A review by bookish_leslie
Spy School by Stuart Gibbs

adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No

4.0

My rating scale, for reference:

  • 1 Star: Hated it
  • 2 Stars: Didn't like it
  • 3 Stars: Meh
  • 4 Stars: Liked it
  • 5 Stars: Loved it

This was a really fun read with a fast-moving plot. It was obviously written for a younger audience, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. There was the typical adult ineptitude that you usually see in middle grade books, but for some reason that didn’t grate as much as it usually does for me. 

Even though I guessed who the bad guy was long before the ending (well, I had two guesses, one of which turned out to be right), I was engaged by the mystery of what was happening and why. I wouldn’t say there was much character development, but sometimes it’s nice to read a fun and interesting story without thinking too much about any of it. If this had been written for adults, I’d probably have had some more criticisms, but knowing it was intended for children, I just put my feet up and enjoyed the action. 

But just an FYI: the book jacket description does not accurately describe the actual story. Yes, 12-year-old Ben goes to a junior CIA academy, but the academy is not a front for anything (other than when he has to keep secret where he is from his friends and family). He knows from the get-go that this is CIA. There's no case of mistaken identity either; his recruitment is very intentional.
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