by Hal Duncan
First published 2013
Flashjack and his fellow Scruffians know the brutal truth of Ripper Vicky's Empire. The Waiftaker General drags workhouse children and street orphans to the Institute, where the Stamp burns their souls into their skin. This process Fixes them forever as perfect child laborers who never age, never starve, and always bounce back to their original state no matter what happens to them. But some Scruffians escape their chimney sweep and mill owner masters. They hide in rookery cribs, surviving as thieves and beggars while plotting their rebellion. Flashjack teams up with Puckerscruff the urchin, Squirlet Nicely, Vermintrude Toerag, Yapper who speaks Dog, Whelp the dog Fixed as a child, and their loyal friend Rake Jake Scallion. Together with the fabbler Gobfabbler Halyard-Dunkling, they wage war against the system that stole their humanity. The Scruffians fight to reclaim the Stamp itself and free all the children trapped in its mechanical grip.
Genres: fiction, dystopia, 20th-century, adventure, fantasy, 21st-century, 19th-century, alternate-history
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, rebellion, social-commentary
Setting: Empire, Institute, Rookery, Ripper
Period: 19th-century
86 pages · Paperback · New Sodom Press
Content warnings: child-abuse, child-death, graphic-violence