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. ( )

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 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. ( )

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 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.
( )

ALL THE STARS!

This wasn't perfect, but I still loved it heh! ( )

The writing in this book was markedly different from the other books, which I anticipated going in so it didn't bother me as much as it might have otherwise, but I think the biggest thing that bothered me about the book was the Ian/Amy interactions.

The other books had Any noticing how beautiful the Kabra siblings were, but so did everyone else. Amy's sudden crush on Ian - and him returning it - were out of nowhere for me and I actually felt relieved when the Kabra's ended up tricking them again. The romance was jarring and pretty unnecessary all things considered.

Alistair's fake death was very well-written and I liked it a lot, but overall this book was lower quality than the others. ( )