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The 39 Clues

The 39 Clues Book 5: The Black Circle by Patrick Carman Review

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As usual, I was really excited to read the fifth book in The 39 Clues series, The Black Circle by Patrick Carman. After a wayward third book, the fourth book had been relatively strong and the fifth book was looking to be exciting by all indications. There were some promos and sneak peaks for it during the summer that were pretty well done, and I’m happy to say the book didn’t disappoint.

The 39 Clues, for those who don’t know, is a multi-author series about two kids named Dan and Amy Cahill. Amy and Dan learn that they are members of the most powerful family in human history when their grandmother, Grace, dies. The source of their families power is in thirty-nine chemical elements, and whoever assembles them all will become the most powerful person ever.

Of course, Amy and Dan are not the only people looking after the clues. Their conniving relatives are also after them, and will do anything to find them. Even kill.

The 39 Clues also tends to be good for learning history because Amy and Dan travel the world to all kinds of exciting places. Paris, Venice, Cairo, and, in this book, Russia.

If you haven’t read the series yet, I’d start with the most recent series and then work your way back from the first book. For those of you who have…

Summary

Amy and Dan are still in their hotel room in Egypt when they get a telegram from a person who calls himself (or herself) NRR. NRR gives them an airport locker number. The telegram also contains a poem about how Dan buried his bottle cap collection in Grace’s yard, making Amy and Dan think NRR must have known Grace.

Their au pair Nellie is asleep, so they head out without her and leave a message. In this book much more than any of the others, Amy and Dan act independently without Nellie’s help.

Of course, things won’t go so easy for Amy and Dan that they can just get to the airport easily. Ian and Natalie Kabra, their rich cousins, are already on their tail. Amy and Dan manage to outsmart them, however, and find a key hidden in a glass paperweight and a piece of paper with jumbled letters on it. They also get disguises, passports, a credit card (which Dan is most excited about), and a Russian guide book with plane tickets. Most important to Amy and Dan: A picture of their late parents in Russia.

Even though Nellie is still in the hotel room, time is of the essence and they head out. Dan decodes the piece of paper to be various cities in Russia. Amy and Dan learn that the clue may have something to do with Anastasia Romanov and her medicine man, Rasputin.

They scale all the to the top of The Motherland Calls Statue to find a clue, but meet up with the Holt family. Dan decides to team up with Hamilton because he knows that there’s no way they can to all the cities on the list in time. It is a very exciting book and they do all kinds of awesome things, too many to list here.

They are also tracked down by Irina Spasky, an ex-KGB agent. Irina tries to convince them not to look for the clue, but the pictures of their parents and the connection to Grace make Amy and Dan forge on.

Will Amy and Dan make it in time to see NRR? More importantly; will NRR actually help them, or simply kill them?

Review

This is an awesome book, one of the best in the series. It is very clearly written and I still remember a lot of the historical information in the book. It is very fast-paced and full of adventure. Carman did a great job.

Even though it’s not quite written in the same style as the earlier books, I think this one is just as good. The characters also develop well, as we see Amy and Dan going off on their own. We also meet NRR and get closer to the Holt family, seeing a better side of them. In addition, we see that Irina cares about Amy and Dan because she doesn’t kill them when she has the chance.

If I was going to rate The 39 Clues books, this would be a strong contender for the best one; I can’t even think of anything bad to say about it. It’s too bad that this is the only book Carman wrote in the series.

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The 39 Clues Book 4: Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson Review

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When Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson came out, I was super excited. It was the fourth book in The 39 Clues, an exciting multi-author series in which two orphans, Dan and Amy Cahill, learn that they are members of the most powerful family in the world. The source of their families power is hidden throughout the world in the form of 39 clues (or chemicals). Whoever finds all the clues will become the most powerful person in human history.

Amy and Dan, of course, are not the only ones going after the clues. They have tons of competition in the form of their venomous relatives, who will stop at nothing to win the clue hunt. Literally. In the last book, The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis, Amy, Dan, and their Uncle Alastair were nearly killed by their rich cousins, Ian and Natalie Kabra.

Up until this book, I had been reading this series together with my friends. None of my friends ended up actually reading the fourth book, however. A couple of them started, but then gave up. The reason for that I attribute to the poor writing in the previous book, which you can read about in my review here. It’s a shame, because Beyond the Grave is a rather good addition to the series.

