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The 39 clues

The 39 Clues Book 9: Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park Review

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By the ninth book in The 39 Clues series, Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park,  the series was coming to a close. Amy and Dan have discovered the identity of their family branch and are starting to think more seriously about things.

For those of you who don’t know, The 39 Clues is a multi-author series in which Amy (14) and Dan (11) Cahill learn that they are members of the most powerful family in human history. The source of their families power is hidden throughout the world in the form of thirty-nine special clues. Unfortunately, Amy and Dan aren’t the only ones after the prize. Their treacherous relatives will do anything to get the clues first; even kill.

Read more about The 39 Clues here.

At the end of the eighth book, Amy and Dan find a clue leading them in the direction of Anne Bonny, a famous woman pirate. That means the next clue is in Jamaica.

I actually have a special connection to this book because Linda Sue Park lives in Rochester, NY (the same place I live), and is only a few blocks away from my house. She gave a talk on the book at Barnes @ Noble the day it came out and I got to hear her perspective on the book, so it was quite interesting. Of course, I had already finished the book before I went to her talk that night.

Summary

Even though Amy and Dan know that the next clue is in Jamaica, Dan wants to go to the Bahamas first to play at a water park, so they do. It’s not a total waste, though; they infiltrate a Tomas hideout and steal a bear claw.

After Amy hurts herself in the Bahamas they decide to go and track down Calico Jack in Jamaica, a pirate who had Anne Bonny on his ship. As you’d expect from Amy, they visit a library. They find that some of the stuff on his ship included the bear claw and the necklace Amy got from Grace.

Amy and Dan have been suspecting Nellie for several books now, but things come to a complete head in this book, and Amy and Dan refuse to trust her at all. Nellie is forced to admit that she does in fact work for William McIntryre.

At the library, Amy and Dan meet a nice man named Lester. He doesn’t know anything about the clue hunt, but introduces them to his grandmother, a former friend of Grace. To everyone’s shock she has an earring that matches the snake ring in Nellie’s nose. Nellie was born into the clue hunt just as much as Dan and Amy.

Throughout the whole book Amy and Dan are confronted by the Kabras. Ian and Natalie, but mainly Isabel, the most ruthless villain in the whole series (and that’s saying something!).

Amy and Dan realize that Isabel’s wolf fang necklace might also be connected with the clue, and attempt to steal it from her. Isabel is by no means an easy catch, but Amy, Dan, and Nellie are able to set a trap for her.

Things come to a terrible head as Lester continues to help them find the last clue. An innocent person dies, not for the first time, but it shocks Amy and Dan worse than ever. They realize that they can’t just keep on like this and let people die. They need to quit the clue hunt.

After that Nellie takes them against their will to the Man in Black (yes, his identity is finally revealed!), where Amy and Dan are put to the test. Who are the Madrigals? Are they good or bad? And will Amy and Dan join them?

Review

This is a very good book, although it was written very differently from the rest of the series. Linda Sue Park admitted at her talk that she was surprised when they asked her to write a book for The 39 Clues because she’s not an adventure writer. However, they said they wanted her because she is good with emotions and would be able to handle the death and problems with Nellie and everything. She does a very good job.

We also learn a lot in this book. The true identity of The Man in Black (which we’ve been trying to discover since the first book), the real scoop on the Madrigal clan, and what is going to take place in the last book.

I love reading this book because it shows the characters of Amy and Dan very well. Sue Park definitely does a great job dealing with the death of an innocent person, and it makes Amy and Dan seem more human and real than at any other time in the series.

This is a must read for sure. Linda Sue Park may have been surprised they asked her to write the book, but I’d be even more surprised if you don’t want to check it out.

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 enter your email below to get more book reviews.

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The 39 Clues Book 8: The Emperor’s Code by Gordon Korman Review

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Note: This article was originally written almost four years ago.

Yesterday, March 6th, 2010, was a big day for the readers here on The Readers and Writers Paradise: Book 8 of The 39 Clues, The Emperor’s Code was released! I was especially excited for this book, because it was written by Gordon Korman, who is, as most of you probably know by now, my favorite author.

