¡Salvar el mundo es una misión para jóvenes!

En sus tres años con el MI6, Sídney ya se ha colgado de un acantilado, ha atravesado la superficie de un estanque congelado, se ha quemado las cejas en más de una ocasión y ha corrido por el techo de un tren de pasajeros que se movía a toda velocidad mientras cargaba un explosivo elaborado por ella. Una vez incluso esquivó a la policía secreta escondiéndose en las alcantarillas.

Pero de entre todas las dificultades y peligros, para Sídney lo peor es el hecho de no poder contárselo a nadie. Los trenes, las cejas, las alcantarillas… Todo es confidencial. Solo el equipo puede saber todo lo que han hecho. Nadie más.

I greatly enjoyed being with these characters again!

I thought from the title and some of the early part of the story that most of the events would take place in San Francisco.

Most of the book’s story takes place in the UK though, in Scotland and in England and some on a ship off remote Scotland. The story doesn’t get to San Francisco until page 303 of page 421 but the characters do visit a lot of places in San Francisco and the San Francisco area, including Chinatown, Muir Woods (done badly since now reservations are required and they’re hard to get and only for far in advance), Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate Park Botanical Gardens (yes they make an appearance but no murder takes place there), Alcatraz, and Fort Point. They are all well-known locations to locals and most are popular tourist attractions and some have been location settings in movies.

In the first book we learn how Brooklyn and Paris and Sydney joined the team and spend small amounts of time in those cities, Brooklyn New York, Paris France, and Sydney Australia, though most of the book takes place in Paris and in Scotland. In this second book we learn about how Kat joined the team and readers spend a small amount of time in the city where she was found (Kathmandu, Nepal). I’m hoping in the next book we’ll see how Rio was recruited (in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil).

The writing is excellent but I did find a very few mistakes. On one page it says Brooklyn and Paris when it should say Brooklyn and Sydney. I also found a couple of typos but otherwise all looked fine to me.

I love this series. It would have been a favorite of mine when I was 9-12, but in the first book and this book I am deducting a half star because of the name “Mother” as I don’t think I could ever get fully used to it so 4-1/2 stars. There was one character who made an appearance at the very end of the book and at first I didn’t like that he had a part, but then what did happen at the end I loved and I’m thinking that book 3 might be even better than the first 2 because of it. Big spoiler: Both because maybe just maybe the name Mother will be retired and also because now they will be a real family. I love that. I also appreciate that this change is taking place after just 2 books in the series.

Fun! Entertaining! Exciting! Suspenseful! Heartwarming! Funny! Yes, the reader has to suspend disbelief quite a bit but enough about the people and their relationships feels genuine and believable. I do care about these people and that makes the books a pleasure to read.

Great book and great series for both boys and girls and for reluctant readers. Good for independent readers and reading aloud one on one to with groups.

I’m not wild about the narrator for these books. People’s voices, especially their vocal tones, expressiveness, just the way most of their voices sound seem off somehow and too many of them sound too much like one another, even with the different accents, at least to me. Whenever I can concentrate without audio accompaniment I think I prefer to read just the e-or paper edition for the books in this series. I notice that this is one of 3 series this author has. So far they all have 3 books. I don’t know if they’re trilogies or if they’re works in progress. I do hope that there will be more than 1 more book in this series. I’m hoping to read book 3 as soon as possible. ( )

A fun, action story about teenage spies for MI-6, who live together on a remote island with a research institute and a clandestine supercomputer. The team is managed by Monty (a woman) and Mother (a man), and opens with two of the teenage girls on a oceanographic school trip sent to protect two British VIPs. When the ship is hijacked, one hides the girls and calls for help, while the other is conveniently diving and finds/repurposes a limpet mine. Hailed as heroes, there is animosity towards Brooklyn, the newest member who seems to be getting special treatment. When one of the VIP's mother, a member of Parliament, starts an investigation as to why the children were not protected by MI-6, the City Spies team has to lie under oath to protect their anonymity. When a picture arrives of Mother's estranged children, the team jumps in to help him, which gets intertwined with finding the identity of a mole in MI-6.

Note: The overall ratings for this book are grossly misleading as there are 251 1s and 2s, without a single review substantiating these poor ratings. ( )