The 39 Clues series of novels are so awesome you'll be indulge in the tale of some kids saving the world faster than you imagined. I became introduced with The 39 Clues when I was reading information about Rick Riordan being fascinated about him. So, I got the idea that he wrote the first book of the series and also outlined the whole story.
At my first glance, I liked the design of the cover and the logo of the series. Then I looked up at Scholastic website for more and found that there are many books related to The 39 Clues. I liked all the covers which were some smashing moments. Then, I started reading the first arc of the story is named 'The Clue Hunt' with eleven books in whole.
Anyway, let's get to the main points. Before that, I've read this books ages ago, so I might get somethings wrong; so don't get fed up with me. I tried to get as much reminder as possible from the Wikipedia page. And, of course a small tag:
WARNING: This article contains some/major spoilers. Please read 'all' the books before reading the article. If you've already read it, I welcome you... Or if you don't, then see if you're interested in this franchise.
Part 1: Origin & Theme
It is very important to tell the origin before we start the whole thing. Rick Riordan was said to write the first book by Scholastic, whom came up with the idea of an interactive series with online games. Rick Riordan agreed because he thought it was a good idea, and as a middle school teacher he loved making history enjoyable for young readers. Rick also outlined the The 39 Clues series.
The theme of this book is mainly adventure, but it also signifies the genre of historical fiction - and we understand that from the above paragraph. It also shows us the relationship between talent and success. We also learn about conflicts and emotions that young persons often find among themselves.
Part 2: Main Books
Phase 1: The Clue Hunt
The Clue Hunt contains eleven books and the arc with largest number of books: The Maze of Bones, One False Note, The Sword Thief, Beyond the Grave, The Black Circle, In Too Deep, The Viper's Nest, The Emperor's Code, The Storm Warning, Into the Gauntlet and Vespers Rising.
Though the main story of this arc ends in Into the Gauntlet, the string the connects the next arc is set up in Vespers Rising which was written by Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korma and Jude Watson.
The story started with the death of Grace Cahill who in her final will gave choice to some special members of her family to find out a powerful thing that'd make him/her the most powerful in the world, or to take a small amount of money and leave. Many members of the 'extended' family took the money and left, but some stayed. Amy and Dan, the grandchildren of Grace were among the special members too. But they didn't go away though they were in conflicting position.
The book goes on with Amy and Dan choosing to hunt for clues as they reminded themselves that their grandmother would've wanted it. But Amy and Dan couldn't understand in how dangerous situation they fell in the moment they took their decision. The first attack came after the Cahill Mansion in Attleboro was set on fire. Amy and Dan barely made it out, but found a hidden clue in the library.
The adversaries in the whole hunt are: the Holts (Tomas), Alistair Oh (Ekaterina), the Kabras (Lucian), Irina Spasky (Lucian), Jonah Wizard (Janus), the Starling Triplets (Ekaterina). You're probably wondering what does the names in the brackets mean; well you need to find that out in the complex history of the family. Why we haven't told the branch of Amy and Dan? Because they don't know in which branch they belongs to (though they find out later), but they're simply a Cahill like their adversaries are (though they don't use the same name).
The main point is, the above mentioned persons/families have vast resources and are much more experienced in the clue hunt. So, Amy and Dan have to use their wits to win the hunt. And as the hunt goes, they gradually understands that the hunt for the clues could save or topple the world judging by the person on whose hands it falls.
And please don't read the next parts if you haven't read the book that are in the first arc.
Phase 2: Cahills Vs. Vespers
This whole series and the sequel to the first arc has only six books: The Medusa Plot, A King's Ransom, The Dead of Night, Shatterproof, Trust No One and Day of Doom. This whole series starts with introduction before from Vespers Rising in the first series. Anyway, now all the clue hunters are united after the end of it.
They were in good situation, when many Cahills were kidnapped by a secret organization ruled by Vespers who are the sword enemy of the Cahills from the time of Gideon Cahill. Amy and Dan were called as they are the leaders, to save the victims. But Amy and Dan finds themselves following each and every orders of the Vesper One to save their family.