And I have to say this was by far my favorite book in the series as of right now. In a live webcast back on December 2nd, 2008 (seems like it was just yesterday), Gordon said that with the series being multi-author, with everyone’s creativity piling up on top of each other, by the eighth or ninth book, it would be awesome.

Certainly, his predication came true. As for writing style, this book was clearly written in a different writing style than his other books (I know; I’ve read all of them). It wasn’t just Korman writing the book; the writing style of Rick all the way back from September 2008 is still showing in this piece.

I really love the writing style—I think it’s the perfect way to write The 39 Clues series. I don’t really like book three or seven, because of the writing style of Peter Lerangis, but really everyone else has followed suite from Rick and Gordon back in the first and second books.

The plot? Well, at the end of the seventh book, Amy and Dan discover the secret of their family branch: Madrigal. As you can expect, much of the book is centered around that topic.

First, Amy, Dan, and Nellie travel to China in search of the old Janus clue (yep, Jonah Wizard makes his long awaited rebirth into the series). In the Forbidden City, Dan finds a sheet with an equation of the different branch symbols in bottles added together equals the Cahill symbol, along with a Chinese message that later proved important.

Unfortunately, Amy starts voicing her thoughts that maybe their parents deserved to die, and Dan storms off. Then, he is captured by the Kabra children, Ian and Natalie. They dump him in a pile of trash, where he is found by Jonah.

Jonah claims he’s making phone calls to Amy and Nellie and trying to track them down. However, when Amy and Nellie ask him if Dan is with him, he lies and says he isn’t, and was never making calls. When Dan meets Jonah’s mom, Cora Wizard (the leader of the Janus branch), it becomes apparent that the Wizard family is just trying to use him. They even claim Dan is from the Janus branch! Unfortunately, that prompts Dan to respond with the following:

“Janus? I’m no Janus! I know exactly what branch I am!”

“I’m a Madrigal!”

The well-kept secret of who the Madrigals are is finally out, and people will be hunting Amy and Dan down even more.

Dan flees and leaves a message for Amy and Nellie. He did not give a location, as he would have to keep moving. Both decide the next clue is on Mount Everest, and meet each other in the hanger of a plane specially designed to go to the top of Everest. At first, the pilot refuses to take him, but Nellie puts her “boss” on the phone to talk to the pilot, who suddenly agrees to take them.

Nellie later claims it’s her uncle; obviously not true. They also see Nellie pick a lock with masterful skill, and we get to see part of a phone conversation between her and her boss. In her thoughts, she also reveals she has a secret objective. Amy and Dan are once again doubting her more and more.

When they get to the top of Everest, they see that Eisenhower Holt and Ian are already near the top. Amy grabs the vial containing the clue at the peak, but it slips from her hand, as she tries to grab it, she realizes that Ian is about to fall two miles into death. Instead of saving the clue, she saves Ian. Luckily, it was hidden in the secret Chinese message:

“That which you seek, you hold in your hand,
Fixed forever in birth,
Where the Earth meets the sky.”

Because the paper they are holding is made out of silk, the first line means it’s silk. Fixed forever in birth means it’s frozen, which means its raw silkworm secretion, and where the earth meets the sky means it’s hidden on Mount Everest.

Dan also finds an impression of Anne Bonny, a famous woman pirate in the Caribbean. This tells them that’s where the next clue is located.

The secret code in this book is made from the coded letters:

“Madrigals are behind everything. They lay out the path the others will walk. The end is coming.”

What I make from that is the Madrigal’s plant the clues and leads for others to find, and obviously that the contest is coming to an end. There are numerous examples of the Madrigal’s making leads, such as Nellie “accidentally” placing them into secrets (she’s obviously not from one of the four branches, the way they talk about her), and at the beginning of book eight, the Man In Black making sure Amy and Dan saw a certain movie which showed the Janus crest at their next destination. They certainly are the most powerful.

To be honest, The Emperor’s Code was sort of like a filler; not as much as books two, three and four, because we at least got some info from this book, and not quite as much as book six, but more like book five. Certainly this book sets the stage for the outbreak of the series that we know is happening in books nine and ten. I hope to see you on the hunt.

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 enter your email below to get more book reviews.

