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.


Jonah? Really? Honestly I feel sorry for the rest of the kids in the hunt - they all have horrible evil parents. Not exactly setting a great example there. At least Jonah does try to redeem himself - although how much remains to be seen.
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This book is a decent read but there are so many inaccuracies that I found it hard to stay with the plot. For instance the Chinese city of Xi'an is misspelled as it must have an apostrophe because it is two characters. The poem on p27 supposedly written in 1932 is in simplified Chinese whereas Puyi would have used Traditional Complex characters and a couple of the characters are mutts combining both. The helicopter mentioned near the end is based on a real event but the Frenchman in question used a stock machine and flew to the top of Everest from Nepal, not China. Aside from this it's a fast ride through several of China's most famous places. ( )

Children series fiction; action/mystery. Book 8 of the series. Gordon Korman delivers alright, but a couple of the passages could've used polishing. After finishing 1-7 I didn't think I wanted to bother with 8, 9, 10, but after finishing 8, I want to read 9. ( )

Amy and Dan Cahill are continuing their hunt for the 39 Clues and this story carries them into the world of Chinese history. Love the intrigue and the sibling love! ( )

One belief has sustained fourteen-year-old Amy Cahill and her younger brother, Dan, on their hunt for the 39 Clues: They are the good guys. But then a shocking discovery about their parents shatters everything Amy and Dan think they know, dividing the two siblings for the first time ever. When Dan disappears in a country of more than a billion people, Amy has to make a terrible choice - find the next Clue . . . or find her younger brother. ( )