This wasn’t my usual read so I was excited to try it. It’s a really good adventure story, easy to read and follow and the story changes and developments every chapter really helping keep you gripped to the adventure and wanting to know what happens next. The author has really made it feel like your actually there travelling with max throughout the journey through his vivid description. I took a point off because I do feel it’s missing something maybe a little more action, however as it’s book one I feel it was more of a set the scene of things to come type of book. I loved the ending and the twist and it really makes me think there’s a lot more to come.
Would definitely continue reading the series to find out what happens next!

Thank you to Netgalley and Crumblebee Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Max and the Spice Thieves took me by surprise, as many ARCs do! I picked up this book because of the aspect of pirates, and I was not let down.

Max and the Spice Thieves follows Max Daybreaker. His world is turned upside down when his mother goes missing. Lucky for him, a crew of Spice Pirates led by Captain Cinn help Max on his dangerous mission across the three sees.
Along the way, an unlikely alliance aids his search-a teenage warrior queen, a 3 eyed seer, and an assassin spy.
Their journey takes them through many treacherous lands while facing an ancient witch, harpies, shapeshifting bears, and the terrifying Djinn, who will stop at nothing to enslave the entire world.
With every new challenge, Max unlocks the secrets of his unsettling past. Powers are awakened inside him, questioning what he knew about the world.
Is Max who he thinks he is?

I want to start out by saying I felt the plot was a little messy, but I think it works for the story. I feel as if the first 25% of the plot is so jumbled, but from that point on, it is great. It progresses so well and I loved every second of it. I did take a star off for that reason, but that is my only issue with the book.

Now for the characters; I LOVED Max. He is a strong pre-teen figuring out who he is throughout the entire book. Reading from his perspective as he progresses through the story is amazing. Since this is a children's book, I did not think that any character would really stand out, but I was mistaken. Max really stands out as a strong male character, which I do not see a lot of. It is such a refreshing story to have a male POV. Max definitely was the most well-rounded character with an amazing character arc. As for the other characters, all of them were amazing. Linzy, Mesha, Sal, Anya, Captain Cinn, everyone was amazing.

The world-building was done in a different way than I am used to, but it was great! It was super simple to understand, and I think that is why it works so well. Being a children's novel, worlds are usually super easy to understand, and Peragine did not disappoint with a well-rounded world that is easy to understand.

I truly enjoyed this book, and hope that people read it when it comes out. Pirates, kick-ass characters, well-rounded plot AND world, end of the world situation, it has got everything! Not to mention the cute love-triangle throughout the book!

I cannot wait for the sequel, I am so excited to see what journey they all embark on next.

Before we get into the meat of this review, I have to say a quick thank you to Netgalley and the publishers over at Crumblebee Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Max and the Spice Thieves is a Middle Grade Fantasy book that is the start of a brand new series. Max must pair up with Captain Cinn and his crew of Spice Thieves when his mother goes missing. But he discovers that his life is far different than he imagined when he learns about his own magical powers. The book comes out on April 20th. Max and the Spice Thieves is available for preorder now.

Part of me really wants to say that the problems with this book stem from the fact that I’m not part of the target audience. I’m 31 and the main character is 12. So...yeah, I’m probably going to have some problems getting into this one. But I don’t think all of that can be blamed on the age discrepancy between target audience and actual reader. I think my main problem here really comes from issues with the authorial voice. The author has character who are all ages--Max and his friends are preteens, Captain Cinn and his crew are all adults--and somehow both feel deeply untrue for people in those age ranges. The children aren’t just precocious children who might have a slightly bigger vocabulary than most. They don’t sound like children. But the grown ups don’t sound like grown ups either. It’s like the author was writing a book about a kid for kids. But then realized that they needed to make sure if an adult was reading it to their child that they knew that a lot of what happens in the books aren’t things the author would condone. Which was just a weird thing to be thinking about while reading this adventure book.

The book felt like everything happened too fast. We travel all over the place with Max and his friends but I never felt like I really got a deep understanding of the locations or the people. The magic system also felt like it was under explored. Maybe it will go further into how the magic works in the next book.

