The Watchmen of Port Fayt

by Conrad Mason

Overview

A rip-roaring adventure full of pirates, magical creatures, and unlikely heroes!

Captain Newton and his men have always protected Port Fayt--a place where humans live in peace alongside trolls, elves, and fairies. But now Fayt is under threat from a much more powerful enemy--the League of Light, a group out to destroy all non-humans. Half-goblin boy Joseph Grubb has only ever heard stories of Captain Newton and the Demon's Watch. Fed up of working at his uncle's tavern, Grubb dreams of escape--until a whirlwind encounter with a smuggler plunges him into Fayt's criminal underworld. There he meets the watchmen and learns of their mission to save the port. Can Grubb and his new allies uncover the dark plot in time, or will they end up as fish food in Harry's Shark Pit?The first exciting book in the epic Tales of Fayt trilogy!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545859417
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/25/2015
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Lexile:	AD730L (what's this?)
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Conrad Mason was born in 1984. He studied classics at Cambridge University and now works in London as an editor of children's fiction. The Goblin's Gift is his second novel, and the second title in the Tales of Fayt trilogy. You can visit him online at www.conrad-mason.com.

Read an Excerpt

From The Watchmen of Port Fayt:Too late. Harry's bully boys moved in from behind, grabbed Grubb and lifted him up and over the balcony."No, no, wait!" howled Jeb. "I meant cut his throat, don't throw him into the . . ."And then Grubb was falling towards the shark pool, still grasping the package tightly in his hand, with Harry's mad, shrieking laughter in his ears.His brain froze as the world spun around him. He saw the men with nets scurrying away, a few surprised faces turned upwards, gawping as he hurtled down, and then he smacked into the surface, and everything was dark, and all sound was muffled.He was plunged deep into the pool, his body rigid with fear, but his mind jerking into action. He could taste blood. His eyes flicked open, and he saw scarlet tendrils snaking through the water like seaweed.He had to get out. He had to get out. And then he saw it. Her. Florence.A shape in the water ahead. Dark and indistinct, but unmistakeable. And with a lazy flick of her tail, she was coming towards him.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Watchmen of Port Fayt (published as The Demon's Watch in the United Kingdom):"This is simply good old-fashioned swashbuckling fun, with tricorn hats, one-eyed and one-armed pirates, terrifying underwater creatures, and descriptions of seafaring that will have readers feeling the ocean's salty spray." —BCCB"The characters are relatable, the journey is grand, the bad guys are vile and scary in the best way, the good guys possess hearts of solid gold, making The Watchmen of Port Fayt a timeless classic for adventure readers." —YA Books Central"Mason's writing is lively and engaging, and his message of tolerance is a potent one."—Literary Review (UK) "A hugely entertaining and comic fantasy story that will have young readers enchanted."—Bookzone for Boys (UK)"Sparkling and energetic, it's full of wit and comic timing, with piratical idioms galore . . . I think this rip-roaring fantasy adventure is going to win a loyal—and thoroughly deserved—following."—The Bookbag (UK)

From the Publisher

09/01/2015
Gr 4–7—Port Fayt is a somewhat wretched hive of scum and villainy, but it is one of the few places where everyone—human and otherwise—is more or less welcome. The town is governed in turn by three ruling families, and things are not going well. Joseph Grubb, a half-goblin/half-human orphan working in his uncle's tavern, accidentally gets mixed up in a complicated plot involving the League of Light, an organization dedicated to the eradication of trolls, elves, fairies…and goblins. A former, supposed-to-be-dead governor of the town has joined with the League and plans to use illegal magic to bring forth a terrible monster to destroy the town. Standing in their way is the Demon Watch, a ragtag crew that includes blue-haired Tabitha, orphaned daughter of another former governor, who's just itching to have her chance to fight. The Demon Watch must contend with eel-eating pirates, duplicitous sugar-addicted fairies, and the Dockside Militia, while Joseph fights to survive run-ins with a shapeshifting cat, a tank of ravenous sharks owned by an underworld kingpin, and a magical wooden spoon. The story is quite cinematic with plenty of explosions and destruction, humor (mostly in the form of the Bootle brothers, the troll version of the Weasley Twins), and enough drama to invest readers in future titles. VERDICT A well-built world makes this fantasy series opener stand out.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

2015-05-06
A motley squad of private police takes on smugglers, rival peacekeepers, and a mad witch in this tumultuous trilogy opener, first published overseas in 2012. The rough-and-tumble melting-pot town of Port Fayt serves as the setting, and a wooden spoon that is actually a powerful magic wand is the MacGuffin. Two young orphans—half-goblin Joseph Grubb and Tabitha, a whiny, blue-haired adrenaline junkie—are the main point-of-view characters in a cast composed of humans, hulking trolls and ogres, tiny fairies, a feline shape-shifter, pale elves, imps, and various mixtures. From these elements Mason dishes up a standard-issue stew in which the wand, lost by a smuggler in a tavern brawl and found by Joseph, passes from hand to hand as the shy lad meets Tabitha amid frequent fights, flights, and chases. By the end, both have demonstrated individual talents (Joseph for clever deduction; Tabitha for creating general mayhem) and earned places in the crime-fighting, multispecies Demon's Watch. Though the plot, setting, and characters are conventional types, pervasive themes of racial prejudice set the tale slightly apart: Joseph's father was killed by goblin haters; the wand was created as part of a narrowly averted scheme to clean out Port Fayt's "demonspawn" residents; and the conclusion hints at further such conflicts to come. A polished if unambitious adventure with a whiff of thinly disguised topicality. (maps) (Fantasy. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews