Review: Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold (Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency #1) by Iain Reading

Title: Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold
Author: Iain Reading
Series: Kitty Hawk Fying Detective Agency
Genre: Adventure, Young Adult
Publication date: December 2012
Pages: 316 (paperback)
Source: received from author
Buy link: Amazon





Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is the thrilling first installment in a new series of adventure mystery stories that are one part travel, one part history and five parts adventure. This first book of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series introduces Kitty Hawk, and intrepid teenage pilot whit her own De Havilland Beaver seaplane and a nose for mystery and intrigue. A cross between Amelia Earhart, Nancy Drew and Pipi Longstocking, Kitty is a quirky young heroine with boundless curiosity and a knack for getting herself into all kinds of precarious situations.

After leaving her home in the western Canadian fishing village of Tofino to spend the summer in Alaska studying humpback whales Kitty finds herself caught up in an unforgettable adventure involving stolen gold, devious criminals, ghostly shipwrecks, and bone-chilling curses. Kitty's adventure begins with the lingering mystery of a sunken ship called the Clara Nevada and as the plot continuous to unfold this spirited story will have armchair explorers and amateur detectives alike anxiously following every twist and turns as they are swept along through the history of the Klondike Gold Rush to a suspenseful final climatic chase across the rugged terrain of Canada's Yukon, the harsh land made famous in the stories and the poems of such landscape and history of Alaska's inside passage and Canada's Yukon, as Kitty is caught up in an epic mystery set against the backdrop of the scenery of the Klondike Gold Rush.

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is a perfect book to fire the imagination of readers of all ages. Filled with fascinating and highly Google-able locations and history this book will inspire anyone to learn and experience more for themselves as Kitty prepares for her next adventure - flying around the world!

Goodreads

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is the first book in the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency series. The series centers around Kitty, a young pilot.

At first I couldn’t really get into the story, my mind kept wandering of. In my opinion the first hundred pages could have been told in fifty or so. I mean everything we got to know about the humpback whales was interesting but it felt like a really long introduction before the actual story started. After a hundred pages or so Kitty finds herself in trouble and that’s when the real story begins. So if you read this book don’t let the beginning scare you away I promise the book will get a lot more interesting.

Kitty is a loveable character. She’s strong, courageous, smart, adventurous and independent. What I liked the most about Kitty is her love for adventure. She’s a curious person and wants to learn new things. Sure she might get herself into to trouble sometimes but she stays calm and finds her way out of this mess. And then there were the four guys in this book, you’ll know whom I’m talking about when you read the book. They were all the same but at the same time so unique. I couldn’t help but love them. Their family means everything to them, that’s what I liked the most about them. And of course it’s mostly there fault that Kitty undertakes all these adventures in this book. The action and the adventures were well-paced in this book and I was always curious to find out what was going to happen next to Kitty and her group of friends.

One of the things I loved the most about this book was all the things I learned by reading it. I learned about the humpback whales, about some native tribes up in Alaska and Canada and about the history of the Gold Rush. It definitely helped me to better visualize the book. And before reading this book I knew nothing about the Gold Rush so I really love that I know some things about it now. But there were times where there was just too much information at once. Other than that I loved it!

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book, the beginning might have been slow but after that I loved every moment of it. And I’m curious about the rest of the books. I would recommend this book to any reader who is looking for a young adult adventure book.

El