It's Carnival time, and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. But to young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favourite costume to wear at the festival — until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgivable crime.

Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree. Here monstrous creatures from folklore are real and the humans are violent outcasts in the wild. Here Tan-Tan must reach into the heart of myth — and become the Robber Queen herself. For only the Robber Queen's legendary powers can save her life... and set her free. (Grand Central Publishing)