Book Review: The York Series by Laura Ruby

The York Series

by Laura Ruby (j Ruby – as downloadable audios)

 

(A trilogy comprised of The Shadow Cipher, The Clockwork Ghost, and The Map of Stars.)

 

If you are a sucker for a good puzzle, you will get sucked into the York series by Laura Ruby. But don’t pick up the first in the series, The Shadow Cipher, unless you are ready to tuck in for all three novels. The first two books just open up new puzzles and questions that lead you no other option but to delve into the next book.

 

Twins Tess and Theo Biedermann live in an alternative New York City to the one we know. In the late 1700s to mid-1800s another set of twins — the Morningstarr twins — used their incredible intelligence and wit to improve the city with machines and robots that care for the citizens and town, along with amazing buildings and transport systems with astonishing features. But the Morningstarr twins disappeared suddenly, leaving behind a mystery of riddles, puzzles, and clues that may lead to an incredible treasure. Many have tried to solve the cipher over the years, but most people have given up, believing that the idea of the cipher’s conclusion and treasure is just a myth.

 

In the Biedermann twin’s modern time, the apartment building they love, as well as a number of other Morningstarr buildings and landmarks, are threatened by real estate developer Darnell Slant, who wants to own and possibly replace all of the things the Morningstarr’s created. He claims it’s all in the name of progress. But as the series goes on, the teen twins and their good friend Jaime find out that Slant may have something else in mind. He may be buying up all the Morningstarr holdings because they hold another secret, one that holds incredible power that he wants for himself. In fact, he may not even be the true bad guy of the series. Darker forces may be at work. So the twins and Jaime have to race to decipher the cipher before Slant, or anyone else, so they can save the world as they know it.

 

The series is full of amazing, incredibly imaginative creatures and places. Elevators that go up, down, sideways or whichever way they need to go to get you to your destination. Robots that look like centipedes that clean the transport systems. Giggling spiders that care for plants. Eagle monuments that turn into real eagles at the chime of a clock. A gang of identical blond bombshells who do Slant’s bidding. A grey cloaked woman hundreds of years’ old with phenomenal fighting skills who shows up just at the right time to save the day. A cute little robot they call Oh no, whose only words are “Land of Kings” and “Oh no.”

 

I listened to the entire series on audiobook through Hoopla. I really enjoyed the narrator’s rendition. His voices and sound effects perfectly portrayed the witty hijinks of the kids and the friends they make along the way that kept me laughing.

 

If I had any complaint about the series, it’s that you have to read the entire series to find a conclusion. And that conclusion is still pretty open-ended. In the first book, The Shadow Cipher, the twins and Jaime follow the clues left behind by the Morningstarrs to find the treasure and save their apartment building from Slant. But the book ends without a resolution to the cipher. Just a jeweled trinket, a doorway to a new location, and more clues. The second book, The Clockwork Ghost, ends with a suitcase filled with memorabilia and a shocking photo that can tear up the trio’s friendship. The final book, The Map of Stars, ends with the idea that time is tricky and we may all be living in alternative world’s depending on the choices we make. What world is the best or true world? Isn’t that just the question. That being said, I still recommend the series for students in 4th-8th grade as a great fantasy trilogy.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, or Unwanteds by Lisa McMann.)

 

( official York series page on the official Laura Ruby web site )

 

Recommended by Cindy K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Services

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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