Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City

Ok, so I think we all know that I have been a little (ok, really) behind on my reviewing lately. But its not entirely my fault. I am a little discouraged by the fact that you haven't been reading my reviews. *sigh* Oh well. Anyway, I finished Kiki Strike quite a while ago and I've been meaning to review it. So away we go...

Manhattan is a big place, with many great things about it. It is right there in the Big Apple, the residing place of hundreds of amazing authors, and the place thousands of tourist flock to every hour. But something you might not know about it is what is underneath. No, I am not talking about gas lines, and water pipes. Or, for you Peeps fans, I am not talking about giant worms, or apocalyptic rats. Although there are a lot of rats. No, I am talking about The Shadow City. The Shadow City is an intricate city of tunnels used hundred of years ago by criminals and thieves, but no one has set foot in it in decades. And that is where the story beginnings.

Our story starts off with twelve year old Ananka Fishbein, who discovers a large sinkhole in front of her house and goes down in to investigate. This is her first encounter with The City. But when the sink hole is filled, Ananka befriends the mysterious Kiki Strike in order to find another entrance. Kiki Strike is a ghostly pale, short, elfish girl with white-blond hair that showed up in Ananka's ritzy private school only a few days after she saw the sink hole. A little background info on Ananka, she is not rich. Her great great grandfather (or something) was very rich, but he put his money into a fund that would all and only go to his descendants schooling. Therefore, Ananka and her parents own a huge library of books about everything that fills their apartment, and Ananka gets to go to the best school in Manhattan. Together, Kiki and Ananka gather a team of delinquent, twelve year old girl scouts and call themselves the Irregulars. We have Luz, a super technical and inventive mechanic, DeeDee, a genius chemist, Betty, a master of disguise, and Oona, an expert forger and (later on) lock picker. Together, the Irregulars make a plan to map out the entire Shadow City, so that they can have control of it. But in trying to open a particularly difficult door, DeeDee causes a mass explosion that breaks a water line and knocks her out. The Irregulars rush her to the hospital, but when they arrive, Kiki has disappeared.... This is a story of a mysterious underground city, a hoard of man-eating rats, and kung-fu fighting princesses.

I loved this book. It had lots of great action and suspense and never once did I feel bored. The characters, plot, setting, everything was set up beautifully. It was also funny, which is always excellent. I was reading it under my blankets in bed to finish it. That is how good it was. Unfortunately, the absence of romance brought it down a point. So, I dub Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City 7.5 kinds of fawesome.


Shadow City exploring, kung fu fighting, man-eating rat escaping and yours,