Saturday 28 March 2009

The Sword Thief - 39 Clues Book 3 - Peter Lerangis

The Sword Thief
The 39 Clues - Book 3

Peter Lerangis

Scholastic
ISBN 9780545060431

The pace of this series is really picking up. This book takes place over the span of just a few days at the most. And new alliances have been formed and broken. First Dan and Amy are rescued by their Uncle Alistair Oh. Nellie their au pair is kidnapped by the Kabras siblings. Irina makes a few very brief appearances, and the Holts attempt to use brawn over brains one more time.

This book is the fastest pace of the three so far, starting right at the end of One False Note and racing to a cliffhanger in book 4 Beyo
nd the Grave. In this book we journey from Italy to Japan to Korea. The main historical figure we find out about is the Hiyoshimaru or Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the mystery of his lost treasure.

This book was a bit of a race, from places and events and on and on. It felt rushed compared to the previous two books in the series. It also raced along with less dialogue and less description, the scenes were
not as vivid and the facts were often just revealed. In my opinion this is the weakest of the first three books. This series has fantastic potential, with the combination of 7 authors telling a unified story over 10 books. But this one falls short of what has gone before. We can only hope that book 4 returns to the intensity and power of story portrayed in the first two books The Maze of Bones and One False Note. We can also hope that Lerangis does a better job when his turn comes around again for book 7.

The book does progress the overall story, and we do have a better idea of where the 39 clues are leading us, something to do with Alch
emy. We also find out more of the history of the Cahills including the origin of this branch of the family dating back to the 1500's. The family dates back to Dublin and Gideon and Olivia Cahill. Gideon perished in a fire, a theme we are encountering again and again. We also find out a little more about Thomas and Kate, the founders of two of the modern branches of the Cahill clan. This book is good, just not great like the others in the series. Yet it definitely leaves one desiring book 4.

The 39 Clues:
The Maze of Bones - Book 1 - Rick Riordan
One False Note - Book 2 - Gordon Korman
The Sword Thief - Book 3 - Peter Lerangis
Beyond the Grave - Book 4 - Jude Watson
The Black Circle - Book 5 - Patrick Carman
In Too Deep - Book 6 - Jude Watson
 
The Viper's Nest - Book 7 - Peter Lerangis
The Emperor's Code - Book 8 - Gordon Korman

Storm Warning - Book 9 - Linda Sue Park

 Into the Gauntlet - Book 10 - Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Black Book of Buried Secrets - Rick Riordan
Vespers Rising - Book 12 - Rick Riordan


Card Pack #1 - Books 1-3
Card Pack #2 - Books 4-6
Card Pack #3 - Books 7-9
Rare Card Pack


The 39 Clues Cahills vs. Vespers
The Medusa Plot - Book 1 - Gordon Korman
A King's Ransom - Book 2 - Jude Watson
The Dead of Night - Book 3 - Peter Lerangis
? - Book 4 - Roland Smith
? - Book 5 - Linda Sue Park
? - Book 6 - David Baldacci


The 39 Clues Rapid Fire:
Legacy - Book 1 - Clifford Riley
Ignition - Book 2 - Clifford Riley
Hunted - Book 3 - Clifford Riley
Crushed - Book 4 - Clifford Riley
Turbulence - Book 5 - Clifford Riley
Invasion - Book 6 - Clifford Riley
Fireworks - Book 7 - Clifford Riley


(First published in Imprint 2009-03-27.)

3 comments:

Layton Gals said...

Thank you for putting into words how I feel about book 3. It was good but not as funny as book 1 or as educational as book 1 and 2. My kids are still enjoying them but I hope Rick Riordan will tie up all the lose ends in book 10 because I love his writing style. I also wanted to know if you figured out the clue to the code at the bottom of book 3. We have figured out the 2 for the other books but not the symbols.

Anonymous said...

This Book had less detail and was hard to follow especialy at the end. I hope that Peter Lerangis does better when he comes around again!!! Enjoy the rest of the series.

Anonymous said...

hey Layton the message for book3 is

"Alistar was there the night they died" Book 4 is "The treasure is about Hope" that's the rough message b/c i forgot the actual one. Wat's the code for 1 & 2????