Summary

At the end of The Sword Thief, Amy and Dan learned that the next clue was hidden in Egypt, so they fly out to Cairo. Unfortunately, Irina Spasky is already there, an ex-KGB agent who means business. She disguises herself as a vendor and tries to trap Amy and Dan, but they manage to outsmart her and get away.

Along the way they find a Sakhet that they think they might be looking for, but a tour guide named Theo convinces them that it’s merely a fake.

They find themselves at a fancy hotel. They originally don’t want to go there because of how expensive they know it’s going to be, and there is a sense someone is directing them to be there. When Dan accidentally says his last name is Oh, however, they get a huge discount and a suite that takes up an entire floor.

Things seem too good to be true, but Amy and Dan manage to sneak their way into a secret Ekaterina stronghold hidden inside the hotel. Dan is fascinated by all the inventions, but Amy is scared. To her the inventions of things like the nuclear bomb represent death and destruction.

Soon, however, there is a far worse threat to Amy and Dan than destructive inventions; Bae Oh is in the stronghold with them, and he traps them. Bae Oh is the uncle of their Uncle Alastair and is the ruthless leader of the Ekaterina branch. In The Sword Thief, we also learned that Bae Oh murdered Alastair’s father.

Although Bae Oh does a good job of trapping them, Amy and Dan are able to escape with the help of their Au Pair, Nellie. They book it out of the hotel and travel with a person named Hilary Vale, who apparently used to be good friends with Amy and Dan’s beloved grandmother, Grace Cahill. Grace was the one who started the whole clue hunt in motion, and Amy and Dan are still shocked at her death. The thought that Grace may still be helping them “beyond the grave” comforts both of them.

Hilary, acting according to Grace’s instructions, give Amy and Dan a letter and one of the Sakhet statues. A map is hidden inside the Sakhet statue, leading them to the tomb of Queen Nefertari. Theo, who ends up being Hilary’s grandson, is able to help them sneak in.

In the tomb, they are attacked by Irina and then trapped on a crocodile-filled island by their famous rap star cousin, Jonah Wizard. Dan and Amy have faced tough things before, but how they can defend themselves against a pack of hungry crocodiles? And are Hilary and Theo really acting on Grace’s behalf, or do they have a secret agenda? Worst of all, what if the mysterious Madrigals don’t want Amy and Dan to find the clue?

Review

Beyond the Grave was a fairly good addition to the series. I was glad while reading because it was, for me at least, a big improvement on The Sword Thief.

Beyond the Grave, however, is not written quite as skillfully as books one and two, or as the rest of the books of the series, for that matter. Book six, In Too Deep, by the same author was one of the best books of the series, with great character development. Parts of this book were hard to understand, however, especially towards the end.

As for the historical value, I remember some historical information in this book, but I don’t really think a lot was included. Besides some basic info about Egypt that everyone already knows, you’re not likely to learn much historically.

Besides that, though, this book is good. I view the main value of the book as being in ethical questions. Were the Ekats inventions good or bad? All the emotions that come with being betrayed by people claiming to act on behalf of a dead person who you trusted the most. A fake romance that ends up knocking Amy off guard. There is certainly a lot to think about after reading this book.

For dedicated readers of The 39 Clues, this is a must read. I’d recommend starting with the most current books and then, if the reader is really interested, starting with The Maze of Bones and then going through the series. Unless you or your kids are really prolific readers, you’re unlikely to read all the books, but they’ll definitely be an exciting series as you read them. I now consider them a major part of my childhood.

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The 39 Clues Book 3: The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis

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When The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis first came out all the way back in early 2009, I was stoked. I had already read the first two books in The 39 Clues series, the last one being One False Note by Gordon Korman, and the series was progressing along well. Great story, great mystery, and great characters. What more could you want?

The 39 Clues is a multi-author series written by super popular, bestselling authors about orphans named Amy and Dan Cahill. When their grandmother Grace dies, they learn they are members of the most powerful family in human history. The source of their families power is scattered throughout the world in the form of thirty-nine different clues. Whoever finds all the clues will become the most powerful person in history.

Amy and Dan, of course, are not the only ones who want the prize. Their treacherous, back-stabbing relatives will do anything possible to find the clues first.

