I must thank the publisher and author Iain Reading for sending me these books. Of course this has no way affected my opinion or review but free books are absolutely awesome! I am super excited to continue this series. Especially since the next one is apparently in Ireland and also features the Titanic! One of my many favourite things.
The Hunt For Hemingway’s Ghost
Title: Kitty Hawk and the Hunt for Hemingway’s Ghost
Author: Iain Reading
Pages: 236
Stars: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Three Words: Mysterious, Adventurous, Enlightening
There was about a year between when I read the first book, The Curse of the Yukon Gold and this one, the second book. I had very much enjoyed the first instalment of Kitty Hawk. Actually no, I surprisingly really loved my adventure with Kitty. She brought me to Alaska in her De Havilland Beaver ( sea plane) and taught me much more than how to spot a humpback whale.
This is why I can’t believe I didn’t read Iain Reading’s next book so soon! The Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency series has something for everyone!
Interestingly enough I started reading this book on a plane to Spain. So as Kitty sat in her pilot’s seat flying over North America, I sat in my 14F aerlingus seat flying over the English Channel or Bay of Biscay or whatever it’s called. It filled me with excitement and a longing to explore. There’s an innocence about this book that makes me feel childish or somewhat foolish. When I was reading this books I felt I could do anything and go anywhere. My dreams suddenly seemed so much more achievable. I like that this book makes me feel young. Although don’t get me wrong, this book isn’t just a child’s book. I was afraid it would be aimed for a lot younger readers but I think that it’s so universal that anyone could read and love it.
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| On the plane |
The main reasons I give this book such a high rating are because of firstly what an awesome character Kitty is. She is curious and independent. She loves to explore and learn. She is ambitious and somebody I would aspire to be. Secondly the secondary characters in this are fantastic! Just like the first book I really felt I knew them and that they could also have been main characters. Jack and Jodi were just very cool people and if I knew them in real life then I think we could be very good friends. I’d go scuba diving with Jodi and listen to old stories from Jack. This leads me to my third point, the amount of stuff I learned in this book. All this information about pirates, pieces of eight, treasure, Spanish ships and voyages was presented in such a fascinating way that I didn’t even realise I was learning at all. I don’t want to talk too much about the story but the mystery in this book was successful in such way that all my guesses were wrong and it had be doubting my own guesses. I was certainly glued to this book from the moment she set foot on the Keys.
Even though Hemingway isn’t exactly the main point of this story I still loved how such a famous author was weaved into it. Any book that talks about authors or books just makes me feel more connected to it. I loved the history in this book and how vivid the adventure becomes.
I highly recommend anyone to read this book. If you love travelling as much as I do it’s a fantastic way to learn about cultures. And if you love mystery it is almost like a modern day Nancy Drew. And if you love YA, it’s not a typical YA but I still think you should read it!
The Icelandic Intrigue
Title: Kitty Hawk and The Icelandic Intrigue
Author: Iain Reading
Pages: 201
Stars: ★★★★
Three Words: Informative, Beautiful, Gripping
First off, I have to say, what a beautiful cover!! When I saw this I just fell in love! It looks like a painting. As they say a picture can paint a 1000 words and this one paints a million. I think it’s the colours, the brush work and the fact that it’s right in the middle of action, I can tell that something big is happening!
In this next story line, Kitty is continuing her round the world adventure and lands in Iceland. Although I Ireland is (relatively) near to Iceland I have never been there. By the end of this book though I felt like I had. The country is described so beautifully by Iain Reading. I also learned a HUGE amount about Icelandic culture. For instance, people don’t have family names but instead make up their own second name by combining “daughter of/ son of ” with one of their parent’s names. It’s so fascinating, I never knew this stuff before.
The action in this book got a lot more dramatic and definitely kept me gripped. The story feels like it’s getting older as if aimed at an audience that is growing. I also really liked the environmental factor and learned so much about geographical things like volcanoes and geothermal energy.
However I felt like some things didn’t fit together. The Russian guys are kind of random and I was still waiting to come full circle and find out that they were connected in some mad way. I was wondering about a mystery that wasn’t even really a mystery. Perhaps I just missed this in the book and haven’t realised some mega plot line ….
Anyhoo another element I very much loved was all the fables, the elves and the magic! And also how this tied in with story. Very cool!
I do like when a jigsaw fits nicely together and for the most part this book did. I encourage anyone with a yearning for knowledge and fun to read these books.
Ooh, this look really cool! Is it more of a MG or YA? I also super appreciate how much she looks like Black Widow in the Iceland one (because Black Widow is basically the best thing ever).
(And I just read your little bio thing and THAT'S SO COOL THAT YOU'RE A NERDFIGHTER DFTBA!!) Thanks for visiting The Endless Oceans of my Mind!
MG? …. *googles*… ah, middle grade? Well in some ways yes, but it's more than that. It's too universal to just say it's a children's book. I think teens would love this and I especially think it would be great for schools because of the whole educational side.
She does look like the Black Widow! I hadn't noticed before! That's so cool!
XD and DFTBA to you too, fellow Nerdfighter! Of course, you have a fantastic blog ^_^
A modern day Nancy drew? Seems cool. *puts on TBR list*
It is very cool! I've always been a fan of Nancy Drew. ^_^ I hope you enjoy it
What lovely reviews, Marian – thank you so much for sharing them with us. I read the first KITTY HAWK and promptly forgot all about the series (I know, I know – I'm absolutely horrible at keeping up with series at the best of times!), but it was so wonderful to read your reviews and remember what I loved about the first one. I must add these to my TBR as soon as I can – and I am so very excited to continue the series. <3
Thank you Topaz! That actually happened to me too, book series can be a difficult commitment. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did!!
Also, may I say, how unbelievably cool and interesting your blog is. I really wanted to comment on some posts but couldn't find anyway of doing so. I am a massive fan of your Dragons. They are the loveliest <3