Secret of the Red Arrow

[MacGyver]

I just looked that up myself last night. Wow- that is sad to have such an error only two books into the series. Sigh... well, mistakes happen, I suppose and I'm sure I'll get past it and enjoy reading other books in the series- but this kind of glaring error is really something editors should catch.

[tomswift2002]

just caught a continuity error.
In the Red Arrow, page 62, Frank has his smartphone, and makes a mention of specifically going into his email and watching a video.
In Phanton Heist, page 2, Frank says the they couldnt have smartphones until they started college, which is why Joe is so crazy about his tablet cos it could surf the Web, email and the like.

I understand if its some books down the line, but lazy slip-ups like this shouldnt happen within the first 2 books.

That's not the only slip-up, since in the RED ARROW, when the drug bust that led to the boys retirement was revealed, within two pages Neanderthal was described as first being the "former" star linebacker, because he was a part of the drug ring, and then on he next page it is mentioned that Neanderthal is still the Star Linebacker.

[MacGyver]

Too bad... well, all I can say is that we shouldn't get overly critical on such things. After all, mistakes do happen sometimes, much as we'd rather they didn't. Still, it doesn't look good when it's in the first book of the new series....

[Hardy Sleuth]

I enjoyed the sections of Secret of the Red Arrow and Mystery of the Phantom Heist that were interesting and written well.

[MacGyver]

Yeah, that's how I look at it too. I try to look for the good in things and then enjoy the good things I can enjoy about it. (Like 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 says, "Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid all appearance of evil." )

[tomswift2002]

Well with Red Arrow I keep getting the feeling that Simon & Schuster is really trying to break-away from the Undercover series, yet still be connected to the Secret Files (Aunt Gertrude living in the room above the garage).  ATAC hasn't been mentioned once, and it seems like Fenton Hardy isn't even thinking about starting it.  Although, I'm surprised that S&S has him as an author. 

And I guess we learn who Fenton's brother is after 32--- Ben Parker---er Hardy.

[MacGyver]

Right now The Secret Files is the only other current Hardy Boys series so I can see why the Adventures series may try to keep continuity with that one in order to hopefully draw readers in as they graduate from the series aimed at younger kids to the one aimed at older kids. But I wonder if the Adventures is meant to be set chronologically before or after the Undercover Brothers series. It may just be because of my love for The Three Investigators, but I can see Fenton as a retired detective turned author. (In the T3I books there is a similar scenario- Hector Sebastian, the boys' mentor, is a retired detective who becomes an author of mystery stories.)
         I remember seeing the Ben Parker reference for Fenton's long-lost brother. Who knew The Hardy Boys were related to Spider-Man? (I'm assuming this is the same guy as Peter's Uncle Ben.  )

[tomswift2002]

Just finished Red Arrow and Phantom Heist.  Both I'm giving a rating of 8.5 out of 10. 

The "Vanishing Game" (book 3) sounds intriguing, from the preview, but at the same time the plot also sounds like something that should be in the Secret Files.

[MacGyver]

Nice to see the hardback Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys books on library shelves- and these didn't even have to be rebound into a hardback!
This is totally making me want to hurry up and order hardback copies of these books though..... but I'm still waiting until I have the money to afford it.

[Judah-Ben-Hur]

I just finished Secret of the Red Arrow, and I must say it certainly is the biggest shake-up the series has seen since Iola got supposedly blown to bits. Tp preserve spoilers from those who haven't read this yet look away, but here's my thoughts on the book (*Possible Spoilers*)