As with all books in The 39 Clues series, I finished The Sword Thief the very day I got it. Although it was an interesting book and moved the plot along, I remember not being very satisfied with the book.

Summary

At the end of One False Note, Amy and Dan find samurai swords by the location of the clue. They take the hint and head off to Japan. Before they are able to get there, however, their cousins, Ian and Natalie Kabra, manage to trick them and leave them stranded in the airport.

After that, Alistair Oh offers to help Amy and Dan and create an alliance. After all, Alistair has resources in Seoul, Korea, and he has wisdom and age. Amy and Dan do not fully trust him, but they agree to work together for the time being.

Amy, Dan, and Alastair realize that the clue is hidden in the history of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a great Japanese warrior and son of Thomas Cahill, the founder of the Tomas branch.

The Holt family, however, are also hot after the clue and manage to trap them in a subway. It looks as though it’s about to curtains for the Cahill kids, but Alastair rescues them before they end up being hit by a train. We get to see the human side of the Holt kids as they balk at the idea of killing Dan and Amy.

Unfortunately, the three of them accidentally go into the abode of sword-wielding Yakuza, or Japanese warriors. Nellie, their au pair, is able to save them, along with Ian and Natalie Kabra. Amy, Dan, and Alastair agree to form an alliance with Ian and Natalie. The reason for that is partly because Amy has sort of a crush on Ian, and Ian is acting as though it’s reciprocal.

The clues point to Korea, and the six of them go to Alastair’s house. We learn more about the Ekaterina branch and about Bae Oh, Alastair’s uncle and leader of the Ekaterina branch. After Alastair’s dad died, he lived miserable years under his uncle. On the plane ride to Korea, however, he learns for the first time that Bae Oh arranged for Alastair’s father to be murdered.

At Alastair’s house, he shares some of his own information with the others. We learn a lot more about the clue hunt, specifically that the thirty-nine clues are thirty-nine elements that when mixed together will create a sort of philosopher’s stone. They travel to the mountain Pukhansan, and Dan tricks the others regarding the location of the clue.

The end is an interesting and treacherous tale, where we learn the true intentions of Amy and Dan’s relatives. Will Ian and Natalie steal the clue, or will Amy and Dan outsmart them once again? More importantly, will Alastair Oh survive?

Review

Like I said before, I consider this to be one of the weakest books in the series. Although Gordon Korman talked about how he used The Maze of Bones as his bible in writing One False Note, Peter Lerangis clearly did not do the same. The book is written in a very different style from the rest of the series. The other books are written in an exciting, detached, and realistic way. This book is much more relaxed, the tone is more informal, and it is not nearly as action-packed. Plus, it is kind of difficult to understand. As a result, the book loses some of its educational value and I don’t remember any of the historical information, very different from the author books.

Although some of my friends who were reading the series at the time told me that they liked the break from the action, all of them stopped reading after this book. None of my friends who started the series actually read the fourth book. Plus, books one and two were both #1 on the bestseller list for a long time. This book was on the bestseller list, but did not hit number one. None of the subsequent books in the series did, either.

There are some good parts to the way Lerangis writes, though. He introduces a possible romance between Ian and Amy that has continued throughout the series to the current books with different boyfriends and hints of crushes. This was the subject most frequently discussed among clue hunters during the Cahills vs. Vespers arc, and was in my view a valuable addition to the series.

This book has some good information about the clue hunt that moves the story along, so it’s a must for dedicated clue hunters going back through the early books to read. Overall, however, the writing is not nearly as good as in the rest of the series and on its own I would not recommend it.

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The 39 Clues Book 2: One False Note by Gordon Korman Review

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In One False Note, Gordon Korman continues the exciting series, The 39 Clues. In the first book, The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan, we met Amy and Dan Cahill, two young kids who suddenly find themselves in a hunt for the most powerful secret in the world. Unfortunately, they are up against their vicious relatives. Relatives like Irina Spasky, who is an ex-KGB agent and stores poison in her fingernails.

The 39 Clues is a multi-author series and Gordon Korman is a great person to write the second book in the series. He is an amazing author, lately becoming an expert at writing adventure books.

I was extremely excited for the release of One False Note all the way back in 2008, and watched the premier video (which was an hour long) probably a dozen times. As usual with Gordon Korman, the book did not disappoint.

