The Sword Thief

This was fast paced and action packed and it was wickedly good. Unlike Alex Rider it's not overly sad and unlike Cherub - I like the main characters. As a reader, I relate to Amy but I love Dan's way of looking at things. They're a great team. Nellie, the au pair, is hilarious. She's laid back and loyal and can speak a seemingly million different languages. The rest of the Cahill family kind of suck, but what's an adventure story without a villain? Or ten? The plot is riveting - the mix of fiction and history is fascinating and I'm flying through the series. They're not particularly long - but then this kind of book never is - or at least never feels like it is. I can't wait to read the rest. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.


There's a touch of show more romance in this between Ian Kabra and Amy. I like how the authors keep giving a little bit of insight in to each of the villains - in this one we read a bit of the story from Ian's point of view - and as much as he's bad he's not totally bad. More of Alistar's background and character is revealed - we learn his father was killed by his uncle (the brother's twin) and that he doesn't have a very good relationship with his uncle. Very intense, very fast paced, I may even go as far as to say, best one of the series yet.
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Children fiction; suspense/mystery. Peter Lerangis brings the action and suspense back for volume 3 of the 39 clues series. High suspense and lots of action ensure that kids will not be able to put this down (many readers will finish in about a day). Though there is a bit of 'kid spy romance' between Amy and Ian Kabra, and though Dan seems to take more of a beating for his 'dimwittedness' than perhaps he deserves, this volume was thoroughly enjoyable--more so, I thought, than the second volume and every bit as good as the first. Recommended.

I felt like the different-author-for-each-book aspect posed an issue for me this time. Because we have a new mind behind this book, I wasn’t sure if the fact that it seemed like so many personalities set up in the first two books were reversed in this one was the author wanting to do his own thing or was a natural part of the flow of the story. But somehow, Alistair is suddenly not such a bad guy, as confirmed by a scene from his own point of view. Amy suddenly isn’t so awkward around Ian Kabra, even letting down her guard quite a bit. Those aren’t the only examples, and in the end, much of what seemed to be reversed in this book was…unreversed? But on the other hand, some of it is left muddy. Anyway, it all distracted me enough show more from the rest of the story that I can’t really say how much I liked it. I do think it fell a little short of the first two in the series, but I hold out hope that the next author will get back to the intrigue and history I enjoyed in those first two. show less

Peter Lerangis gets writing duty for the 3rd installment of the series and we see Dan, Amy and Nellie ready to board their Japan-bound flight after sending the cat and the swords as cargo. Until the siblings' tickets got stolen that is anyway. And the chase is on.

This is the weakest installment so far - the story is enjoyable as a whole but the writing is too childish in places (and yes, it is a children series but still). And the plot does not hold together as well as the previous ones - taking risks to make sure the swords make it to Japan with them and then just ignoring the fact that they are there made me scratch my head. And then there is the clue for the next stop - earlier in the book three cities are mentioned as important, 2 show more of them where the siblings had been already, the third one being a new one. I was sure that we will end up there sooner or later - but to happen in the same book was a bit of sloppy writing - and the clue was not even connected to the reasons why the city was mentioned in this conversation. Not to mention that major dependency of the plot on the ability of someone boarding an international flight with tickets in someone else's name - all passports are always checked during boarding and the book had been written at a time when everyone was even stricter than now about that.

On the other hand, we learned more of the family history and how the hunt for the clues started, we learn more about what the other members of the family know (and the fact that they know some of the clues, including the one that was found here) and we get a bit of a history lesson about Japan (using the real Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his actions and putting them through the prism of the Cahills of course) and Korea.

Add to that the usual appearances of the cartoonish Holts (I am not really sure why they are kept on that level...), the Kabra siblings (which make Amy and Dan look even better than usual), Irina Spasky (who continues to be a blank image with checkmarks on it (KGB? Check. Female? Check. Russian? Check) and Alastair Oh who seems to have changed his mind about things - at least for now. New alliances and new betrayals add more the complicated mess that is the Cahill family tree. And we finally find out who the Main in Black works for. And the obligatory explosion of course - we cannot have a book with no explosion, right?