And soon, the ring of Gideon Cahill also faces threat along with the fact that Amy and Dan feels there's something much more worse going on. You can also find Jake and Atticus, two Rosenblooms. Like the first arc, this series is filled with betrayal, emotion, strength and more labels.
Phase 3: Unstoppable
The Cahills, especially Amy and Dan falls in danger trying to save them from a business tycoon called J. Rutherford Pierce who somehow takes the formula of the ultimate serum which was made by Gideon Cahill many years ago. Amy and Dan are now hunted without mercy with super-upgraded goons send by Pierce.
Now, Amy and Dan with the help of other fellow Cahills will need to save the world once more by stopping Pierce and taking away the serum along with degrading the serum's powers. This series is also filled with confusing relationships, emotions and more...
This series contains four books: Nowhere to Run, Breakaway, Countdown and Flashpoint.
Part 4: Doublecross
Ian Kabra, the present leader of the Cahills after accepting the leadership from Amy, was kicked out of the Attleboro mention by some of the Cahills including his father. Ian meets Amy and Dan, and asks for help.
Ian says about a person who calls himself Outcast and challenged Ian to stop four of history's greatest disasters which he'll re-create. Amy and Dan goes on to help along with some other fellow Cahills, but now with less resource because of the lacking of Attleboro or family influence. Meanwhile, Nellie and Sammy goes on to find some other facts.
This time the enemy is somehow near to the Cahills or especially Amy and Dan. Amy and Dan discovers some horrible truths about her family. The same emotional events, and many breaks and falls occurs in this books.
This series has also four books: Mission Titanic, Mission Hindenburg, Mission Hurricane and Mission Atomic. Don't start to guess the disasters by the name of the books, because I was wrong when I did that. Maybe you can find something similar with the title, but still there will be major difference in both.
Phase 5: Superspecial
This is the fifth and final series in The 39 Clues franchise. It only consists of one standalone novel: Outbreak.
This book starts with the Cahills saving the world. Now the Cahill leadership is on Dan following the democratic system of spinning Amy establishes realizing her grandmother's situation which we find in the last series. Anyway, the Cahills are asked or help when Sinead is seen to steal some serum that can cause outbreak. Anyway, the outbreak starts in Cuba where Amy and Dan goes to investigate.
This is the first and only series where Amy and Dan aren't the hunted, they're now hunters. Amy and Dan have to save the world again from future destruction of the biological weapon that would flare from Cuba to all over America, and then to the whole planet.
Part 3: Companion Books
Series 1: Cahill Files
The whole franchise is so much rich that you can possibly finish the it soon even if you try hard. There is Cahill Files series with seven books. You can find them as authored by Clifford Riley which is a pseudonym for the Scholastic editorial team. These short stories makes the whole franchise more strong. And those will be fun too. And Midnight Ride is only available Google Books. You can read three stories in one volume in Spymasters.
Series 2: Rapid Fire
There is another short stories' series called Rapid Fire which are authored by the same name - Clifford Riley. This series has seven stories too which connects the first arc, The Clue Hunt with Cahills Vs. Vespers. Though you won't find any correct sign of these stories in the main book, but these books helps to make the plot of the next book more connected and stronger for the readers to feel.
Most of the books in both series are released as e-books in various platforms. Some are recently published in printed copy too, but most of them are available in e-book format. And I will talk about the covers of the Rapid Fire series in the next part.
Part 4: The Games
Scholastic has released online games for this whole franchise. These books comes with cards that will help you unlock clues (for first series) or unlock new missions (for all the series except the first). You can also find lively characters briefing you. Look at the article art. There are Dan Cahill, Amy Cahill and Alistair Oh.
As I've said you earlier, I will tell you about the covers of the Rapid Fire short stories' series in this part. Why? Because if you carefully see, the covers of the series features some persons on it and those persons are mostly similar to that of the games.
So, this game is quite different and a perfect one for the book lovers plus game lovers too. I actually haven't palyed it yet, though I've registered. I will try to play and let you know via any way how I feel about the game. From the glimpses I got, I guess these games will be quite fantastic.
