The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages
by Trenton Lee Stewart
Hi! Do you like puzzles and word games? Well, the Mysterious Benedict Society sure does, and so do I! In fact, in this book, the Mysterious Benedict Society has to solve a riddle to stop the Ten Men from breaking Mr. Curtain out of jail.
Warning: This review will be very confusing for you, if it is not already, unless you have read the first three books in this series. So, I recommend that you read the first three books (which are just as good as this one) before you read this review.
Things are starting to quiet down for the Mysterious Benedict Society. Sticky, Kate, and Reynie have all gotten opportunities to move on with life and leave the Society behind them. However, they are unsure about what to do. Reynie has offers to be the youngest person to attend a lot of prestigious colleges. Sticky would be running a worldwide chemistry organization. And Kate would finally become a secret agent like her father. One day, the Mysterious Benedict Society find out that the Ten Men have escaped the prison. Their nickname for them is “A Baker’s Dozen” because there are thirteen of the Ten Men. The Ten Men’s next mission: break Mr. Curtain out of jail and create a potion following his instructions that will make the average mind a genius. Then, with their brains AND brawn, the Ten Men will be unstoppable! Constance, the fourth member of the Mysterious Benedict Society, contacts Mr. Benedict, the twin of Mr. Curtain, who tells them how to create this “genius” potion themselves (for different reasons that you’ll find out when you read the book). After the Society makes the potion, the Ten Men chase them down and try to get the potion for themselves before the Society can deliver it to Mr. Benedict.
While I absolutely loved this book, there is one thing that I would have changed. The author skips around a bit in the timeline at the beginning of the book. This was a bit confusing to me as I was not sure in some points whether the author was talking about the present or the past.
There was an amazing plot twist at the end of the book that I am not going to say so I don’t give the book away. But I never saw it coming and it was my favorite part in the whole book!
If you like any mystery book, then you will absolutely love The Mysterious Benedict Society Series. One book that I have read that I would compare these books to is All the Wrong Questions: Who Could That Be at This Hour? By Lemony Snicket, so if you liked that book, I think these are the books for you!
Will the Mysterious Benedict Society be able to deliver the potion to Mr. Benedict? Or will they be crushed by the Ten Men? As I always say, read the book to find out!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor – zero being not scary at all and five being majorly scary): 4
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor – zero having no yucky-lovey parts in it and five having major yucky-lovey parts): 2
I give this book 5 wands.
This book was amazing! I loved how the Mysterious Benedict Society could outsmart their opponents time and time again. It proves that brains can be just as important as brawn, and sometimes will win in the end!
