International espionage. Hidden cities. Man-eating rats. Rogue girl scouts. Welcome to the world of the mysterious Kiki Strike. If you're looking for a book with mystery and adventure, or just one where girls kick a little butt, Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City is not to be missed.
Ananka doesn't fit in with the rich social-climbing girls at her private school and she doesn't get good grades like the scholarship students, in spite of her vast knowledge of seemingly pointless information gleaned from the textbooks of her scholarly parents. On the whole, she considers herself to be pretty unimpressive, but then her inquisitive nature attracts the attention of fellow student Kiki Strike. Suddenly Ananka finds herself joining Kiki's band of above-average, slightly delinquent girl scouts: 12-year-old girls with geniuses for disguise, forgery, invention and chemical explosives. Kiki's plan is to pool the group's collective talents to make a map of the maze-like Shadow City, a secret city built and inhabited by criminals and hidden underneath New York City, where it has been abandoned and forgotten for the past 100 years. But why does Kiki need a map of the Shadow City in the first place? Can she be trusted?
This first book of the Kiki Strike series boasts well-written characters, surprise twists, page-turning excitement, and loads of practical, spy-related advice from Ananka, on everything from lying to the FBI to what to do the next time you get kidnapped. With the second book now published and more on the way, Kiki Strike is a great new series to curl up with over the Christmas holidays.
| Categories: Reviews, Staff Pick |
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