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The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper’s Nest by Peter Lerangis Review

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I was more excited for this book than any other in The 39 Clues series. Some of you may find this surprisingly, knowing that I am one of the biggest fans of The 39 Clues, and also knowing that I really didn’t like Peter Lerangis’s earlier contribution to the series.

Why why I was so excited, then? Because in this book we learn the identity of Amy and Dan’s branch!

In case you don’t know, The 39 Clues is a multi-author series in which two kids, Amy and Dan Cahill learn that they are members of the most powerful family in human history. The source of their families power is hidden across the world in the form of thirty-nine clues, or chemical elements, which when put together will create a virtual superman potion.

The 39 Clues is one of my all-time favorite kids series, and I consider it was a part of my childhood. If you haven’t read it yet, then you might want to start with the latest books and then backtrack your way from the first book. If you have read it, though, than read on!

Summary

As you probably already know, there are four main branches in The 39 Clues, one for each of the children of Gideon Cahill, the patriarch of the entire Cahill clan. The Ekaterina, Lucian, Tomas, and Janus branches all want to be the first to find the clues.

Amy and Dan, however, don’t know what branch they’re apart of. That’s a problem that has dogged them throughout the entire series. The matter of Amy and Dan’s branch was the thing that intrigued clue hunters (including me) the most. We all had a pretty good idea; after all, clues throughout the series hinted that Amy and Dan were actually Madrigals, a secretive group that everyone is afraid of.

Before Lerangis tells Amy and Dan’s branch, however, he first continues the story from the last book. Irina just sacrificed her own life to save Amy and Dan, and they can barely believe that the vicious ex-KGB agent would do such a thing. Their suspicion of Nellie also continues to grow, but they little choice but to trust her for the moment.

Amy and Dan realize that Irina’s last words-“I’m with you and you’re with me and so we are all together”-were actually the words to a song called marching to Pretoria, a city in South Africa. Amy and Dan quickly discover that the clue has to do with Shaka Zulu, one of the greatest warrior kings of all time.

Amy and Dan also discover that Winston Churchill was involved with the clue, and infiltrate the Tomas stronghold. They are helped throughout the book by Professor Bardsley, a friend of Grace.

Although Amy and Dan find the clue in the stronghold, they are once again attacked by Isabel. Isabel offers them Amy and Dan a chance to join her family, but of course they decline. Isabel is about to kill them once again, but their ingenuity and the help of Professor Bardsley keeps them alive.

The Professor was such a good friend of Grace’s that he has access to her plane, The Flying Lemur. Amy and Dan, however, accidentally spill a vial full of poison onto Dan’s arm. They head to Grace’s secret house in Madagascar to get Dan some medicine.

Dan gets the medicine, but he and Amy also get far more. They find Grace’s notebook, that has the secret of their family branch. If you want, you can click here to see what that branch is. Me; I’d read the book.

Review

This book was a pretty mediocre one, to be honest. The plot itself was good enough, but the way it was written wasn’t. It literally gave me a headache to read it because a lot of it wasn’t clear. I wanted to stop and try to reread, but I just pushed on so I could get to the branch revealing.

There was some historical information in the book about Shaka Zulu and South Africa, but it wasn’t understandable at all. All that I remember is that Shaka Zulu was a great warrior of some kind and that there was recently slavery in South Africa. The slavery could’ve been a powerful moment, but it was pretty weak the way Lerangis wrote it.

The style was a little more matching the other authors than in book 3, but it still wasn’t quite there, and wasn’t really any better. In fact, it might have been worse. This book was more of a blend between his style of writing and the other authors, but it only meets halfway and is kind of like an orchestra not sure of what note to play.

Either way, this is a necessary book for any serious fan of The 39 Clues. This book contains perhaps the most important information in the whole series. I’d just skim through it and to the end. If you’ve been paying attention, I don’t think you’ll be very surprised.

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 enter your email below to get more book reviews.

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The 39 Clues Book 6: In Too Deep by Jude Watson Review

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With the sixth book of The 39 Clues series, In Too Deep by Jude Watson, the series was moving into its second half. We were moving into more secrets, getting closer to discovering secrets such as the identity of Amy and Dan’s branch and what really happened the night Amy and Dan’s parents died.

