“I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”
~ “Invictus” – William Ernest Hensley
Graduation is rapidly approaching, which is a terrifying thought, and here I am with my (actual!!) last ever clay article. I’ll leave you with two series containing one of my childhood obsessions: ciphers. Though thematically different, they’re both brilliant middle-grade series readers of any age will enjoy.
The first is Kevin Sands’ Blackthorn Key saga, which begins with a warning: do not try the (very real) alchemical recipes at home. It’s 1665 and orphaned fourteen-year-old Christopher Rowe is apprenticed to the successful London apothecary Benedict Blackthorn. He’s content with his lot, learning alchemy and ciphers from a kind master and causing accidental explosions with his good friend Tom, the baker’s son.
His (reasonably) steady life is abruptly disrupted by a mysterious cult attacking London’s eminent apothecaries. As they pose more and more of a problem to Blackthorn himself, Christopher realizes that it’s up to him and Tom to do something about it. With the help of Sally, an orphan girl Christopher knew from his time at the orphanage, and Bridget, his favorite of the messenger pigeons, Christopher and Tom use their knowledge of alchemy, ciphers, and London to navigate a politically charged and dangerous environment while the cult ravages Christopher’s potential livelihood.
Later installments follow Christopher, Tom, Sally, and Bridget as England, and even France, thrust them into continuously insane situations that challenge their wit and manpower in uncertain times. There’s never anything cheesy about it, either – Sands does a wonderful job of storytelling with just the right amount of suspension of disbelief required from the reader due to the fascinating historical and alchemical details worked into the puzzles – which, by the way, are complex but definitely possible to solve on your own if you paid enough attention.
Jam-packed with adventure, history, puzzles, and remarkable protagonists, the atmospheric Blackthorn books never fail to disappoint. They provide a window into a time long past, and a science once maniacally sought after.
The second, then, is Laura Ruby’s York trilogy. York is set in an alternate steampunk New York City, complete with secret societies and automatons. In 1798, the brilliant Morningstarrs arrived in the city with visions for a dazzling future of technology, a future they oversaw until 57 years later when they vanished. They left behind the Old York Cipher, a thing of legend, a puzzle worked into the city they built, with treasures untold at the end of the road.
In modern day, the Old York Cipher has remained elusive, lost to time and the minds of the Morningstarrs. Twins Theo and Tess Biedermann and their good friend Jaime Cruz have lived their whole lives in one of the remaining five glorious Morningstarr buildings in the city. The existence of the buildings is threatened by a real estate developer who plans to tear the buildings down after the city agrees to sell the buildings to him. With their futures uncertain and unwilling to part with such history, the twins and Jaime (and Tess’ constant companion, her cat, Nine) take it on themselves to solve the Old York Cipher to prove the treasure’s existence to the city in hopes of halting the developer, and eventually the mystery of the Morningstarrs themselves.
There’s practically nothing I can really reveal about the sequels without spoiling a good portion of the first, but know that, quite frankly, they even surpass the first in terms of story and plot twists in continuing Tess and Theo and Jaime’s stories. With them are a wealth of delightful friends and antagonists, and most importantly, their families aren’t forgotten for the sake of convenience. The Old York Cipher itself, however, isn’t quite as reliant on codes and keys as Blackthorn – it’s more about the city and the Morningstarrs’ legacy and meaning to our protagonists.
I hope you enjoy these final selections – and most importantly, have a wonderful summer!
(Photo cred: https://science.howstuffworks.com/alchemy-to-chemistry.htm)