“The pleasures of the novel go far beyond the crackling, breathless plot and the satisfaction of watching the puzzle fall into place. The book is shot through with humor, both laugh-out-loud and subtle.” —New York Times Book ReviewFrom National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner Laura Ruby comes an epic alternate history series about three kids who try to solve the greatest mystery of … three kids who try to solve the greatest mystery of the modern world: a puzzle and treasure hunt laid into the very streets and buildings of New York City.
It was 1798 when the Morningstarr twins arrived in New York with a vision for a magnificent city: towering skyscrapers, dazzling machines, and winding train lines, all running on technology no one had ever seen before.
Fifty-seven years later, the enigmatic architects disappeared, leaving behind for the people of New York the Old York Cipher—a puzzle laid into the shining city they constructed, at the end of which was promised a treasure beyond all imagining. By the present day, however, the puzzle has never been solved, and the greatest mystery of the modern world is little more than a tourist attraction.
Tess and Theo Biedermann and their friend Jaime Cruz live in a Morningstarr apartment—until a real estate developer announces that the city has agreed to sell him the five remaining Morningstarr buildings. Their likely destruction means the end of a dream long held by the people of New York.
And if Tess, Theo, and Jaime want to save their home, they have to prove that the Old York Cipher is real. Which means they have to solve it.
“An epic mission to solve one of the greatest mysteries of their time. I loved this book. It is full of twists and turns” (from the Brightly.com review, which named York: The Shadow Cipher one of the best books of 2017).
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This was my vacation read, and one I’d been waiting to read for many months. I can’t remember whether it’s YA or Middle Grade (I want to say Middle Grade, as the characters are tweens). It was recommended to me by my local bookseller and it was so-very-imaginative–kind of a steampunk mystery set in an alternate universe of NYC. Some kids are trying to save their apartment building from a land developer who’s buying up all the properties originally-built a century ago by iconic inventor twins. The building (and everything these twins touched) remains shrouded in intrigue following a scavenger hunt they created, again, a century ago, that remains unsolved. Can the kids solve the mystery that no one else has, and save their home?
The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby is a middlegrade mystery about a treasure hunt across a contemporary New York City.
Over a hundred years ago, the Morningstarr scientists changed technology as it was, built tower after tower in New York, and then disappeared, leaving a mysterious set of clues supposed to lead seekers to their fortune. Hundreds have searched, but no one has found it, not in over a century. Now, as their home is about to be sold from underneath them, three seventh-graders discover a new clue that they hope will lead to saving their home in a Morningstarr tower.
This was an intriguing mystery! The main characters were a comic-book artist boy and twin brainiacs, one a very anxious girl and the other a logical-minded boy. They were neighbors in the apartment building built by the Morningstarrs. I really enjoyed their personalities. They seemed had maturity of the right age group, although the twins’ were very smart.
And as the kids began to discover, the Morningstarrs’ code wasn’t as simple as a single set of codes. It was a tiny bit alive, responding to the teens attempts to discover it where everyone else had taken decades to solve a single clue. It was fun to discover the clues alongside them and wonder at the mystery they hid. And the code began to change the kids a little too. They grew in friendship and maturity while their search continued.
The ending of the book wasn’t quite as satisfying as I expected. I can only hope that the same mystery continues into the second book instead of ending here and beginning a new mystery. But it was fascinating while I was reading it, and I liked the way the characters grew while they searched.
I think seven-year-old Cricket was my favorite character.
There was a bit of violence near the end of the story — a person or two died (or appeared to) because of their greed and some weird mechanical monsters that eat people if you let them. Creepy!
On the whole, it was a fun book, reminding me a little of the Goonies or a scavenger hunt reality tv show.
I received a complementary copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for sharing them.
Even better the second time! I can’t wait for the sequel.
I liked the blend of a real setting with an alternate history and the character building.
I had so much fun reading this book. The took me on an adventure through the city of New York. I also like the mystery surrounding the cipher puzzle which reminds me of National Treasure but with steampunk elements. The book also gave me a much greater appreciate towards architecture and how we must work hard to preserve old buildings.
The book also is fast pace and there is a ton of action throughout. I also liked the three main characters. The twins Tess and Theo are funny. Like there would be moments they will pick on each other in a sibling kind of way where they will say a ton of funny lines which made me laugh to the point where I was in tears. Literally in tears. I also liked how even though the twins pick on each other they still have this greater bond between them. I also liked Jamie because he is geeky, artsy and also smart. Despite not being an expert in cipher puzzles he also has a way of contributing to problem-solving.