coming obstacles and the irrevocable power of friendship.
January 11, 2024
I loved this continuation of the first novel, getting to see the more rigorous and scary training the kids went through was a good read. I also loved the fact that Sin was just being a real boy in a strange world with the small things that he would do such as not running back to Zonda to apologise every time he did something wrong (or not wrong lmao). I also think that there is an unspoken tension between Velvet and Sin but it doesn’t compare to the feelings Sin has for Zonda.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 23, 2019
A fantabulous read from Gareth award! A great follow on from Traitor and the Thief. I flew through the last third of the book and loved the dramatics of the airships. Loving the development of the main characters and would have picked up the next instalment if it were ready. Can’t wait to read more! Fun and inventive, a must for all the family! Huzzah for Clockill and the Thief!
January 10, 2020
Thank you Gareth Ward for an absolutemon fabulously super-roony read.
We will go through thick and thin to overcome this catastrophe, says Velvet.
Well I'm not thick, says Sin.
And I'm not thin, says Zonda.
A great crack-up moment in this second book. Any more Gareth?
We will go through thick and thin to overcome this catastrophe, says Velvet.
Well I'm not thick, says Sin.
And I'm not thin, says Zonda.
A great crack-up moment in this second book. Any more Gareth?
April 14, 2020
This book was creeepy
I love Sin and Zonda they are such #couplesgoals. This knocked it out of the park and was even better than the first one. I still have so many questions I want answers to and I need them like now
I love Sin and Zonda they are such #couplesgoals. This knocked it out of the park and was even better than the first one. I still have so many questions I want answers to and I need them like now
August 9, 2019
Inventive steampunk adventure that works just fine as a standalone, enjoy the ride...
October 6, 2019
I read this book at the wrong time (exhausted with end-of-term-itis).
January 20, 2020
Another stonking read.
The tale continues, the characters deepen, the stakes are higher.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and have no hesitation recommending it.
Bring on Book 3!
The tale continues, the characters deepen, the stakes are higher.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and have no hesitation recommending it.
Bring on Book 3!
March 9, 2020
A great sequel. My son and I will be reading any more that come along.
April 14, 2025
This just felt so easy to read. Its hard to explain but the world slowed when I read this. SOund became muted and I could just read
August 21, 2020
Sin, street urchin turned trainee spy, is back in Gareth Ward’s YA novel, The Clockill and the Thief, the sequel to
The Traitor and the Thief
. Both books won New Zealand's
Sir Julius Vogel award
for Best Youth Novel in their respective years. Like the first book, The Clockill and the Thief is a rollicking good ride as we dive deeper into Ward’s steampunk world filled with mad scientists, strange and awesome weaponry, and a global order hanging in the balance, dependent on the actions of Ward’s intrepid fourteen-year-old protagonist.
Most of the action in this instalment takes place in the air. An early scene shows Sin and the other Covert Operations Group (COG) trainees getting lessons in handling airships, including vertigo-inducing exercises in walking on the outside of the gas envelope in boots that clamp onto the ratlines. Sin tangles with old enemies, including the Fixer, his boss from his days as a member of a street gang, and Eldritch Moons, the traitor from the first book. When Eldritch steals an airship, the COG team takes off in pursuit, and have to deal with fires aboard ship, attacks by sky pirates and the creepy mind-controlled clockill, and other hair-raising adventures. Meanwhile Sin is struggling to keep secret his dependence on a hard-to-acquire medication, a result of the medical experimentation in the previous book. His medication is rapidly losing its efficacy, and when his supply is stolen, Sin’s days are numbered. Or are they?
Friendships are an important aspect of this story. It’s clear to both the reader and Sin that he couldn’t have accomplished what he did without help from the other COGs: Stanley, another recruit from the Fixer’s gang; Zonda, his most supportive teammate; and even Velvet Von Darque, the class snob. Sin’s relationship with Zonda is strained over friction with a team member Sin considers an incompetent coward, but they stand up for each other when it matters. His and Zonda’s relationships with Velvet continue to be complicated, and interesting.
Obviously, I read the two books in order, but I think The Clockill and the Thief would work as a standalone. You don’t need all the history to recognise Eldritch as a villain, or Velvet as a frenemy.
My biggest beef with it is that Sin and his teammates just aren’t quite believable as kids in their early teens. Early twenties, yes, maybe even late teens, but fourteen-year-olds? Um, no.
The story also requires a great deal of wilful suspension of disbelief, somethings eye-rollingly so. If you have trouble with that, dial back your age. Remember, the primary audience is teen and pre-teens.
Ward’s writing is fast-paced, full of snappy dialog, narrow escapes, and sharp details that left me with vivid images of technical marvels and heroic action.
Looking forward to the next instalment.
Audience: YA primarily, but a fun, light read for adults, too. Some violence but no sex or foul language.
This review was first published on This Need to Read.
Most of the action in this instalment takes place in the air. An early scene shows Sin and the other Covert Operations Group (COG) trainees getting lessons in handling airships, including vertigo-inducing exercises in walking on the outside of the gas envelope in boots that clamp onto the ratlines. Sin tangles with old enemies, including the Fixer, his boss from his days as a member of a street gang, and Eldritch Moons, the traitor from the first book. When Eldritch steals an airship, the COG team takes off in pursuit, and have to deal with fires aboard ship, attacks by sky pirates and the creepy mind-controlled clockill, and other hair-raising adventures. Meanwhile Sin is struggling to keep secret his dependence on a hard-to-acquire medication, a result of the medical experimentation in the previous book. His medication is rapidly losing its efficacy, and when his supply is stolen, Sin’s days are numbered. Or are they?
Friendships are an important aspect of this story. It’s clear to both the reader and Sin that he couldn’t have accomplished what he did without help from the other COGs: Stanley, another recruit from the Fixer’s gang; Zonda, his most supportive teammate; and even Velvet Von Darque, the class snob. Sin’s relationship with Zonda is strained over friction with a team member Sin considers an incompetent coward, but they stand up for each other when it matters. His and Zonda’s relationships with Velvet continue to be complicated, and interesting.
Obviously, I read the two books in order, but I think The Clockill and the Thief would work as a standalone. You don’t need all the history to recognise Eldritch as a villain, or Velvet as a frenemy.
My biggest beef with it is that Sin and his teammates just aren’t quite believable as kids in their early teens. Early twenties, yes, maybe even late teens, but fourteen-year-olds? Um, no.
The story also requires a great deal of wilful suspension of disbelief, somethings eye-rollingly so. If you have trouble with that, dial back your age. Remember, the primary audience is teen and pre-teens.
Ward’s writing is fast-paced, full of snappy dialog, narrow escapes, and sharp details that left me with vivid images of technical marvels and heroic action.
Looking forward to the next instalment.
Audience: YA primarily, but a fun, light read for adults, too. Some violence but no sex or foul language.
This review was first published on This Need to Read.
July 24, 2021
Main character, Sin, orphan and thief in the city, is caught and given the ultimatum of joining a school spies, used by the government. This steampunk genius follows him in this new life of danger as his personal life and hunt for his parents are mingled in as well. He was chosen for a reason, there is much more to this mystery than he thinks.
January 18, 2021
After reading this for the second time I am still in love with this world. I can't wait to see what is to come and what parts of this world get developed further.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews