| The Maze of Bones | |
|---|---|
The Maze of Bones |
|
| Author(s) | Rick Riordan |
| Country | United States United Kingdom Canada Israel |
| Language | English, Hebrew |
| Series | The 39 Clues |
| Genre(s) | Children's novel Adventure novel Mystery |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
| Publication date | September 9, 2008 |
The Maze of Bones was published by Scholastic on September 9, 2008.[1] The story arc of the series has been established by Riordan, but a collaboration of six other authors will continue to write the story through the next nine books.
Contents |
Many of the well-known names in history are said to be part of the real-life Cahill family, making it "the most powerful family in the world." They currently live in Boston, Massachusetts in a glorious mansion called The Cahill Ranch. Names such as Marie Curie, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Napoleon Bonaparte were all in one of the four family branches—the power-hungry Lucians, the strong and sporty Tomas, the inventive Ekaterinas, and the creative Janus. Dan and Amy are also warned to "beware the Madrigals," but what the Madrigals are is not revealed in this novel. While most of the characters in the book know which branch they belong to, the main characters do not.
Amy and Dan Cahill, the protagonists of the novel (who are their grandmother Grace's favorite grandchildren), attend Grace's funeral after her death. A choice is given to a select number of heirs: to find the 39 Clues, which will make the winner the "most powerful and influential person(s) on the planet", or to take a million dollars and walk away. Amy and Dan decide to accept the challenge. Their guardian, Aunt Beatrice, disowns them, and they receive the first Clue.
The first clue puzzles all of the competitors, and prompts Amy and Dan to check in the library for a man named Richard S-. They discover that Richard Saunders, the name they were looking for, is actually Benjamin Franklin—who was a Cahill. Amy and Dan, along with their friendly uncle, Alistair Oh, find an almanac by Franklin, which their relatives, like Alistair's father, Gordon Oh, and Dan and Amy's mother, Hope Cahill, have written in. Soon they realize there is a fire in the mansion, which ultimately burns it down. Alistair escapes with Poor Richard's Almanack and Dan and Amy are left with nothing but their grandmother's cat, Saladin, whom Dan rescued in their escape, and their grandmother's jewelry box.
They realize in order to travel to different places they will need adult supervision, so they enlist their au pair, Nellie Gomez, to accompany them on their journey. The Cahills find a lead in Philadelphia, prompting them to travel to Paris, France, where they learn more about Ben Franklin and their family.
After turning down a proposal from fellow competitor Jonah Wizard, whom they met after arriving in Paris, they follow Irina Spasky, who, due to a theft chain, now has the almanac. Irina lured them into a trap on an island, but they were later saved unpredictably by the Holts, a family who is also after the Clues. After their escape, Amy and Dan told Nellie all about the 39 Clues, and Nellie decides to help them.
With their information, the Cahills go to the Paris Catacombs. They find some bones which have numbers on them: a magic box number game, planted there by Franklin to give the coordinates to the next Clue. This leads them to a church where they find a room with a mural of the four original Cahills, after who the four Cahill branches are named.
Inside a vase is a small vial, with scrambled words on it. Dan solves the anagram, and they resolve to insert the vial into a lightning rod—one of Franklin's inventions—to charge it. Amy trades the vial with the enemy Kabras for an antidote for the supposedly poisoned Dan. Even though the Kabras stole the vial, Dan still has the important paper containing what they need, and solves the puzzle on the first clue they were given: iron solute. Amy's Internet searches for Franklin also have led them to the probable location of the second Clue: Vienna, Austria, the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The major themes of the novel are talent and power.[3] The historical members of the Cahill family are all talented. Each branch has specific talents in a certain area; for example the Ekaterina branch is talented in the area of technology. The members of each teams in the family are obviously talented or have some other edge and yet Amy and Dan are viewed as the main threats. Over the course of the book Amy and Dan discover their own unique talents.[3] The premise of the series is that the person to find the solution to the clues will come into an inordinate amount of power.[4]
The Maze of Bones met with a generally positive reviews and spawned optimism for the rest of the series. It entered the Children's Books New York Times Best Seller list at number one on September 28, 2008[5] and stayed on the list for children's chapter books for 24 weeks.[6] Publishers Weekly said it "mixes just the right proportions of suspense, perils, and puzzles" and that it was a "rollicking good read", while noting that "the story does not end so much as drop off a cliff."[7] School Library Journal said that "the book dazzles" and "stands solidly on its own feet and will satisfy while whetting appetites for more."[7] Mary Quattlebaum, writing for the Washington Post, said that "though the villainous relatives are rather flat, the historical tidbits and fast-moving plot will engage readers".[8] Austin Grossman, writing for The New York Times, gave a generally mixed review, saying the premise for the series was "dramatic and instantly engaging", although he commented that Amy and Dan were "agreeably flawed characters but have an undeniably focus-grouped, manufactured quality — as does, let’s face it, the whole book". He also found the supporting characters to be made up of stereotypes and the writing "carefully bland, as if it didn’t trust its readers enough".[9]
| Preceded by None |
The 39 Clues Series Book 1 |
Succeeded by One False Note by Gordon Korman |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||