But I will say that even with the problems I had in this book I still loved almost all of the characters. I want to know more about Piers’s past. And Lindzy is going to be one badass queen some day. I think if you have middle grade readers in your life this can be a good option for them and I think there might be enough in there for you to enjoy while you’re reading with them.

‘Without spice, food is nuthin’ more than tasteless horse feed. I believe in giving anyone with a little coin a tastier life.’

Max and the Spice Thieves is the first book in a new middle-grade fantasy series. It got an overall rating of 3 stars for me.

Max Daybreaker finds himself alone when his dad is presumed dead and his mother is kidnapped. With the help of Captain Cinn and a large group of characters ready to help him, he sails across the three seas in hope of finding them again.

The book has an interesting premise. Max’s adventures are really fun to read about. The world building makes you want to keep discovering more. My favorite character is Captain Cinn. He made me laugh, and his dialogue was fun to read. I enjoyed seeing him being protective of Max, always making sure he’s safe and well, almost like a father figure. He was the only one who treated the main character like a twelve-years-old boy (most of the time). I also liked the fact that Max has a skin condition. It’s always nice to see disabilities, and medical conditions being included in books, especially in a middle grade one. There were one or two comments made by some characters about his condition that should have been followed by a reaction from Max in my opinion, though. It read like the condition was written by someone who knows about it, but hasn’t had a disability or illness of their own. As someone who has a chronic illness, having someone saying ‘Oh, once you [do this], it’ll go away, you’ll see’ is very frustrating and doesn’t help. It’s a common thing for people to say, so I’m glad it was included, but I would have liked to see Max reacting to this. The last part of the story was my favorite, and set things up well for its sequel.

Too many characters were introduced in the story, including some that didn’t stick around for long. I also felt like the character’s reasons for being included in the group didn’t make much sense, or felt forced. A lot of details were also thrown in the text along the way, which made the book quite complex in my opinion for a middle grade story. It resulted in the author packing too much in one book, and therefore brushing over some things. I also had a problem with Max’s age. It is said he’s twelve-years-old. However, he wasn’t written like his age most of the time (especially his thoughts). The rest of the crew didn’t treat him like a boy of his age as well for the most part. I had a problem with the way the two female characters that are love interests to Max were written. They are strong, but become annoying and really not well portrayed around him. No one wants to see two female characters hating on one another for a boy, and competing for him in this way. I could just feel the book was written by a man that wanted to write ‘good’ female characters.

This book has a lot of interesting elements, but wasn’t fully executed the way I had hoped. It would have worked better as a movie, most likely. I would recommend people to try the book for themselves, as this is my own interpretation and feeling towards it.

* This review is also posted on Goodreads, and shared on Twitter. On the book's release day, the review will also be posted on Amazon Canada.

While I do not often read middle grade books, I was immediately drawn by this one. My gut feelings did not betray me either, it was great.

The story arch managed to keep even me as an adult interested. I liked how Max is written, not as a kid in the eyes of an adult, but as his own person making his own decisions and going on his own journey. I loved how a story about pirates can be non-Eurocentric (because they often are, and this one is not).

I managed to read it within a day, because it was hard to put this book down.

Max and the Spice Thieves is a refreshing read in the Middle Grade fiction Genre!

The story follows Max as he meets a crew of Spice Pirates from the Saucy Pig while looking for his mother. There is something about Max that draws people to him and of course some of the people we meet along the way have either promised his mother or his father that they will protect him. As Max sets out on a perilous journey in search of his mother, the author introduces us to a myriad of interesting characters who only add more flavor to the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Max as he learns to take control and grow up. He learns to work with people and bring them together. We slowly come to know about his magic and as the story progresses, through twists and turns we come to know the truth behind the complete plot. 

Throw in pirates, magic, Djinns and Snow Bears and we have a wonderful mix for this story. It is fast paced and well written, keeping both children and adults hooked onto it. This is one book that I will whole heartedly recommend and I cannot wait to read the next book! Max's adventures are worth reading about!

