At the behest of my 9 year-old and a good review from another friend I read The 39 Clues. Well, the good part first. I found the historical clues interesting. That being said, Rick Riordan has underwhelmed me again with his abilities to develop characters that I want to root for, or find interesting. The protagonists are being raised by a string of Au Pairs, but mostly left to their own devices since the death of their parents. I found the children grated on my nerves and the antagonists (there are several) were comical and grating in their overblown characterizations. The scavenger hunt that takes place in this book reminds me of the 1979 movie *Scavenger Hunt. During the book I felt like Richard Mulligan's character that kept getting run over as he sought the treasure. In this circumstance I feel like I'm Richard Mulligan and I keep getting run over by Rick Riordan as his unsympathetic characters. A possible silver lining is that there are different authors for the various books. Noah explained this to me when I told him the only character I cared for at all was Nellie, the Au Pair.
Overall, the book is an okay read for the historical information. There, apparently, is hope that the writing will improve in the subsequent books. So, give this one a try. It is a quick read and you don't have to become emotionally invested in any of the characters.
***I would like to note that I do like the movie Scavenger Hunt.
I hope y'all have a great day!
1 comment:
Made me think of the Westing Game. I thought this one was fun but was underwhelmed by the 2nd book. I hear they get better so I might pick the series up again later. The kids are eating it up at my school.
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