The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart – review

‘The books are thoughtful and riveting and kept me interested through four long novels’

The Mysterious Benedict Society is an amazing series of books about a group of children with extraordinary gifts and talents. They are recruited by the Mysterious Mr. Benedict, the society’s figurehead who suffers from narcolepsy, to infiltrate an evil institute run by his despicable twin brother.

Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance all come from Stonetown, a small town with neatly kept lawns. They pass the series of tests set up by Mr. Benedict, to gather only the brightest children. Under his guidance they become spies – their mission to investigate messages being broadcast from a strange island to the entire planet making people believe the end of the world is coming.

The characters are strange and unusual which only makes the story more interesting. They are all 11 years old except for little Constance. Reynie is the leader and problem solver. Sticky remembers everything he reads and speaks several languages. Kate is a skilled acrobat with a bucket (literally!) of tools which she uses for escaping, tripping people over and launching projectiles! The most irritating is Constance, who composes mean poems about everyone else, is psychic and is probably one of the cleverest people alive. She is only two years old!!

The books are a mix of adventure and mystery, which I liked as it adds to the suspense. The plots are mysterious, unpredictable and gripping – full of action and problem solving. You can’t help but have a go at the riddles yourself.

The writing is quite mature in style and tone and the vocabulary is often unexpected for this kind of exciting story. They are so well written that you can’t take your eyes off the page!

The plot takes us around the world as they leave the institute, try to find Mr. Benedict when he disappears, then are captured by Mr. Curtain, Benedict’s nemesis. Even though the plot runs through the whole series, the characters were reintroduced in each book, which was irritating. Only Mr. Benedict remains mysterious – until the last book, where we find out about his childhood and background. Though a different story, it means the last book is as interesting as the first.

The books are thoughtful and riveting and kept me interested through four long novels. I would recommend this series because it was brilliantly enjoyable and original.

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