Customer Reviews

Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I know the title is Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb but for me, the series is all about fourteen-year-old narrator Ananka Fishbein. She's living the life! She goes to an exclusive school, has exciting adventures in the Shadow City, hangs out with a unique group of girls, and lives in glamorous Manhattan.

But living an exciting life can sometimes get the best of a person. Ananka is no exception. Her duties with her friends have placed her in a perilous position. She needs to stay awake in school and get better grades, or she's going to be shipped off to a remote boarding school. That can't happen! Especially since Kiki is in need of help, not that Kiki would admit it. Kiki's vicious relatives are still after her. And Oona is in some deep trouble also. It's so serious, she doesn't want to share the seriousness with her friends, the Irregulars (who have secrets of their own).

New York City is being overrun by giant squirrels, Oona's evil father takes up residence in a haunted mansion and wants to reconcile with her, and Betty is in love with an unusual character. And there are also kidnapped children, and an Empress's reputation at stake. Will Ananka, Kiki and the gang solve the mysteries without losing their lives? And if they live, will Ananka be forced to leave her school and friends for a rural boarding school?

The primary criticism I had with the first Kiki Strike book was that the Irregulars were interchangeable. We didn't get to know them, and consequently didn't have a deep concern about their welfare. Author Kirsten Miller begins solving that issue in her current book. We see a bit more of Oona and Betty, and therefore care about them. I'm hoping that Miller does the same with the other girls in the next book.

The Kiki Strike series is fun and has a fascinating premise: a Shadow City under New York City. Every time I walk the streets of New York, I think about the Shadow City and wonder if it's real. Miller has been successful when she can get a "mature" woman to believe.

Armchair Interviews says: The Kiki Strike series is a winner.

Get ready for the next adventure... The Irregulars have returned! On the agenda this time around are the following things:

Finish mapping the Shadow City. Since Livia and Sidonia Galatzina, (supposed) Queen and Princess of Pokrovia, and Kiki's mortal enemies, managed to get an incomplete copy of their map, it's more important than ever that The Irregulars finish what they started.

Stop Lester Liu. He got away last time, and they aren't about to let that happen again. But when Oona seems to throw herself in the middle of the whole thing, no one is sure what to do or who to believe.

Keep Ananka in New York. Ever since Ananka joined The Irregulars, her grades have been plummeting. Now her mom wants to send her to a boarding school on some farm.

Find the squirrels. Trained squirrels are attacking people, and someone is painting life-size pictures of them all over the city. And he seems to know who The Irregulars are.

And those things are just the beginning. This is a book of secrets, and misunderstandings, and sneaky dealings. No one is quite what they seem, not even the people you might think you know. And you can't be too careful about who you trust, or who you don't.

I admit that I had a moment, a split second of concern about this book. I loved the first one (Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City) so much, and second books are historically a letdown even when they're good. After the first page, I was thrilled to admit I was completely wrong to doubt. By the end, I was groveling at Kirsten Miller's feet!

Strong memorable characters, well-written, fast paced, exciting, touching, hilarious... And, of course, indispensable information like how to appear mysterious, how to know if your house is haunted, how to take advantage of the power of scent, and much, much more.

You absolutely must read this book. Trust me.

Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman

I thought this would make a nice present for my daughter, but as she's only 11, I thought I'd read a chapter or two to make sure it was appropriate for her. Danged if I wasn't up til 4am reading all the way to the end!

The author knows how to keep the story moving, and the internal dynamics of the seven friends will keep any reader's interest.

I wish these books were better known and easier to find than other, inferior books in this genre.

The Empress's tomb is just as great as Kirsten Millers first book, Kiki Strike and the Shadow city!
In this book, the Irregulars are faced with some well hidden secrets, a cute squirrel-obsessed boy, and the task of keeping the shadow city secret from all of New York. Ananka, Oona, Luz, Betty, Deedee, Iris, and my personal favorite charachter, Kiki Strike, are the amazing crime fighting Irregulars. Their lives, along with so much else, are at stake.

Go Irregulars!!!

This most definitely is on my list of my favorite books of all time, along with the book that comes before it in the Kiki Strike series. Kirsten Miller has a marvelous way of keeping track of everything that's going on in her book, and things don't just fall out of the story. It's written in an entertaining way, but that doesn't overpower the plot in itself.

A very nice book, very well written and keeping a suspense all the time. You cannot leave it until you get to the end.

iam in the middle of the book right now and i find it hard to put down it took me a while to stop reading to rite this review.iam in love with this book after i read the first book i coundnt wait to my hands on the second book.this is defintly a MUST read for all 12 year olds(: :)

My 10 year old son is in 5th grade and they do 1-2 hours of reading in class everyday,so he reads thru books quickly.I have to always get new exciting books.He is really into this series,the book is big and the spy plot has kept him very entertained and extremely happy!!

My 10 year old daughter absolutely loved this book, along with Kirsten Miller's other Kiki Strike book. She is impatiently waiting for Ms. Miller to add another book to this series. I think she finished the book in 4 days because she couldn't put it down.

Kiki Strike is an odd character, even by Manhattan standards -- a short, remarkably pixie-ish sleuth who uncovers a series of tunnels and rooms under the City and leads a troupe of adolescent crime-fighting girls. This second outing is again narrated by Ananka Fishbein, one of the Irregulars, and the one who could be in the most trouble for her efforts -- facing expulsion and boarding school on a farm (!) -- except that her colleague Kiki has a deathly ill mentor and Oona's father turns out to be the girls' worst enemy! There's a lot going on here and I guess I'd have preferred there to be a bit less. Too often the girls are apart -- things definitely get more exciting when they're together, but that doesn't happen enough. Also, I think it's a bit boring when miscommunication is the root of all problems, as it is for nearly every problem here; if one character would tell another character one thing, everything would be solved -- and this happens over and over. Otherwise, this is a fun slog through a uniquely premised grrl power novel, and a fun way to pass some time. I probably won't read any more in the series, but I didn't resent the time I spent on this one.