One of the strengths of the story remain the real history element - even an adult can learn new things from the books - I spent half the evening after finishing the book reading about Toyotomi Hideyoshi. But I do hope that the writing picks up.

Off to Egypt in the next adventure. show less

1. What is that accent he's doing for Nellie? It sounds a little like Zsa Zsa Gabor, but isn't Nellie American? It's fun, but it makes no sense.

2. I cannot believe Amy and Ian are falling in love. THEY ARE COUSINS. Distant cousins, sure, and I know it's tough to write a long series without romantic intrigue, but come on. Can't you introduce a character that is not a relative?

3. It felt like it was over before it began, but I didn't like it very much, so that might be a positive.

{My Thoughts} – Amy, Dan and Nellie are on the go again. This time they are on their way to Japan following yet the latest clue they have discovered in the fast pace hunt of the 39 Clues. They have a bit of a problem at the airport where Nellie ends up leaving them behind because of a random check that had pulled them out of their line and prevented them from boarding the plane without them, A lot of chaos happens once the plane finally leaves without them on it. Then end up rushing out of the airport and being rescued by none other then Uncle Alistair.

Uncle Alistair then takes Nellie’s place for a remainder of the book. I have to admit a lot of what he says in this book is sort of cryptic and I can’t wait to see what it all show more actual means, in other words I am hoping it will be explained later on in the series. The kids have no choice but to trust him and their adventure officially begins.

At this point it gets super fast pace and really hard to put down. I read it in one sitting. It was that hard to walk away from. I really do enjoy these nice fast reads. I do believe that we learned some rather tasteful information in this book about Amy, Dan and Uncle Alistair. There is always so much packed into such a small amount of pages, that occasionally it leaves you with the expression, omgosh! This book ends with them in Korea! I wish I could do half the traveling these kids are doing!

I believe still that anyone that is a fan of National Treasure the Disney movies will enjoy this series. It is similar but much more vivid I suppose I would say. The imagery that is built with words is incredible! Also on a side note: I truly enjoyed “The Magic School Bus” reference I had run across! It made my day, I always enjoy things that make me think about my childhood! It’s amazing that children today know and love that cartoon as much as I did when I was a child! Way off base here!

To sum it up, this is a wonderful book and I can’t wait until I finish the next one, which by the way is on my bookshelf calling my name! show less

{My Thoughts} – Amy, Dan and Nellie are on the go again. This time they are on their way to Japan following yet the latest clue they have discovered in the fast pace hunt of the 39 Clues. They have a bit of a problem at the airport where Nellie ends up leaving them behind because of a random check that had pulled them out of their line and prevented them from boarding the plane without them, A lot of chaos happens once the plane finally leaves without them on it. Then end up rushing out of the airport and being rescued by none other then Uncle Alistair.

Uncle Alistair then takes Nellie’s place for a remainder of the book. I have to admit a lot of what he says in this book is sort of cryptic and I can’t wait to see what it all show more actual means, in other words I am hoping it will be explained later on in the series. The kids have no choice but to trust him and their adventure officially begins.

At this point it gets super fast pace and really hard to put down. I read it in one sitting. It was that hard to walk away from. I really do enjoy these nice fast reads. I do believe that we learned some rather tasteful information in this book about Amy, Dan and Uncle Alistair. There is always so much packed into such a small amount of pages, that occasionally it leaves you with the expression, omgosh! This book ends with them in Korea! I wish I could do half the traveling these kids are doing!

I believe still that anyone that is a fan of National Treasure the Disney movies will enjoy this series. It is similar but much more vivid I suppose I would say. The imagery that is built with words is incredible! Also on a side note: I truly enjoyed “The Magic School Bus” reference I had run across! It made my day, I always enjoy things that make me think about my childhood! It’s amazing that children today know and love that cartoon as much as I did when I was a child! Way off base here!

To sum it up, this is a wonderful book and I can’t wait until I finish the next one, which by the way is on my bookshelf calling my name! show less