Part 5: Analyzing Topics
Topic 1: The Cahill Complex
These whole franchise focuses on the complex Cahill matters. The Cahill family is so big and full of history that the first four franchise was mostly dedicated to fill up the complexity of the family. We also find some solution of the complexity and also proof that how complex the family is.
This plot building was great and were kept in touch with the plot of all other series too. I enjoyed the whole franchise and also loved the whole Cahill family business. Sometimes your family is your supporter and sometimes your family is your mortal enemy.
Topic 2: Power & People
Here how to take people over power is shown quite nicely. And how power may manipulate a person is also shown quite nicely, and of course consequence of this act is also shown. Here, we can give example of Grace Cahill. Again, how power can change a person's perspective is also shown perfectly. We can give example Ian Kabra and Cara Pierce in this case.
In brief, the readers can know that we need to take the interest of people over power.
Topic 3: Talent & Success
Using talent in perfect way and where necessary is important. Here, the Cahills used talents in various things which includes large projects. In this case, Amy and Dan didn't have any particular type of talent for any particular subject like each of the branches have, but they utilizes their own talent and finds success.
Like, Dan has his own talent of photographic memory which gives these Cahill kids some chances against their powerful adversaries. Amy has her brain full of knowledge related to books and stuffs. Again, in the next couple of phases you also see her leadership qualities.
Topic 4: Knots of Mysteries
These whole franchise is filled with mysteries that will blow your mind. Each books contains various points that will connect to an ultimate dot, making the dot meaningful. The mysteries play an important role to keep the book alive and make it a fun thing to read for readers.
Topic 5: Learning Leadership
One of the most important thing to learn from The 39 Clues, is the leadership qualities it teaches. Mainly it teaches through Amy and her POV. It also teaches us all about leadership via Ian Kabra in Mission Titanic. We understand why Amy gives away the leadership to Ian, and again why Ian gives it back. We also understand how power can manipulate a good person and their decisions. Maybe the decisions are small, but it can put big affect in the future.
In brief, these whole franchise focuses on leadership and it's qualities a lot. We learn the stress it can bring through Amy's POV about thinking of others and decision making. We also learn how good decision can yield better.
Topic 6: Friendship & Loyalty
The friendship is seen very much in the last four series. You can also find friendship between Amy, Dan and Nellie in the first series. Then you can find the friendship among Amy, Dan, Jake, Atticus, Nellie and more in the second series. The strong bond and friendship among all of them is seen in the third and fourth series too, where they comes up to help one another.
Loyalty is a very important issue that we see in a big picture in all the series of the franchise. You can see how each builds trust and breaks them continuously. But you can also see how Amy and Dan believes them though they're their extended family members. Maybe their family members aren't responding, but they tried that absolutely from their side.
Topic 7: Mental Conflicts
We see this thing among teenagers a lot. This is how they can reflect themselves to these stories. They can see how the mental conflict of a character is portrayed and of course influences a lot of their decisions. These whole franchise were written by authors who experienced this time and they've written the feelings of the characters bringing from their own experience a lot.
You can also see some moments of real-time emotions. Like the death of Irina Spasky and how Amy and Dan deals with it. Or like the death of Vesper Two for her children and how true we see that in the real world, even for a dangerous villain. The emotions are very touching and influencing for our life.
Topic 8: Geographical Diversity
In the whole franchise, the Cahills visit various countries and regions in order to collect clues or other purposes. They've visited France, Austria, Italy and so on.... Readers can visit these places with their imagination and know a whole lot of stuff about those places. This geographical diversity makes it more like a international franchise or you can say kind of related to Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne.
Topic 9: Historical Fun
The historical lessons you learn in school cannot withstand the historical fun you'll get from these schools. Those who don't like history or wish history could've been easier while watching a shooting star, will definitely want more of this stuffs. The authors of this franchise didn't only play with the history, they made it easier for readers to learn.
You can get glimpses or even a full-view of the backdrops that aren't often highlighted while talking about history. You can also imagine how weird things can get with historical things and how rich the world history is. From last topic, we know that the Cahills visits a lot of places around the world. Now, it is also historical diversity accompanied with geographical diversity.
