Book Review: The 39 Clues Book 1 - The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is a family favorite at my house. So when I heard he was writing the first book in Scholastic’s new The 39 Clues series, I pre-ordered it and looked forward to it with anticipation.

The series has a neat conceit: an aging family member with a fortune so vast that no one truly knows what the family owns dies and leaves a will. The surviving relatives, which makes up four different branches of the family, are challenged to find the true secret of the family in order to receive the bulk of the estate. Anyone not wanting to participate can immediately claim two million dollars to walk away. Those that decide to stay will receive nothing unless they win the contest.

Most of the survivors are tempted and accept the millions. However, our two young heroes -- Amy and Dan Cahill -- go against the wishes of their obnoxious and greedy aunt and decide to try to solve the puzzle. Amy is something of an information geek, and Dan has mutant powers when it comes to numbers. Both of these special “gifts” are played to the hilt during the book.

Amy and Dan are also orphans. Their parents died tragically and they were placed in the custody of their aunt. The aunt has always passed on the responsibility of their care and well-being (she doesn’t even live with them) in au pairs. Their latest au pair is a Goth girl named Nellie who isn’t much older than them but is old enough to drive. Common sense is still far in Nellie’s future.

The setup of the novel feels very familiar, kind of a cross of Survivor, The Amazing Race, and a fistful of History Channel specials all thrown together. There is nothing truly original about the idea or Riordan’s handling of the characters or material. I can see what attracted him to the book (and to the job of outlining all 10 novels in the series), but I still felt like something was missing from the overall book. I love his Percy Jackson stuff, and I enjoyed the Tres Nevarre mystery series he did before that.

Article Author: Mel Odom

Mel Odom is the author of over 100 novels. Winner of the American Library Association's Alex Award for 2002 and runner-up for the Christy in 2005, he's written in several genres, including tie-in novels for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and novelizations of Blade, XXX, and Tomb Raider. …

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