History Literature / TheGuildOfSpecialists

* BladeOnAStick: The Western Chapter of the Sujing Quantou primarily used polearms as their melee weapons, at least a long spear for use on horseback and at least two glaives.

* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: A pervading discussion throughout the books, as there are constant debates over zoridium and its potential, which have been raging since 326 B.C.E., leading to the founding of the Sujing Quantou. In this case, when Alexander the Great reached the Indus Valley where the gyrolabes and 99 elements texts were found, the decision was made to separate the materials so they could not be used for war, which were given to the best reconnaissance units and taken as far away as they could.

* BigBad: Julius Pembleton-Crozier's mining operation is the force that the crew of the ''Expedient'' seeks to stop.

* ForceAndFinesse: Becca and Doug's preferences in swordsmanship. Becca prefers a rapier, while Doug is much more comfortable with a heavier weapon like a saber.

* LivingMacGuffin: Hamish and Elena [=MacKenzie=], Becca and Doug's parents. Their primary reason for going on this adventure is to find their parents.

* StereotypeFlip: Becca is quite asocial for an ActionGirl, and Doug is quite sociable for a NonActionGuy.

* KillEmAll: Attempted. [[spoiler:The Coterie of Saint Petersburg's gravity machine would create a vortex that would burrow into the earth's crust, unleashing a volcanic eruption that would bury the crew of the ''Expedient'' and the Kalaxx in pumice and lava]].

* CoolPet: The Dutchess, a great big white tiger trained to kill people who enter the room without knocking. ''And she belongs to the heroes''.

* EvilCounterpart: The Cotiere of Saint Petersburg was founded as an offshoot of the Guild who wanted to profit off zoridium.

* KillEmAll: Attempted. [[spoiler:The Cotiere of Saint Petersburg's gravity machine would create a vortex that would burrow into the earth's crust, unleashing a volcanic eruption that would bury the crew of the ''Expedient'' and the Kalaxx in pumice and lava]].

* VillainTeamUp: The Cotiere of Saint Petersburg teams up with the Kalaxx to mine zoridium.

* BladeOnAStick: The Western Chapter of the Sujing Quantou primarily use polearms as their melee weapons, at least a long spear for use on horseback and at least two glaives.

The premise is thus: after the death of his grandmother, Rebecca [=MacKenzie=], the author discovered a hidden passageway behind a bookcase in her house. This led him down a flight of stairs to a series of vaults (there are colour photographs and diagrams of everything described). After "persuading" one of them to open the author enters it to discover a rich and varied treasury of objects, artefacts, notes, and diaries that tell the story of her life. The three books that follow are that story, and the objects, diagrams, and photos contained therein all come from that secret collection.

The premise is thu: after the death of his grandmother, Rebecca [=MacKenzie=], the author discovered a hidden passageway behind a bookcase in her house. This led him down a flight of stairs to a series of vaults (there are colour photographs and diagrams of everything described). After "persuading" one of them to open the author enters it to discover a rich and varied treasury of objects, artefacts, notes, and diaries that tell the story of her life. The three books that follow are that story, and the objects, diagrams, and photos contained therein all come from that secret collection.

* BroomstickQuarterstaff: Xi uses a broomstick to fight the cook on Chung-Fat' ship.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Happens twofold with Sheng-Fat; he is captured after the backblast from one of his torpedoes flips his boat, then his fortress is destroyed when the rest of his torpedoes are detonated.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Posh Charlie's translation of Tembla texts allowed the Cotiere of St. Petersburg and the Kalaxx to find the Tembla zoridium mines]].

* DontTryThisAtHome: The diagrams for the fog generator are listed with warning against making a similar device due to the high possibility of electrocuting oneself.

* KatanasAreJustBetter: The Eastern Chapter of the Sujing Quantou use katanas as their primary melee weapons.

* SchzioTech: The flamethrowers used by Pugachev's men on horseback are a peculiar blend of modern technology and older tactics.

* CharacterTics: Ives mentions that his nose twitches whenever there’s danger ahead.
* ChekhovsGunman: Xi first appears as a mischief-maker in the Sujing Quantou’s fireworks shop.

* KillEmAll: Attempted. [[spoiler:The Cotiere of Saint Petersburg's gravity machine would create a vortex that would burrow into the earth's crust, unleashing a volcano that would bury the crew of the ''Expedient'' and the Kalaxx in pumice and lava]].

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Kalaxx, the disgraced Northern branch of the Sujing Quantou. After losing a war with the other two branches of the Sujing Quantou, they sought employment with the Russian government, serving them from 1720 to 1861. What that ended, they became miners and mercenaries for hire.

* DisposablePilot: Some of Capulus' men are caught disposing of the crew of the Maharaja's train. When confronted, they choose to follow their victims off the train.

* FireBreathingWeapon: Pugachev’s forces use flamethrowers mounted on horses alongside their machine guns.

[[caption-width-right:350:Intricate multi-page diagrams aren't even the start of it. See a bigger version of this one [[http://www.bookstores.com/cover-art/large/9780763626341 Here]]]]

''The Guild of Specialists'' trilogy is a series of novels by children's author Joshua Mowll, published by Walker Books, and each one of the three books is an absolute work of art. They are designed to look like diaries and are filled to the absolute brim with maps, diagrams and sketches, some folding out to as much as four or five pages. There are antique photographs (purportedly) of the characters and settings and museum-style photographs of objects that appear in the books. It is truly something to behold and the level of immersion the books create is fantastic.

The premise is thus, after the death of his grandmother, Rebecca [=MacKenzie=], the author discovered a hidden passageway behind a bookcase in her house. This led him down a flight of stairs to a series of vaults (there are colour photographs and diagrams of everything described). After "persuading" one of them to open the author enters it to discover a rich and varied treasury of objects, artefacts, notes, and diaries that tell the story of her life. The three books that follow are that story, and the objects, diagrams, and photos contained therein all come from that secret collection.