This was a fun middle-grade story! It's told from the first-person POV of Max, a 12- or 13-year-old boy looking for his parents with the help of some pirates and some mysterious girls. Max's thoughts and actions seem pretty true for a boy his age and he's a bit of an unreliable narrator, which again fits with his character. The aforementioned "mysterious girls" were interesting and will hopefully be fleshed out more in the next book in the series. The leader of the pirates may have been my favorite character, but I really couldn't help thinking of him as Captain Jack Sparrow! You'll see why when you read the book yourself.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This captivating tale follows Max and his crew as they battle many spells, face danger at every turn, narrowly escape death after altercations, ultimately discovering the magic he holds within. Max leads us on a quest to find his mother and uncover how his father disappeared, bringing along with him a collection of various mythical creatures who band together to fight evil beings and shape shifting demons. Max’s father is presumed dead, although he has a gut feeling his father is somewhere out there. His mother wants to cheer him up, so she plans an adventure to sail on a pirate ship, however, she is taken shortly before they are to depart. Max finds himself in the company of Spice Pirate Captain Cinn and they band together on an epic adventure sailing the seven seas aboard the Saucy Pig. They find themselves up against Prince Abad and are taken to the Jade Palace as captors. This is where they meet Linzy who ultimate helps them escape and unveils herself as the Witch Queen. Together they are faced with many other creatures and characters, some of which they accumulate into their band of misfits and the unfortunate souls are discarded. Max is eventually captured by the Snow Bear clan at the Ice Palace and he proves himself worthy of their protection by unveiling his own magical power. Throughout his journey, Max is learning more about his hidden powers within and how to ultimately use this powerful force to defeat the evil Djinn and rescue his parents.

This is the first book of the series and is an adventurous tale from the start. Each new character Max encounters is a roadblock he needs to overcome in his pursuit of finding his mother, as task he never loses sight of! The author did a lovely job of showing how a strong family bond never disappears, even when faced with challenges and obstacles that prevent a close connection. I am not the targeted demographic for this book, so it did not grab me initially. I am not drawn to pirates, mythical creatures, etc. however, I did enjoy the adventure aspect of it.

Max Daybreaker doesn’t know it, but he’s about to go on the adventure of a lifetime. When his mother goes missing, he meets a Spice Pirate by the name of Captain Cinn, who helps him get started on the journey to find his mom. Through this journey, Max makes new friends, explores new places, and faces danger time and time again. As it turns out, finding his mom is not the only mission he needs to take on. Truly a whirlwind of a fantasy adventure.

This book is a great read for middle grades, but as an adult, I wasn’t enthralled with it. There is so much potential for worldbuilding in the setting Peragine creates, but it felt kind of rushed in this book… I’m sure it will be explored in even more detail as the series continues.

Thanks to Crumblebee Books for a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Crumblebee Books for this free ARC in return for a review!

What a fantastic voyage! Max Daybreaker is a 13-year-old boy that embarks on an incredible adventure in search of his Mother after she goes missing one day. He already believes his Father to be dead, so Max isn’t about to let something happen to his Mom. The whole adventure begins, as he is waiting for his mother to return to their dock as she promised they would set out for a journey. He sits and waits, but instead finds an intriguing pirate, Captain Cinn! Max is introduced to the crew of Spice Thieves and their pirate ship named ‘The Saucy Pig’ as they jump on board together to help Max find his Mother. During this quest, not only are they meeting Serpents and three-eyes-seers, but Max is discovering his own hidden powers as he fights these creatures. You get the fantasy and also feel for all the food on ship which makes it quite realistic. He also has a skin condition which makes him sensitive to cold climates and that also plays a huge role in the captivating and survival of their conquest. Although there are incredible levels of fantasy, Max (protagonist) is relatable because of all these underlying factors that make him out to be a human boy. You are completely rooting for Max the whole way and at the end of the story you watch the incredible journey unfold as he discovers who he truly is. It leaves enough at the end where you know there is a sequel coming and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

A thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining middle grade fantasy!! For young readers who want a fantasy story with pirates, adventures and travel to distant lands this story will do the trick. The tale follows Max who lives on Paradisi, one of the islands in the Southern Sea. His father, a ship's captain has been missing and is presumed dead, although Max does not believe that. His mother disappears as they are leaving for another island and Max falls into the care of Cinn, a spice pirate. Not only does Max learn he does not know everything about his mother or father, he also begins to realize that he possesses some extraordinary abilities. The search for Max's parents brings him new friends, enemies, and encounters with a witch queen, harpies and adventures that will not only test him, but possibly kill him. The final part of the journey takes him north to the frozen lands of Arctus where he will find shapeshifting bears and the djinn who will stop at nothing to ensure their freedom from being trapped for eternity.
I liked the pacing of the story as it moves along quite quickly and I think this will keep younger readers engaged through the ending, which definitely leaves you with more questions than answers. As an adult reader there are certainly times that I wish some of the characters were more fleshed out, but for younger readers I think they will really enjoy all the characters, for sure Cinn and most certainly the snow bears, I liked the snow bears!! For anyone who is looking for a fantasy series for younger readers I think this one would be a really good one!!!!

ARC received from Netgalley

Interesting story! Pirates and foods are best combination, and Max's adventure is such entertaining ride! Did I mention mouthwatering food description?

Dazzling adventure set on the high seas, peppered with Pirates and Djinns. A slow start with good plot development as the story unfolds. Max, a boy ‘ allergic’ to cold, and with magic powers inherited from his father, embarks upon an adventure to rescue his parents.
Encountering many problems on his journey, it seems that Max will never accomplish his mission. Odd allies assist him and spice up his voyage.
A brilliant tale for young and old.


Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review.
Loved by my ten year old son ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Max is still grieving for his dad, lost at sea and presumed dead, when his mother tells him they are going on a journey on a pirate ship! Before they get to the ship Max's mum is taken, leaving Max alone at the harbour when he meets Captain Cinn, a Spice Pirate and captain of the Saucy Pig! Cinn takes Max aboard to help him retrieve his missing mum.

This is a lovely book, definitely aimed at children rather than young adult.  Max is a poor little character that you want to hug and tell him everything will be okay.  The variety of characters introduced is great, from Seers, spies, assasins, princes and harpies - Peregrine has definitely catered for every aspect of a fantasy novel.

The overall take from the story is one of love - compassion for another person, love for ones family and kindness to a stranger.  A lesson I feel is so important to every youngling, especially during these hard times.  In closing, I did enjoy this one and would recommend it to be added to your children's bookshelves.

When Max Daybreaker’s mom goes missing, he must go on an adventure to try and rescue her. In order to survive and find his parents, Max gets help from a spice pirate, Captain Finn, a thief named Mesha, snow bears, a queen, and many others.

This story was such a fun middle grade read. It was unique and interesting, while also being a fast read. What’s not to enjoy? Magic, pirates, twilight army (dare I say zombies?), glass whales, kidnapping, rescues, mysterious shadow men, witches, and so much more. I’m glad I was able to read this story and will gladly recommend to others.

This book had way too many characters for me to keep up with and i found there waere very little captivating scenes so got bored easily. I struggled with the writing style and im not sure houw a younger reader who this book is aimed at would get on with it. Overall this book didn't interest me and it was a struggle to finish

This is an incredibly imaginative story about love, found families and good vs evil. Once I started reading about Max and all of the characters that he meets on his journey, I could not put this story down. The side characters are incredibly multifaceted and you can see the struggle inside of each of them to survive and to do the right thing, even if society wouldn't blame them for doing the wrong thing. This is a great world for middle grade readers to get lost in with a unique magic system.

Max and the Spice Thieves is a middle grade fantasy involving pirates, mythical beings, and bravery. When Max’s mother wakes him up to tell him they’re going on a trip, Max hopes they’ll be looking for his father, who was recently believed to have been lost at sea. Max continues to believe his father to be out there. Max is disappointed to hear that they’ll instead be going to Sanctus, but before the journey can commence, his mother disappears. Max sets off with pirate captain Cinn, and the spice pirates to attempt to find his parents. Along the way, additional members join the group to help Max in his quest. During their travels, Max begins to discover things about himself, including some previously unknown abilities.