Note: Little did we know, of course, that there would be a second and now a third arc.

In The 39 Clues, young Amy and Dan Cahill learn that their family contains a secret powerful enough to make the owner of it the most influential human in history. The secret is scattered across the world in the form of 39 clues, or chemical elements.

Of course, Amy and Dan aren’t the only ones looking for the clues. Their relatives will do anything to get the clues first. In fact, we meet the worst one for the first time in this book.

Although Jude Watson’s earlier addition to the series was mostly mediocre, this book is much better, mainly because of its well-crafted character development.

If you haven’t read The 39 Clues series yet, then I’d advise starting with the most recent book and then working your way backwards from the first book. You probably you won’t read all of them, but you’ll thoroughly enjoy the ones that you do.

If you’re familiar with the series, though, then read on.

Summary

At the end of the last book, Amy and Dan decide to head to Australia to meet with their dad’s cousin Shep. Their parents were very involved in the clue hunt, and Amy and Dan want to figure out what they discovered.

The trouble starts immediately, however, when someone steals Amy’s necklace. Grace, Amy’s late grandmother, gave her the necklace, and it is very important to her. She runs after the thief, only to fall into a trap set by Isabel Kabra.

Ian and Natalie, Isabel’s kids, were bad enough. They had tried to kill Amy and Dan more than once. But their mother? She is the leader of the Lucian branch, and probably the most evil person in the entire series.

Isabel tells Amy, however, that she can help Amy learn who killed her parents. She also tries to manipulate Amy by telling her how Ian has a crush on her. Amy knows that Isabel is trying to trick her, but the chance to learn about her parents is just so tempting.

In the meantime, they learn about Bob Troppo, an Ekat who was close to discovering all of the clues. Amy and Dan spend their time in Australia trying to track him down.

Amy is in a terrible emotional state throughout the book, having flashbacks about the night her parents died. Ian calls and informs Amy that her parents were murdered. Then Irina, an ex-KGB agent who is supposed to be working for Isabel, tells Amy that she shouldn’t trust Isabel because she is the one who murdered her parents. Isabel, however, says the same thing about Irina! Amy is totally confused. She tries to keep it away from Dan, however, because she doesn’t want to him to have to feel the pain, too.

Unfortunately, Amy allows Isabel to lure her into a boat and then threatens to murder her if she doesn’t share which clues she’s found. Amy is in a tough spot, but Hamilton Holt comes and saves her. Even though the Holts called off their alliance at the end of the last book, he obviously still feels like he owes her.

While following Bob Troppo’s footsteps, Amy and Dan are lead through the desert and discover a clue that their mom left. That leads them to a mine, but Isabel drops poisonous spiders and a venomous snake down the mineshaft. It is yet another very close call, although Amy and Dan are once again able to escape.

We are able to identify a lot more with Irina this book. In past books we thought she was just a ruthless killer, but here we learn that she has some heart. In fact, she makes a serious sacrifice to help the Cahill kids, to avenge for her own child dying at Isabel’s instructions.

We also grow more suspicious of Nellie, Amy and Dan’s au pair. Before they had just kind of trusted her, but now they suspect that she might be up to something. After all, what kind of au pair knows tons of languages, can fly planes, and can do all kinds of other crazy stuff?

Who will die at the hands of Isabel? Will Amy and Dan go, or will someone else pay the ultimate price for them? Will they find the clue?

Review

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The parts about the clue hunt weren’t super great or clear, and I don’t think I remember any historical information from the book at all (I’m not even sure if there was any). Either way, Jude Watson does a masterful job of dealing with the characters in this book.

As mentioned above, we get to see Amy grow more mature and deal with her trauma of the past. We see a softer side of Irina, Amy and Dan worrying about the only person they thought they could trust, and the first death of the clue hunt. While most of the books are mainly focused on action, this book is about understanding the characters better, something that is very important to the series.

Would I recommend it? Definitely. Writing this review, I almost feel like I want to read this book again. Just some of the emotions of the characters in it were fascinating. Clue hunters will love it.

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 check out my Facebook page or subscribe through email below.

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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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