About This Book:
In this third book in the Charlie Thorne series from bestselling author Stuart Gibbs, Charlie tracks down Cleopatra’s greatest treasure in Egypt.
Charlie Thorne is a genius. Charlie Thorne is a renegade. Charlie Thorne isn’t going down without a fight.
After tracking down incredible discoveries by Einstein and Darwin, Charlie is back. This time, the great ruler Cleopatra has left behind an extremely valuable and powerful treasure, its location encoded on an ancient stone tablet.
In 30 BCE, Cleopatra and her husband, Marc Antony, lost their war against Octavian for control of the Egyptian Empire. However, Cleopatra knew Octavian was really after the mysterious item that was the source of all her wealth and influence, so she hid it before committing suicide. She left a series of devious clues behind for her children to find it, but they were lost to history…until now.
In a breathless adventure that takes her across the globe, Charlie must fight for her life against ruthless enemies, match wits with Cleopatra, and solve the two-thousand-year-old mystery to prevent the most powerful treasure of the ancient world from falling into the wrong hands.
*Review Contributed by Connie Reid, Site Manager*
Girl Power! Past and Present!
What I Loved: Fans of Stuart Gibbs Spy School and the previous two Charlie Thorne books will be happy with this next edition of the Charlie Thorne series. Charlie is now 13 and is on the trail to figure out the treasure that Cleopatra left behind.
Her half-brother Dante and his girlfriend and CIA partner, Milana Moon, are trying to find her, keep her safe, uncover the mystery, and get her back to headquarters to learn the Pandora equation that only Charlie knows. Through their many dangerous adventures, Charlie trusts them to the degree that she trusts anyone that wants the dangerous knowledge she has. She is still an untamed spirit when they treat her as an asset or a child.
The Israeli Mossad agents kidnap her briefly in Egypt after she gets her first clue. They play an ambiguous role in her life. They want the Pandora equation and will take her forcibly back to their country and the promise of torture if needed to secure it. However, several times they protect her from other more sinister factions. They may even be safer than the CIA, which is a difficult realization for Charlie.
The Egyptian Mukhabarat are now after her and trade off between allies and foes. The definite enemies are the Egyptian citizens, Ramses and his son, Ahmet Shah that unknowingly owned the first clue to the treasure and do not take kindly to her overpowering them and stealing knowledge from them. They continuously underestimate what a genius can do because of her age and gender. It is exceptionally satisfying as these biases lead to a lot of pain on their part. Charlie is very good at accumulating enemies like the rest of her age group acquires shoes.
Once again, the clues lead to several places around the world steeped in history and culture. The background adds a lot of richness to the plot and really makes me want to add a few of these places to my bucket list! I love how the details inspire me to learn more about these places.
The CIA director, Dante, and Milana each have consequences due to Charlie’s continued ability to evade them and hide the knowledge of her finds. They have tough choices about career, family, and patriotic duty. Charlie has always been a robust character. It is nice to see these recurring characters take on more dimensions.
What Left Me Wanting More: Stuart Gibbs does a fantastic job overall of taking a fantastical near reality concept like a thirteen-year-old girl that could go toe to toe with James Bond and probably win! However, the “treasures” in books two and three of this series could have been more believable and still be awesome. I won’t put spoilers! You will have to read them and decide for yourself if you agree. At times, I was a bit uncomfortable with the very adult cynicism shown in regards to the Intelligence agencies knowing that my young child was being exposed to this viewpoint. I am glad we are reading it together and able to discuss the plot.
Final Verdict: I love this series and realize that I am enjoying all things that Stuart Gibbs writes. His books have taken on that hard to achieve mantel of an author that I will read and purchase anything he writes. Humor and sheer Bravada that Charlie’s character possesses make for a fast-paced story that keeps the attention from start to finish every time. We all had to check the time on several occasions to stop reading and get to bed because it was so good!
