Wednesday, October 20, 2021

This Series Just Keeps Getting Better

 City Spies: Forbidden City

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.

 

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