In the interest of full transparency, I am clearly not the target audience for this book. I am much older (though I read a fair amount of middle grade), and not a frequent reader of fantasy. Some things that I struggled with reading this book I can easily attribute to these factors: it was hard for me to remember the rapidly changing cast of characters, and there was world-building and world-specific vocabulary that it took me a little bit of time to wrap my head around.

There were things I really enjoyed about this book. Max has a medical condition that, to completely oversimplify, is like an allergy to cold that presents in a rash and potentially life-threatening symptoms. I personally know people who experience this, and this condition is not widely represented in literature, so it's refreshing to see it represented here. I also appreciated that, though there is action and adventure, most of the characters Max encounters are kind and helpful. There are themes related to family, friendship, and love that are powerful. I also appreciated Max’s growing abilities related to self-regulation and self-control throughout the novel.

This is very much a plot-driven novel, and I struggled a little with the level of character development, especially with Max. I wish we had had more glimpses into the things that made him who he is, and I feel like not knowing the characters well made a brief love-triangle subplot feel uncomfortable. Because so much was happening in terms of the plot, this book utilizes a lot of exposition. Likely because it’s the first book in a series, characters would disappear at times and never reappear, and some plotlines were dropped and unresolved.

One thing that I did struggle with that I can't attribute to just my own reading preferences was characterization and discussion of skin color and disability. I have no reason to believe that these comments were intended as they were perceived, but I believe that this book may benefit from an additional edit, perhaps with input from a sensitivity reader. For me, personally, these factors had a significant impact on my reading experience, and are the primary reason I rated the book as I did.

To illustrate, despite the large cast of characters, only three have their skin color described. One is described as having "ivory" skin and appearing "too perfect." Of the other two, one is described as having skin “the color of moonless midnight," and another, skin “the color of fireplace ash." These characters do not receive much other character development, but elicit fear in Max. Vague depictions of Piers, particularly, because there isn't much additional context or clarity (the witch queen's questions to him when discussing his loyalty, as an example) come across as potentially microaggressive. Additionally, though the protagonist has a disability, the way that other differences and disabilities were characterized was also of concern. Cinn reacts in disgust when he learns of Sally’s third eye, citing his previous romantic relationship with her. When a blind character is introduced, Max assumes his blindness is fake and tests it, the character's eyes are described as “strange,” and a character later makes a joke about someone “needin’ a good walkin’ stick the rest of their lives” if they don’t seek a healer after being temporarily blinded.

As an aside: I know that this is an uncorrected proof and I'm here to review, not edit, but a couple of quick notes for the author as he thinks about final edits just in case they were missed: at the beginning of the book, Max’s age jumps from 12 to “almost 14” over the course of a couple pages. In chapter 16, Linzy states that she is Queen of Sanctus rather than Arctus.

It’s obvious that this book was written as a project of passion and love, and I hope that Max and his spice pirate friends find their audience when this book debuts.

Ugh, this one was tough to get through.

While this is a good middle-grade, and will easily be enjoyed by that age group, it was tough for someone like me, as a young adult, to get through. I like Middle-Grades but this one was not my cup of tea.

From the very beginning, you are instantly immersed into a magical story that has a lot of layers to it. The author does an exceptional job at world building, and creating this atmosphere that is magical, dangerous, and fun. There are sooooo many different parts of this world and so many characters that we are introduced to that it can become very hard to keep track of. I had to re-read several character introductions just to remember their role and part in Max's story, but they were all very devoted to Max.

Max was unlikeable. He was arrogant and naive. I get it, he's 12 and should be naive but he was just annoying. It bothered me how he was always saying that he is a man. Dude, you are 12 and going through puberty... you are not a man yet! His loyalty to his family and friends though was admirable and he was absolutely brave. I just felt like his personality was dull and his character just overall annoyed me.

I loved learning about the complex past of our characters and seeing how they all intertwined with one another as the story progressed.