Funny,action packed a good book ! Leringis did a amazing job on the 39 clues. I hope he writes another.

The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis wasn't as action packed or nearly as enjoyable as the first two books. All of my favourite things about the series was missing. There is no mythology or history really revealed in this book like there was in the first two. It feels like Lerangis is trying to hard to be cool and funny, but he wasn't either. Dan and Amy are smart, funny and clever kids. Lerangis just didn't capture that. Instead Dan is super geeky and kind of a brat. I also found that Lerangis just was not as good at writing female characters. The kids' au pair, Nellie, was absent for most of the book but when she did appear she was kind of ditzy. Amy is normally the character to give the most insight and she was left rather clueless and blinded by a crush. This is really disappointing to me because I really was drawn to Amy and Dad because they are both strong character. If they were real I feel like we would be great friends, but I wouldn't want to hang out Amy and Dan as portrayed in this book .

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 Beyond 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 Alchemy. 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.

Yet another delightful effort in the 39 Clues series. I love the fun and adventure this series has, but I was rather disappointed with this effort. The book is very short, about half the size of the other two, and felt somewhat disjointed. Maybe having each installment of the series written by a different author is finally catching with it. Amy and Dan are back, as is the rest of the crazy family. This time Allastaire Oh seems to be on their side and definitely helps them out in the nick of time, but one can't help but wonder about his strange past... The swords Dan and Amy found at the end of the last book seem to hold the next clue. But to what? This book finally tells us what all the Cahills are after, and believe me, I was really expecting something else. Good fun, but definitely not the best effort in the series.