Pros:
- Bayport feels realistically modern! Something that always struck me whenever reading older series (save UB, but I don't count that series for anything) Bayport always felt a bit of a mix between the 50s revision from the original series, and somewhat modern additions. Not a bad thing, but it still felt... off a bit. Maybe that was a personal thing for me, but Bayport felt real to me this time around.
-A reference to the coast? Someone remembered Bayport is coastal!!!
- Frank is not a weird awkward nerd. Well not completely. He still doesn't feel 100% like OS or CF Frank, but he's not the weirdo from UB. A bit of awkwardness mixed in, but it seems like a 25% UB Frank and 75% OS Frank.
- Character Development??? *gasp*
-Wait Frank and Joe have Teachers??? A principal???
-Frank and Joe have homework... and don't do it. XD
-Frank and Joe actually act like real brothers. Not that they haven't before, but lots of past books they acted more like partners at work. The boys here feel a bit more real, like me and my brother. After all that complaining about 'Brother Against Brother' being a bit cold on the brotherly love I think the writer gets brotherhood here.
-Guns? YAY!!! Fights YAY!!!
- This universe is in line with Current events! The mentioning of a fallen soldier in the War in Afghanistan, and Latenight TV hosts seem realistic. Not overdone, either.
-No ATAC.
-Continuity!!!! YAY!!!!

Cons:
-Lack of Continuity. BOO!!!! Where is Callie Shaw? Why is Joe hung up on some chick I've never heard of? Is Iola still dead in this universe?Where is Chief Collig? What happened to him? Phil, Jerry, Biff, where are the gang? If we're going to play the VM (more on this later) card lets do it right, or at least with an explanation.
- Some jumps are confusing. Joe puts the barrel of his gun against Frank's head at the end of Chapter one. What happens to it in chapter 2? Bunyan's an ex-football player, and then he isn't. Also the smart phone thing.
Also, the whole police called to Bunyan's home after being beat up? I would think his parents and the police would have wanted a little more info from both the Bunyan siblings and the Hardys. How the heck did you get the feed to his room? why did you call the police? Why do your friends think your getting beaten up?? why can your friends watch you sleep??? None of these are asked, my parents sure would have. Heck, I'm surprised that Fenton and Mrs.H didn't give their sons a hard look over.
-Laura Hardy.... Saleswoman? I think I liked Librarian better, it fit her doormat persona. (this comes from a librarian, so I do think the quiet overly helpful trait fits this line of work) Also, she shows up twice, the second only in reaction to Aunt Trudy screaming. It almost feels like she's tacked on.
-Aunt Trudy lives above the garage? *holds sides laughing while he rolls on the floor* That's as believable as her accepting Trudy as her name, or not chewing out Frank for lying about his ankle. She seems too quite and un-controlling this round.
- the Hardy Boys lying to their parents, again this is a VM card thing, and it makes sense with that, but it's bad form and seems unlike the boys.
-Joe mentions they never use to ask their father's help when they were allowed to investigate. *laughed in Joe's face* Ok, so I'm guess you forgot anything that happened in like the first 20 books in the original series. When was there a book you didn't ask your dad something???
- Modern references, Connan O'Briain will be so outdated in 10 years. This is why the original series never made mention of... oh say Clark Gable, or Charlie McCarthy, or how much Callie might have looked like Veronica Lake. Don't know those people? point proven.

I really did like the premise for this series, but by the time I got to the end of the book, I noticed too many similarities to the TV series Veronica Mars (hence the VM card). One of my favorite series, for those of you that haven't heard of it, is like Nancy Drew mixed into a blender with Phillip Marlow. A former High School cheerleader, and daughter of the town sheriff, finds her life turned upside down when her best friend (daughter of the town's head billionaire) is found murdered. Her father pegs the wrong guy and looses his job, her mom leaves, and Veronica gets drugged and taken advantage of at a party. She becomes determined with solving her best friend's murder and becomes a teen detective.  Now that doesn't sound like the HBA premise right off, but both have the father loosing their job because of the big series crutch (the murder in VM, the boy's sleuthing mishaps in HBA),  Both take cases from classmates, both are disliked by local law enforcement (HBA switches VM's dynamic by making the chief the sympathetic one, and his cops the enemies), Both series have a strong reliance on the father figure,  and the taser scene.  Veronica is known for carrying a taser, and I'm pretty sure the "Mr.Sparky" is a quote I've heard from the series. I'm a bit surprised to find it in the HBA series and not the NDD series, but I guess boys take dark material better. Veronica Mars also is famous for it's voiced over monologues, which the Hardy Boys do, but may also be part of the first person narrative. This being said, pulling the VM card is not a bad thing, it's possible to do a G/PG rated version of it. The series just needs to be a bit tighter. VM ran on high continuity and tightly scripted mystery arcs on very well developed characters. The problem is, that HBA has 152 pages to pull that off not a 26 episode season. They might do it over a few books, but I think it would have benefited them by bringing in the characters the boys have been with the last 80 years. Chief Collig, trying to tell the boys not to sleuth is more investing than Gomez. Callie Shaw or Iola trying to be a normal couple with the boys , putting the kidnappings, shots, explosions and other things behind them and be normal. That would have made it more interesting. But we still have 2 (3 for me) books left to go. It's the right direction, but only a few steps.

