“A companion book to the popular 39 Clues series, The 39 Clues: The Black Book of Buried Secrets is a good bet, not only for the series' most die hard fans, but for those of us seeking some closure to a few of the threads left dangling at the end of The 39 Clues, Book 10: Into the Gauntlet. The book answers some questions, forces us to ask a few new ones, dangles a few new mysteries in our faces and gives us a chance to catch up with several of the series' major players since Gauntlet's end.
Touted as the "ultimate guidebook" to the 39 Clues world, this is also a full color reference book to the fictional Cahill family, their various branches and to the history, famous historical members, founders and current agents of each branch. Information on branch strategies, strengths and strongholds, etc. is nicely laid out and more fun to read than I expected it to be. Author Rick Riordan, who wrote the first book in the 39 Clues series as well as the overall series arc has given us an attractive and interesting series overview that I'm happy to add to my collection even though I consider the "ultimate guidebook" description to be just a bit of a stretch.
The Black Book of Buried Secrets also serves as a bridge to - wouldn't you know it? - a new 39 Clues series set to launch in April, 2011 with The 39 Clues: Vespers Rising, the first volume in The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers. In the new series, the Cahills will have to band together to protect their secrets from the Vespers, another large (and reportedly quite evil) family who have been watching the Cahills for years and are determined to uncover and steal the sources of their power. After Vespers Rising, the series consists of six additional books that will be published between August 2011 and March 2013 from authors Gordon Korman, Jude Watson, Peter Lerangis, Roland Smith, Linda Sue Park and (!!) David Baldacci.
Recommended.
Minor & Totally Personal Quibble: As someone who only read the books and wasn't involved with the website or the cards that were parts of the 39 Clues world, I hadn't come across the photos of the characters before and I have to say, I'm not a real fan of them. I guess I prefer the images my own mind created of Dan & Amy (and everyone else) and that preference made the photos somewhat distracting for me. But, like I said, a minor quibble.
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Mary wrote this review Monday, May 30, 2011.
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