By James Ponti
Publisher: Aladdin (February 1, 2022)
Language: English
Hardcover: 448 pages
ISBN-10: 153447921X
ISBN-13: 978-1534479210
Reading age: 8 - 12 years
Grade level: 3 - 7
Publisher’s Blurb:
After
taking down a mole within their organization, the City Spies are ready for
their next mission—once again using their unique skills and ability to
infiltrate places adults can’t. The sinister Umbra has their sights set on
recruiting a North Korean nuclear physicist by any means necessary, and the
City Spies plan to keep an eye on his son by sending Paris to the chess
prodigy’s tournaments in Moscow and Beijing.
Meanwhile, Sydney’s embedded as a junior reporter
for a teen lifestyle site as she follows the daughter of a British billionaire
on tour with the biggest act on her father’s music label to uncover what links
both the band and the billionaire have to a recent threat from an old Soviet
missile base.
From a daring break-in at one of London’s most
exclusive homes to a dangerous undercover mission to a desperate search and
rescue operation on the streets of Beijing, the City Spies have their work cut
out for them on their most dangerous mission yet.
My Thoughts:
I reviewed the first two books of this series
here: https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2020/12/i-spysome-great-books-for-tweens-and.html
Once again, James Ponti has written a spy novel
that just happens to be for kids, but the plot could easily be found in the
adult spy world. There are codes to break, secret messages to send, and nuclear
weapons to recover—and it’s up to a bunch of teenagers to keep the world safe
from super-secret espionage group Umbra.
Even though I am not the target market, I
thoroughly enjoyed this third installment in the City Spies series. The
plotting is tight, the secrets hinted at, though not enough to be a dead
giveaway. I almost managed to crack the color code, although I was
thinking like a yearbook teacher and not like a computer whiz.
My 14-year-old read the book in a day. Her
favorite parts (spoiler-free) are: Santa Claus, pyrotechnics, and chess
notation.
The chess notation part was particularly
clever. As a parental, adult-type person, I particularly enjoyed the parts
where Mother gets the opportunity to be a father to the City Spies.
It is also fun to travel to new countries with
the City Spies, and get a little lesson on other cultures. Mr. Ponti’s website
has features on each country, with photos and video from his research visits.
I’m so glad to know from his Twitter that Mr. Ponti is at work on the next book. I hope they keep going for a long, long time.
Possible objectionable
material:
These teenagers are international spies. Naturally, they get in some dangerous situations. They also have to lie to people as part of their job.
Who might like this book:
People who love spy stories. People who enjoy humor. Those who like stories about teens. Either gender—both are well represented in this book. This book was very readable for me as an adult, with strong adult characters.
Thank you to the publisher
and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion.
