Book Review: The 39 Clues

"I told Mr. McIntyre to tell you to trust no one.  This was good advice for the beginning of the clue hunt, when so much would be unknown to you.  But I hope you realize that I do not want you to go through life with that philosophy.  Many people have failed you--I myself have failed you, though I love you more than my own life.  I can tell you that you will have your hearts broken more by the people you love than by the people you hate.  But you must still dare to love.  The rewards are worth far more than the risks."

I'm starting to receive recommendations for book reviews, and that makes me ecstatic!  I will definitely do so, as soon as I obtain copies of the books to read.  Today's Book Review is not a recommendation, unless you count the goodreads.com recommendation system.  It takes that books that you like and recommends similar ones, and that's how I was introduced to the 39 Clues series.

The 39 Clues are about Amy and Dan Cahill (ages fourteen and eleven), whose grandmother has passed away. In her will she gives all sorts of people who are distantly or closely related to her a choice: They can take a million dollars a piece right now, or they can have a clue to the recipe for world domination.  Feeling like that's what their grandmother is expecting them to do, they take the clue.  As do a few others:  Allistair Oh, Irina Spasky, Natalie and Ian Kabra, the Starling triplets (Ted, Ned and Sinead), the Holt family (Eisenhower, Mary-Todd, Hamilton, Madison and Reagan), and Jonah Wizard.  Thus starts a world-wide travel search for the clue hunt, following clues laid by people in the Cahill family, which has consisted of the best and brightest people since the 1500s.  However, their extended family turn out to be talented and deadly, as most of the other teams don't mind trying to kill to get it.  The hunt takes them all over the world (Philadelphia, Paris, Vienna, Venice, Tokyo, Seoul, Cairo, Moscow, Sydney, Pretoria, Beijing, Kingston, London and more), and the run into history, culture and geography along the way.

Here's the good stuff:  the characters are complex and fascinating, the history and culture is woven into the story in a flawless and intriguing way, and it's compelling, moving, engaging, funny and touching.  They really are completely enjoyable and I couldn't stop reading them.

Here's the not-so-good stuff:  There are about seven different authors writing these books.  They switch each book who writes it.  This leads to a too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen-induced-plot-hole problem.  It also is evident that some of the writers don't have the ability to write certain characters.  Amy is shy and bookish and a worry-wort.  In fact, she reminds me of my sister, Carol.  However, some writers just make her bland, and kind of try to "redeem" her from her character, which doesn't need redeeming.  Dan is mischievous, wild, devil-may-care and a genius (like math-in-his-head-photographic-memory style).  He's also eleven and therefore has some twerpy characteristics.  But some writers can't do his sarcastic, wild, sense of humor and he just comes off as an obnoxious, pain-in-the-hiney twerp.  They also commit the ultimate evil:  portraying a hemophiliac as someone who will die from a cut  (but, if you're looking for a good media portrayal of asthma that doesn't show it as asthma=social insecurity that just needs to be gotten over...look no further than these books).

Are they perfect?  Heck no.  Do I recommend them?  Heck yes.  Overall, I'd give the whole series 4 stars with moments in the 3 stars and moments in the 5 stars.


Some funny quotes for your enjoyment:

"'Why thirty-nine clues?'
Dan shrugged. 'Thirty-nine is a sweet number. It's thirteen times three. It's also the sum of five prime numbers in a row - 3,5,7,11,13. And if you add the first three powers of three, 3 to the first, 3 to the second, and 3 to the third, you get thirty-nine.'
Amy stared at him. 'How did you know that?'
'What do you mean? It's obvious.'"

“The au pair was bug-eyed. 'What happened back there?'
'It's not our fault!' Dan babbled. 'Those guys are crazy! They're like mini-Darth Vaders without the mask!'
'They're Benedictine monks!' Nellie exclaimed. 'They're men of peace! Most of them are under vows of silence!'

'Yeah, well, not anymore,' Dan told her. "'They cursed us out pretty good. I don't know the language, but some things you don't have to translate.'"

"In our family, you don't get a childhood.  We're too busy trying to dominate the world."

“Never regret trusting someone. It proves you have a heart. But if he turns out to be a lying worm ... I'm not going to waste my time crying. Because I am way too fabulous for that.”  

"We can't stop her. It's just Dan and me against the most evil woman in the world."

"We're the good guys.  The way-too-good guys.  The ones who think we can end this all holding hands singing Kumbaya around a campfire someplace. We're nuts!"

"'Shakespeare always said, ''Be prepared."'
'That's not a Shakespeare quote.  It's the Boy Scout motto.'"

“'I picked the guard’s pocket before we left the elevator. Just call me Light-finger Dan.'
'The guy was unconscious,' Amy said."

 "Don't think of it as losing a boyfriend. Think of it as gaining a stalker."