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?

A fun, action packed story that would appeal to middle grade fantasy fans. A nice sense of mystery created in the opening chapters, Max also a protagonist that we root for.

This was a fun read, that I'm sure many middle-graders would love to get their hands on. The characters are likeable and there's a strong undercurrent that focusses on the strength of family and friendship. I would definitely say that it's the relationships that shone out for me, and the detail and care taken to demonstrate the power in these.

The story itself is fast-paced and jam-packed full of action and daring deeds, in a wonderfully crafted world that pops with the descriptions of the sights, sounds, and smells that Peragine weaves throughout.  The inclusion of spice and food into the story was an interesting device that worked quite well. From an educator's point of view, this element is so important to have included as it places value on something that my predominantly white students associate with other cultures and societies.

Most definitely an epic journey that I think many young people would enjoy!

This was a great book for middle schoolers about family and adventure. There is beautiful world building in this book and. I think any kid would enjoy it—especially people who can relate to the 12 year old boy main character. Max is a boy with abilities that at first seem like a curse but soon seem to be perhaps a greater strength than anyone could have imagined. When Max's parents are missing, he teams up with Spice Pirates and a band of lovable characters to fight the evil in this world and save his family. Max is a great main character and he is a very thoughtful boy who grows throughout the novel. He is driven by family and that is one of the reasons I really loved the book. While I found the writing pretty simple, I do think young kids would enjoy the adventure of this book. The plot was interesting and I think middle schoolers would appreciate Max as a character because of his interesting and relatable voice. The descriptions of food and spices also were one of the best descriptions in the book. I loved the character Cinn and overall there was some nice dialogue and character building, and there were definitely some surprises in the story. Overall, I loved the themes of family and adventure in this book and I think young kids would enjoy the book overall.

Max and the Spice Thieve follows the journey of a young sweet boy as he attempts to save his mother. His quest is full of unexpected characters who will win the readers heart and keep him/her on his/her toes until the very end. Max will take the reader from his home onto a pirate ship as it makes its way across the sea. There will be magical characters, a Witch Queen, a wizard, snow bears, and so much more. Peragine writes with such excitement and depth to each character and his/her story that one cannot help but become engrossed! He writes with passion in such a lyrical beautiful manner that makes this book experience as wonderful as the cover!

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 a quiet, sheltered boy that is tossed into a great adventure in trying to find his Mom and I loved the development of this ackward boy growing up a bit in his journey. I thought the pace was fast and exciting and the plot twists were very original. Kudos to the author for his creativity.! 

The only part that I thought was perhaps a little too much was the girls competing a bit for him. At least he was clueless, as I think most boys should be at this age.  I could see toning that back a bit, but I loved everything else. I loved the focus on family, growth in love to all, and the kindness of Max treating everyone with trust, until/unless they hurt him. 

Great fun and it made me eager for the next book!

Max Daybreaker must find his mother. Unsure of where to begin, he enlists the help of a Spice Pirate and begins an epic quest where he meets magical characters and power hungry villains along the way. Armed with o his instincts and tales of folklore, Max must decide if those he meets are friends or foes before he runs out of time.  
     The novel takes place in its own universe and the character's individual stories are enjoyable. Make sure you have a snack while reading! Spice Pirates are known for their fantastic meals and reading about them will make you hungry! Definitely a great read for the intended audience.

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.

A young boy named Max sets out on a trip with his mother after learning that his father was lost at sea. When they arrive at the port town, Max’s mother leaves him with the horse and cart to meet with the ship’s captain. Max wakes up from a nap to find that not only has his mother not returned, but two thieves are trying to steal his horse. The captain his mother was trying to meet, Captain Cinn, steps in to save young Max. The thieves admit that Max’s mother was stolen by a smoke creature, which they realize is a djinn.

Max' will discover that his adventures have only just begun after he joins Captain Cinn to find his mother with the help of the crew of Cinn’s ship, The Saucy Pig. He will make friends with royalty, thieves, seers, harpies, snow bears, and even the Witch Queen while battling the djinn and their army of dead.

This is an exciting high seas fantasy adventure perfect for middle school aged children or young readers who are ready to begin longer books with more complex plots. There are so many elements that can engage a young reader quickly and keep their interest: battles, mythical creatures, magic, daring escapes, and a determined young hero. 

The book dives right into the excitement of the story and will draw in readers quickly, making this an enjoyable story that will engage the reader right away.

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

Max Daybreaker is a young farm boy living a fairly normal life. His dad is captain of a spice trading ship. Max yearns for adventure but his mother is fairly over-protective. In this book, Max journeys to save his father and mother from the forces of an evil Djinn that threaten the Spice Islands and discovers the magic inside himself. A highlight of this book are Max's crew which include Captain Cinn the pirate, Sal the seer, and Linzy the queen of the ice kingdom. 

This book reminded me of a modern take on ancient folk tales. There are many characters, and many plot lines which could be challenging to follow. I did like the spirit of this book though and I could see a book in this genre being interesting for middle grade readers.

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.

I read this book to review for Once Upon A Book Club and I have to say that it was very hard for me to get through. The book ended up being likable by the end and I think a lot of kids would enjoy reading it because it is very immersive and engaging. 
However, there was so much going on in the book that it was over whelming. It was easy to forget the current problem they were trying to solve and who the real villain of the book was. There were a lot of character introductions and some of them got lost or quickly forgotten due to the amount of new material being introduced throughout the ENTIRE book. While I liked the fantasy elements, there was just too much material.. It felt like the author had a lot of different ideas and crammed them all into one book. It just didn’t flow and seemed to be constantly jumping between scenarios. There were also some situations left unresolved and some mishaps in the story that really confused me. The main character was hard to relate to as he just seemed whiny and very immature. There wasn’t much character growth for the main character or any of the supporting characters. I felt that none of the characters were very likable. Overall it wasn’t bad but still not something I would recommend or read again myself.

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.

I looked forward to reading this book.  With 2 middle grade readers at home I am always on the lookout for new books or series for us to enjoy.  Unfortunately this book fell somewhat short for me.  There was plenty of action and lots of potential for adventure. However,  I found the pace of the book to move almost too fast, without fully fleshing out the scene or the characters- and there were a lot of interesting ones; pirates, witches, mythical demons, shape shifting animals, and an evil sultan, to name a few. I did not feel I was experiencing the adventure along with Max, rather, hearing about it second hand.  With Max moving so quickly through a wide variety of scenarios I found myself questioning 'who was that again?' or 'which parent 'is Max looking for at the moment?'.  Younger children may enjoy Max's escapades and adventures, but I would have enjoyed this book more if the narrative was more descriptive, showing me what was happening instead of telling me about it.