Book Review #23: City Spies: Forbidden City by James Ponti

     City Spies is an amazing series in my opinion. The characters are relatable, the plot keeps me entertained, and the facts are interesting. At no point did I want to shut the book and open a different one. I mean seriously, this whole series was a hit in my books. However, with this book is probably my least favorite of the five in the series. It wasn't really a letdown, it's certainly better than some of my previous reads, but it was harder to remember than many other of the books. I think this is because it takes place in one place for the first half and then the reader is brought to a new country for the last bit. I mean, it was great, it had good characters, it set up those characters really well, but I kind of forget what happened at the end. It also may be the fact that they had three stories going that were only connected by a small thread, though it made sense to be separate it made it easy to mix up with several other parts.

    Don't get me wrong, I loved the book, I loved the characters and I think everyone should read this to understand and get ready for the next book in the series, but it just isn't as good as the others. To be completely honest, I remember enjoying it but I don't know exactly why. I remember bits and pieces, like the chess tournament, which I love chess so I get why I enjoyed that bit, and it was one of the character's birthdays But though those are likely important bits, they aren't the full book.

    Overall book rating: 8/10