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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2631 KP) rated City Spies in Books

Jun 7, 2020

City Spies

James Ponti | 2020 | Children, Mystery

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Meet the City Spies

Sara Martinez is in jail after hacking into New York’s juvenile justice system to turn in her foster parents. She gets the surprise of her life when her lawyer turns out to be a man called Mother, who reveals himself to be a British spy. He whisks Sara away to Scotland where she joins a secret team of MI6 made up of other kids like herself. Sara has joined them just weeks before their next mission – infiltrating an ecological conference to stop a group that is out to sabotage it. Will Sara be far enough along in her training to be an asset to her team? Will they succeed in their mission?

I saw this new series debut recommended by another author I love, and I’m so glad I did. This middle grade book is fast paced. We get plenty of set up, but everything is introduced as part of the story, so it never slows things down. Once the mission begins, the pace picks up even more, and I couldn’t put the book down. Some of the elements are a little over the top, but I just reminded myself this is a spy story and got right back into the book. We don’t get to know all the characters well yet, but we definitely saw some growth in Sara and a few others, and what we saw of them is great. There are some truly heartwarming moments as well as moments that made me laugh. This is a fantastic middle grade book for readers of all ages.

Kudos

Ari Augustine (10 KP) rated Bride of the Water God, Volume 1 in Books

May 4, 2020

It's not often that I read a manga--or, in this case, a manhwa. But after watching the <i>terrible</i> Kdrama and having this recommended to me so many times, I decided to give it a go.

And I loved it.

I think I'm on volume 10 now and I only just started reading yesterday.

That's how much I loved it.

But I suppose I should explain why I enjoyed it so much. Okay. So....probably one of my favorites elements of Bride of the Water God was the world-building here. It doesn't such an incredibly job introducing Korean mythology and the realm of the gods. While it was hard to keep track of all the characters, I really liked learning about Habaek and Soah, and the complicated fate of their relationtship. It IS a little tropey in many ways, but I am so trash for brooding gods with hidden soft hearts and seemingly weak female characters with tempered strength. I didn't think of Soah as strong at first, to be honest, but I do like how her character is built upon in each volume.

And the kindness of her heart. Yes, she's a bit childish and helpless, but I think this also gives her resilience, strength, and emotional perception.

My only annoyance was Nakbin...who is pretty much the Katherina Petrova of this story. And there were times I wish Habaek would JUST GET THE HECK OVER HER and totally admit feels for Soah. But overall, this tension was what kept me turning the pages.