The Accidental Secret Agent by Tom McLaughlin

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 240 

Publisher: Oxford University Press 

Released: 2nd of June 2016 

Schoolboy turns secret agent in this hilarious spy spoof! Before you read this, I want you to carefully check that no-one is reading over your shoulder - go ahead, do it now. First off, that was terrible - really obvious. If I'm going to tell you top secret government information, you're going to have to be a bit more stealthy. Try again. Was anyone looking? No? Right, then I'll begin. This year the secret service made a major mix up, they mistook a 13-year-old boy called Kevin for a secret agent (I know, so much for an 'intelligence' agency). This was the sort of kid that would try and zip wire across a building and end up falling head first into a fountain with his bum on show, so can you imagine what happened when he was allowed access to the amazing sort of spy gadgets that James Bond would use? Despite this, it was up to Kevin to save us all from an evil supervillain. It was the most dangerous, daring mission in the history of the secret service, and also its biggest blunder.

What I Have to Say 

There's something really enjoyable in reading books like this. Books that from the very start are made up of completely wild concepts that make it clear that this isn't something to take more seriously, because the joke is in the very title. It's a hilarious concept to set up the jokes to come. 

I think I liked the sister best. It may be because I'm a girl, but I found it really amusing how she swept in and did a lot of the actual spy work with more competence. Although I enjoyed Kevin stumbling along trying to do these things, I just gained a lot of enjoyment in how good at the spywork his sister actually was. 

This book is definitely a great one for any boy or girl who daydreams about being a spy. The humour is very good and will lead to a very entertaining read. 

My thanks go to Oxford University Press for providing me with this copy for review. 

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 447

Publisher: Egmont Press 

Released: 6th of February 2012

I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two.

We are a sensational team.

What I Have To Say 

You know those books where you get to half way through or something and there are reveals that completely change everything you’ve just read? Code Name Verity is one of those. I want to reread it. Before I had even finished it I wanted to reread it. And I will. I don’t get much time to reread books. There are always new and exciting books to read. But for Code Name Verity, I will definitely make an extra effort.

The characters were also so fun and easy to read. Queenie was one of those characters that is really easy to get to know and love. Maddie took a little longer but that was mostly because I missed Queenie. I wanted to know what had happened to her and I loved her voice so much.

The writing was very believable. It actually felt like reading their diaries, even Queenie being meant  to write down information and getting distracted all the time. She felt believable and lovable.

It’s another book that I just can’t get over how much I love it.

Night School: Fracture by C.J Daugherty

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 400

Publisher: Atom

Released: 20th of August 2013

Other books in the series: Night School ,Legacy

Devastated by the loss of her friend and under constant threat from an unknown spy at Cimmeria Academy, Allie Sheridan is finding it hard to cope.

In Fracture, the third book in the Night School series, she’s not the only one losing it – everything is falling apart. And when Nathaniel begins to reveal his game plan, Isabelle starts to lose control.

As the school slides into a deadly morass of paranoia and suspicion, everyone is guilty until proved innocent. Anyone can be held without proof, and convicted without a trial. No one is safe.

This time Nathaniel doesn’t need to hurt them. This time they’re hurting themselves.

What I Have to Say 

If you haven't gotten into this series yet, seriously you have to go out and buy Night School. Then Legacy. And now Fracture. It just seems to be getting better with each and every book and it was phenomenal with the first book. 

 I loved all the secrecy and espionage in this book. It's been there all along, but I feel it's always been a little downplayed, possibly because they were in the relative safety of the school and felt like they could trust people. But in this book they were working to keep things secret from everyone and I felt it really, really added to the thrill of it all. 

The politics were also a lot more apparent. Again, they've always been there. It's nothing new, but at the same time, it's all surfaced a lot more, especially with Lucinda and Isabelle taking Allie into their confidence a lot more. And it doesn't bog down any of the plot like some political novels would. It's so woven into the thrilling, mysterious and intense nature of the book that it works so perfectly without becoming the least bit dry. 

I still can't forgive Sylvian for what he did in the first book though. I don't think I ever will. I'm also not sure that I trust Lucinda. All the affection she shows for Allie... it just seems off slightly. It may just be the nature of the book, especially this one, arousing suspicion for everyone, but I feel like maybe she's using Allie a little. Like Allie is as much as a pawn to her as she is to Nathaniel. That's just my two cents of speculation.