Topic 10: Science & Logic
The books in these series brings logic before you in such a way that you'd be ready to compare it with Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. There is the mixed descriptions with logic and science that will blow you mind. You can also know weird science stuffs that you haven't known before. So, I can tell this books are absolutely an abode for all the science geeks and logical nerds.
Topic 11: There are More!
There are more topics that is seen in these books, that I couldn't finish writing. I can only say, I enjoyed this franchise and loved the books. And I hope you'll love them too. Maybe this these books can help you when your time is tough. These books aren't actually novels and fictions, they are reflected from the lives of real people.
NOTE: I have tried to put as much information as possible for you to make you interested for reading the franchise. I don't know how much I am successful, but if you've already finished reading the franchise and understood what I said, I can thank you a lot. Those who haven't read, if I can make you interested in these books, I can say I am successful. I've tried to punch as much as teasing information as possible for each of the phases. Hope you like it. If you have anything to ask or say, just comment below. More articles about books will come; so stick around and check my Instagram for updates.
DISCLAIMER: All The 39 Clues resources, characters, names, logos and contents are copyright owned by © Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, THE 39 CLUES, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. Illustration is by Md. Iman Anwar with the background photo from @halgatewood.
KNOW ME: Instagram ║ LinkedIn ║ Iman Notes
RECOMMENDED SITES: The 39 Clues ║ Rick Riordan ║ Scholastic Home Base
LIST OF WRITERS & BOOKS IN THE 39 CLUES
Phase 1: The Clue Hunt
The Maze of Bones - Rick Riordan ║ One False Note - Gordon Korman ║ The Sword Thief - Peter Lerangis ║ Beyond the Grave - Jude Watson ║ The Black Circle - Patrick Carman ║ In Too Deep - Jude Watson ║ The Viper's Nest - Peter Lerangis ║ The Emperor's Code - Gordon Korman ║ Storm Warning - Linda Sue Park ║ Into the Gauntlet - Margaret Peterson Haddix ║ Vespers Rising - Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson
Phase 2: Cahills Vs. Vespers
The Medusa Plot - Gordon Korman ║ A King's Ransom - Jude Watson ║ The Dead of Night - Peter Lerangis ║ Shatterproof - Roland Smith ║ Trust No One - Linda Sue Park ║ Day of Doom - David Baldacci
Phase 3: Unstoppable
Nowhere to Run - Jude Watson ║ Breakaway - Jeff Hirsch ║ Countdown - Natalie Standiford ║ Flashpoint - Gordon Korman
Phase 4: Doublecross
Mission Titanic - Jude Watson ║ Mission Hindenburg - C. Alexander London ║ Mission Hurricane - Jenny Goebel ║ Mission Atomic - Sarwat Chadda
Phase 5: Superspecial
Outbreak - C. Alexander London
Supplementary Books
The books/e-books are all written by Clifford Riley aka Scholastic editorial team. Here are the author names acknowledged at the end of the books.
Rapid Fire: Legacy - Zachary Clark ║ Ignition - Grace Kendall ║ Hunted - Rebecca Leach ║ Crushed - Christina McTighe ║ Turbulence - Mallory Kass ║ Invasion - Gavin Brown ║ Fireworks - Jackie Reitzes.
Cahill Files: Operation Trinity - Mallory Kass, and Rachel Griffiths ║ The Submarine Job - Christina McTighe ║ The Redcoat Chase - Jackie Reitzes ║ The Houdini Escape - Gavin Brown ║ Silent Night - Christina McTighe
Spymasters - Gavin Brown, Christina McTighe, and Jackie Reitzes [ Contains three stories previously published as e-books (The Submarine Job, The Redcoat Chase, and The Houdini Escape) in one volume]
Midnight Ride - Grace Kendall [Free at Google Play; takes place before The Maze of Bones]
The Black Book of Buried Secrets: This book contains many essential information from The 39 Clues and is called "ultimate guide" by Scholastic. The introduction was by Rick Riordan and the acknowledgement was to Mallory Kass.
Comments
Post a Comment
Comment to Iman Notes