[MacGyver]

Interesting analysis. Thanks for the breakdown. I'm getting the feeling that while this series might be an improvement from the Undercover Brothers in some ways- it's still got plenty of issues in other ways (In fact, it sounds like some of the issues the UB books suffer from too.)
     I found another review of the first book of the series online (I don't think this review has any major spoilers.) But it does mention that Frank and Joe are once again using foul language! Sigh... I would've hoped the writers had gotten the message that this is one thing that is SO unlike The Hardy Boys and has no place there- particularly in a children's series.
      (For the record, Judah-Ben-Hur- I did actually recognize the names you mentioned and I did know who 2 of them were- the last one I've heard before but I wasn't totally sure, so I had to look it up.) But yeah- I definitely agree on that point.
       It's sad that I basically don't feel I can trust much of the entertainment industry to produce anything worth watching on television or at the movies (with rare exceptions here and there) or even higher quality literature in this classic and enduring children's book series.
       Not to cast a bad pallor on the series or be a downer, but I'm getting the feeling that I'll wind up collecting this series for the sake of building my Hardy Boys collection, but I may not read much of it for a while. I still have only read the first book in the UB series and have not gotten around to any others, though I do have them all.......
        (And for the record, I will probably try to read the UB books sometime just for the sake of completeness- but I'm not real enthused by them and that's sad.) I don't want the Adventures series to become like that, so I really do hope future books will build on the good things that have been established for this series and improve from there.

[Judah-Ben-Hur]

I don't remember coming across any foul language, unless I think we're counting 'Hell" which I believe was in there (but I don't think it came from the brothers). I do remember a casefiles like- "I swore", but no actual swearing.
you get bonus points for recognizing those names. The first book isn't bad, and it's miles ahead of what I've read in the UB. I have a feeling they wanted to do something more different like casefiles, but didn't want to go too far from the original series which leaves it in an interesting, but overly cautious grey area. that being said, this series does seem to be in a separate continuity.

[MacGyver]

I don't remember coming across any foul language, unless I think we're counting 'Hell" which I believe was in there (but I don't think it came from the brothers). I do remember a casefiles like- "I swore", but no actual swearing.

I'm glad to hear it wasn't from Frank and Joe, but nonetheless, I don't want to hear it from any of the characters, including the villians. If they're going to do that, I'd rather see the "So and so swore softly" type lines than to have the words written out.

you get bonus points for recognizing those names.

Well, thanks- I try to stay cultured. lol That and I like a lot of older things and history in general.

The first book isn't bad, and it's miles ahead of what I've read in the UB. I have a feeling they wanted to do something more different like casefiles, but didn't want to go too far from the original series which leaves it in an interesting, but overly cautious grey area. that being said, this series does seem to be in a separate continuity.

The continuity certainly sounds interesting- I don't know if it's the best, but it's different anyway. Hopefully, it'll be really good overall.

[Hardy Sleuth]

I read both Secret of the Red Arrow and Mystery of the Phantom Heist and there definitely wasn't any foul language in either book.

[MacGyver]

Okay- thanks for the reassurance. I appreciate that. I was just basing my previous comment on an online review I read, so I wasn't sure at the time.