Summary

At the end of The Maze of Bones, Amy and Dan end up finding a piece of music written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. They track his footsteps to Vienna, Austria, where Mozart lived.

The sheet music is a special clue because it is different than the actual piece. The extra notes are a hint!

Unfortunately, however, when Amy, Dan, and their au pair, Nellie, are traveling to Vienna, they are attacked by the rival Holt family. Amy and Dan’s cat Saladin ends up eating the music in the confusion. Luckily, Dan has an amazing photographic memory, and is able to reproduce the music.

Mozart’s sister, Maria Anna “Nanneral” Mozart, is also a big part of the story. She had a diary that everyone believes has some secret information about Mozart that will be useful in the hunt. Their cousin, Jonah Wizard, is one step ahead of them, however, and snags the diary before they do. Amy and Dan manage to create a diversion, however, and get it back.

Amy and Dan of course have no idea how to read German, but their au pair Nellie does! She knows a bunch of languages, and her knowledge is coming in handy. When she reads the diary, however, she learns that a few pages of the diary with the important information were ripped out.

Feeling down on their luck, Amy plays the secret notes that were on the sheet music. A woman comes up to her and tells her that the notes are actually from another song called, “The Place Where I was born.” Amy and Dan therefore decide to go to where Mozart was born in Salzburg. Unfortunately, their competitors also have the same idea, and end up getting trapped in the catacombs yet again by their uncle Alastair Oh. It is a very exciting scene and also very well written.

Amy and Dan are not above taking part in the more underhanded parts of the clue hunt, and steal from Alastair Oh a clue that leads them to Venice, Italy. Jonah Wizard is already there, and they follow him into a Janus stronghold. There we learn more about the Cahill family and learn that each of the four branches (Janus, Ekaterina, Lucian, and Tomas), each have their own strongholds that they conduct clue hunting out of.

Amy and Dan’s time in the Janus stronghold is extremely exciting. They manage to steal a vital piece of information, but can they survive with the entire Janus branch after them? Eventually it comes down to a battle between Amy and Dan and their vicious Lucian cousins, Ian and Natalie Kabra. Will Amy and Dan win the clue, or will their rich cousins take it for themselves?

Review

One False Note is an excellent book that shows to me the epitome of the excitement of The 39 Clues series. The book is exciting and also moves the plot along. It has good character development and lets us know more about the family. Korman is not quite as good as developing relatable characters as Riordan, however.

This book also gives a lot of interesting historical information. I still remember stuff I learned in it. I learned about a bunch of new and exciting places and cultures. I read this more than five years ago, and I still remember the descriptions of the waterways of Venice.

Although any of The 39 Clues books could technically be read on their own, I’d recommend reading The Maze of Bones first. For people just getting into the series, it would probably be best to start with the current Unbreakable arc, but this would be a very good book for a kid who enjoys the more recent books. It may not be quite as exciting as when the series first came out, but they are still very captivating books and will be read for years to come.

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link. You can also like my Facebook page or subscribe through email below.

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The 39 Clues Book 1: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan Review

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I remember very clearly the first time I held in my hands The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan. It was September, 2008, more than five years ago now.  I was in sixth grade, and I was super excited for the new series The 39 Clues.

After all, my favorite author, Gordon Korman (who had just come to my school a few months earlier), was involved in the series and was going to write the second book. The plot sounded super interesting, plus the series was supplemented by an exciting online game where you could collect clues, do missions, and even win prizes. Plus, all my friends were reading it.

Most of my friends dropped out of reading the series after the first couple of books, but after five years I’m still with it! The series has honestly grown kind of long-in-the-tooth now; certainly nothing like those exciting times when we were all trying to figure out the mysteries of this exciting new world.

Still, for young kids the series is still going strong with the new subseries Unbreakable, with mostly the same cast of characters but new villains and new adventures. For kids who like the later 39 clues books and want to play catchup, the Maze of Bones is a good place to start.

Summary

In the Maze of Bones we meet Dan and Amy Cahill, the main characters. They are orphans under the care of their aunt, Beatrice Cahill. Beatrice doesn’t take very good care of them, however, and merely hires au pairs to look after them.

Unfortunately, their cool grandmother Grace Cahill recently died, and Amy and Dan are attending the funeral. Grace was awesome and Amy and Dan used to spend the weekends at her house. They are sad because there isn’t going to be any fun in their lives anymore.

