City Spies: Forbidden City (City Spies #3)
James Ponti
Aladdin
Published February 1, 2022
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About Forbidden City
In this third “thrilling” (Kirkus Reviews) installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies help a fellow agent in another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls.
After taking down a mole within their organization, the City Spies are ready for their next mission—once again using their unique skills and ability to infiltrate places adults can’t. The sinister Umbra has their sights set on recruiting a North Korean nuclear physicist by any means necessary, and the City Spies plan to keep an eye on his son by sending Paris to the chess prodigy’s tournaments in Moscow and Beijing.
Meanwhile, Sydney’s embedded as a junior reporter for a teen lifestyle site as she follows the daughter of a British billionaire on tour with the biggest act on her father’s music label to uncover what links both the band and the billionaire have to a recent threat from an old Soviet missile base.
From a daring break-in at one of London’s most exclusive homes to a dangerous undercover mission to a desperate search and rescue operation on the streets of Beijing, the City Spies have their work cut out for them on their most dangerous mission yet.
My Review
This series has really hit a good stride. This installment centers around Paris and Sydney, though the other characters play important roles, too. I especially loved the scenes with Kat in them.
The series isn’t always perfectly believable, but that doesn’t detract from the fun. I love that the approach is that kid spies would have access to people and places and trigger less suspicion than adult operatives. It’s a really fun idea, and the author uses that in some clever ways.
The books have a large cast of characters, but I like that each mission features different ones. That kind of changes things up a bit. They also have very unique roles within the team, making them best suited to certain situations. That’s been a lot of fun.
The story also takes readers to some interesting places. In this book, readers visit both Russia and China for chess tournaments. The chess component was interesting —I enjoyed learning how moves are recorded and getting some tidbits about different playing strategies.
I feel like I read this one really fast. The pacing made the story impossible to put down at some points. And the characters are so engaging. I’m a huge fan of the series. Definitely going to read more.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
None.
Spiritual Content
None.
Violent Content
Situations of peril. Adults with nefarious intentions chase kids. Agents of a shadowy group steal nuclear warheads.
Drug Content
None.
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