30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Whole New Level of Danger, Smarts, Spying, and Drama, Boy and Otherwise, June 9, 2009
Ally Carter brings her popular Gallagher Series to a whole new level of spying and excitement when Cammie Morgan almost gets kidnapped along with her roommate Macey McHenry as Macey's dad campaigns to be the next Vice President. Finding herself in real danger, Cammie knows it's not just a test being pulled by her teachers. When they get back to school, Cammie's Aunt Abby, who she hasn't seen for a long time, is there on duty as a Secret Service agent to protect Macey.
And yes, there are boys, including Zach, the spy who maybe loves Cammie...or maybe is out to get her. He appears at the most unlikely of times, but Cammie's sixth sense susses him out, even though she can't quite figure out what he's doing at rallies and on trains (and Carter never fully explains his mysterious presence, either). That he might be a good guy or a bad guy doesn't stop Cammie from thinking about him. Another potential romance is brewing between Macey and the possible future first son, yet the girls have much more to worry about as ancient Gallagher Girl secrets are unlocked, and proven to be very relevant in the here and now.
History comes to life, vividly and literally, in Carter's prose, and she once again manages to get a "girls can do anything, even foil dangerous kidnapping plots and rescue lost girls" message in while providing the same humor as she did in the first two novels. The level of danger is ratcheted up a notch here, and she leaves us guessing right to the end as to just how much damage has been done.
There's a wistfulness and maturity to Cammie here; she loves being a Gallagher Girl but also recognizes the limitations of it by seeing her mom and aunt, as well as by facing her enemies head on. There's still the same gossip, sneaking out, and having the student spies outwit their adult counterparts as in the first two books, but there's something more brewing. My only complaint is that there's not another Gallagher Girl novel to read ASAP, because while Carter ties up most of the loose ends and kept me guessing, she also made me want more Cammie and co. immediately.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
My Judgements (Which Are Not Based on the Cover), June 11, 2009
There were good and bad points to the book. Was it better than "I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You"? Yes. Was it better than "Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy"? Maybe in some ways.
The title is, once again, cute. But when you get past the cover...
First off, the things I enjoyed:
1. There was a lot more action with a lot of true risks. The Gallagher Girls had to deal with more real dangers this time, not just ones fabricated by their teachers. More was at stake for them, so they invested more, and they got more out of it.
2. There was a plot twist I did not expect.
3. The book introduces Cammie's Aunt Abby, who is purely awesome the way a spy should totally be.
4. It sets the stage for you to look forward to things to come in the next book. It's not a cliffhanger, exactly, because there was some closure to the story, but you are left wondering about a lot of things.
5. Zach, oh super hot Zach, came back. We got to see a more serious side of him this time around. But the mystery around him never fails.
6. The characters, all the way through, demonstrate friendship to the truest level.
7. Some of the prose, when not overly flowery, was very neatly tied into the book.
The things that bothered me:
1. Cammie is extremely irresponsible, which is in character, but she took it to the extreme. Judging on incidents early on the book, she knew she did not have the capabilities to handle the enemies with her other three friends without any help, that the first time she got away because of luck.
2. She had a big epiphany about her first encounter with the enemies a long time after it happened, something that the readers already figured out when she first narrated the encounter. (*SPOILER, BUT IT'S REALLY NOT A BIG DEAL* Specifically that the enemies weren't after Preston, the Presidential nominee's son, which was kind of obvious because one of the attackers said, "Get her," not "Get him.") Maybe it's because she's experiencing post-traumatic stress or something and she shouldn't be expected to recall and analyze all details, but the way I read it, it seemed that she built up the suspense of her realization so that I was expecting something big, before I realized I already knew what she was saying.
3. I don't really enjoy Cammie's narration. It can be humorous sometimes, but the character's overall voice is unrealistic and annoying, especially when she repeats phrases over and over again. ("Gallagher Girls scatter to all four corners of the globe during the summer."; "I don't know if the girl in me or the spy in me..."; "Macey McHenry's face is on the cover of every magazine in the country.") I've noticed this pattern in the other two books as well, and it's a little too much. I wish Ally Carter had found a different way to word those sentences, because they were extremely distracting to me.
4. The symbolism that Ally Carter tried to include in the book seemed a little forced to me. There was way too much, also, to the point that it was purple prose.
5. So, I like that Ally left us wondering some things, but I didn't enjoy that we received almost no answers throughout the whole book. We found out the name of the enemies, but we don't know anything about them, why they're after who they were after, etc. She could have still left us some loose ends, while giving us something about the attackers.
6. The pacing didn't go well, so some parts dragged.
7. I found it annoying how Macey dealed with some of the stress. She's supposed to be tough, and maybe she was under an amount of stress that I can't understand, but I found her character immature in a way that I thought she had grown out of.
All in all...worth it? Totally. Will you want more? Absolutely.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Slightly Darker Addition to the GG series, June 12, 2009
When I got an ARC of "Don't Judge," I freaked out. I screamed for like a minute straight and jumped up and down like some crazy teen fangirl. Oh, wait, I am. Well, at least of the Gallagher Girl series!
As my title says, "Don't Judge" (What's the abbreviation for this books, Ally!? Haha.) is darker, more real, and better written. Ally Carter just gets better and better at writing! Well, this book seems like a very natural progression for Cammie and co. because she is getting closer and closer to the real world of spies. Thus, she and the others around her need to mature and grow up which is what precisely happens in this book. Of course, the humor of lack of boy understanding is abundant and there are some great lines and stories. There are also some great surprises in store for the GG fan.
I just reread what I just wrote and it doesn't really make any sense. I guess, all I can say is that this book is not exactly the book I wanted to read. I wanted to read a book with tons of Zach and Cammie moments, Blackthorne, etc. However, Ally Carter knows what best for Cammie, Gallagher Academy, and us fans that she wrote a story that was wayy better than I could have imagined. The new characters, storylines, etc. are great.
As usual, there are many many questions left unanswered so I guess we'll just have to wait until GG4 comes out. Grr.
(Note, I give this a 4.5/5 stars but because I hate it when people dock stars/points for little trivial things, I'm rounding up. =P)
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