Amy and Dan are called with Beatrice and other relatives into a reading of Grace Cahill’s will. In a video Grace recorded, she makes an astonishing announcement. The Cahill’s are a very powerful family and the source of the family’s power is divided into 39 clues. Anyone who collects these clues will become the most powerful person in the world. Grace gives her descendants a choice: A million dollars or one clue.

Amy and Dan aren’t sure what to do. They feel as though perhaps Grace wanted them to enter the challenge, but they also don’t want to be stupid and give up $2 million. They realize, however, that Beatrice will find a way to steal their money if they choose to accept it. Amy and Dan are miserable and want something different. They choose the clue.

Amy is 14 and Dan is 10, quite young to start a quest. Beatrice is extremely upset with their decision to enter the clue hunt and runs out of the room, saying something about disowning them. There are in total six teams who enter the race for the clues.

The clue reads: RESOLUTION. The fine print to guess, Seek out Richard S______. No one seems to know what that means, but the teams start going out in search of the clues.

Amy and Dan team up with their relative Alistair Oh to try and figure out the clue, and they realize that Richard S. must be a reference to Poor Richard’s Almanac. They look for it in Grace’s library, but there is a fire and Grace’s mansion burns down. They barely make it out alive with Grace’s cat Saladin.

Realizing that the clue has to do with Benjamin Franklin, they head to Boston. Their au pair, Nellie, agrees to drive them there. Unfortunately, the other teams are also in Boston, and the Starling triplets try to kill Amy and Dan. Unfortunately for them, they end up wounding themselves.

Amy and Dan are smart, but are they smart enough to beat people like Irina Spasky, an ex-KGB agent who has poison in her fingernails? What about the Holt family, a group of muscular brutes? Or Ian and Natalie Kabra, rich and also carrying poison. How will they fare against Jonah Wizard, a rap star with more fans and money than anyone needs?

Amy and Dan also realize there are family branches. The branches are Tomas, Ekaterina, Lucian, and Janus. Amy and Dan have no clue what branch they’re in, a problem that haunts them through the end of the series.

The hunt eventually ends up taking Amy and Dan to Paris, and the French catacombs. It is a very exciting and thrilling story.

Review

The Maze of Bones is a great introductory book to the series. It sets the stage and gets everyone excited for the adventures that are to come. It does a good job of character development; with Amy and Dan’s conniving relatives, and also of Amy and Dan. Amy and Dan are very relatable. They have no resources in the hunt but their own smarts. They are innocent people placed into a dangerous game.

The writing style of this book is a little more informal than the other books, and I consider that a good thing. Every author has their own style, and Riordan certainly has a good one. Another good thing about the book is that it contains a lot of good historical information. I still use information that I read The 39 Clues to this day.

I consider the main strength of this book to be that Riordan is able to combine exciting action with character development. Usually you hear of plot-based stories, or character-based stories, but this book is both. I think that is the main thing missing from the later books, where the characters of Amy and Dan are still good, but nowhere near the captivating level in the earlier books.

Part of the excitement of reading The Maze of Bones at the time was that it was the first book in a new series, there was an online game, everyone was reading it, and we were going to have to wait to find out the secrets. Yes, it tormented us at the time, but it was actually a great thing!

There is no question that reading The Maze of Bones now is not as captivating as in the past. You don’t have the community surrounding the earlier books anymore, and there isn’t nearly the same excitement with all the books out. After all, people who have read the latest book, Nowhere to Run, already know that Amy and Dan come out okay in the end.

Also, in September, 2008, the books were coming out every three months. One False Note was in December, and The Sword Thief followed in March. It was manageable, therefore, to read all of the books. Now, however, they’ve been coming out at the same rate for five years. There were ten books in the original series, a connecting book, six books in the second series, and now a third series that is churning out more books.

Most of the books are about 200 pages long, so to play catchup and read all of the old books is a possibility, but it’s unlikely unless you or your child is a very prolific reader.

Either way, The Maze of Bones is a fantastic book. If you or your child is really addicted to The 39 Clues, then reading The Maze of Bones is good idea. It will be a good book to read and you’ll probably like it a lot. Most likely, though, you’ll peter out a couple books after that unless you’re a big 39 clues lover.

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