Simon & Schuster's Hardy Boys Adventures page

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

Not good, not good..

Yeah, it's so unrealistic.

[MacGyver]

Well, maybe I should have held off, but my curiousity got the best of me and I read the first chapter of the first book. First off, it is a bummer that we're back to first person. My understanding is that it was originally decided to do 3rd. Person but for some reason it changed back to 1st. person after all. I don't know that I like this "retired" bit. It seems like this series is meant to be set after the UB books. Some things from the UB books are still in place- the Hardys using modern technology of today (which I do like that they keep the Hardys current, but in some ways I'd rather have the earlier books where all this technology didn't exist.) Anyway, Secret of the Red Arrow does start off with a good level of action and peril and that's pretty neat. And so far the dialogue seems to be better and more mature than the UB books, so that's a plus too. But we're still calling Aunt Gertrude by Aunt Trudy and that gets a bit irksome to me honestly, but that's just a personal thing. Aunt Gertrude doesn't seem like the type to take up a nickname, not given her character from the original books. Anyway, though we do seem to be falling back into the UB mold in some ways, the writing seems to be a bit better so far. Of course, I need to read the whole book before I can really honestly review the direction of the series, but that's my impression so far.

[MacGyver]

The only kinda cool thing about Frank and Joe's "retirement" is that when Frank mentions they've been covertly helping a few folks, it makes me think of them like The A-Team.  

[JoeHardyRocks]

Okay, it's not that bad, guys. I still have hope for the series!!!

Pros:

1. Like Mac said, there was a good amount of action in it

2. Frank isn't a total dork around girls anymore

3. The personalities weren't ridiculously over-exaggerated

4. Yay! Chet's back!

5. The writing is decent, even if its 1st person again

6. No ATAC


Cons:

1. Right off the bat, "Trudy" irritated me

2. It looks like it's going to be very technology-centric, which dates the books very quickly. Also, it looks like there'll be a lot of pop culture references already. E.g. YouTube, ?ber

3. Yeah, I also agree with Mac, I'm not sure I like the whole "retired" thing

[MacGyver]

4. Yay! Chet's back!

This must be in the second book- haven't seen that preview yet. But yay! Nice to see Chet make an appearance. And I'm also glad we're past the ATAC thing too. I kinda wonder if that's what the Hardys are actually supposed to be retired from though.
I do appreciate the good points you mentioned, JHR- especially with the personalities being back into sync. I hope their high moral character is intact too. (And I particularly hope this book series does not have any cursing or swearing or foul/vulgar language in it at all.)

[MacGyver]

Okay- went ahead and read the first chapter of Mystery of the Phantom Heist. I see what JHR means about slang- "Oh snap!" and "Just saying" will at some point be forgotten and looked back on as outdated slang. It would be best to avoid that, but then again- we also look back at the original 58 books and see slang like "Leaping lizards!" and "Jeepers!", etc. that are also now outdated slang.
    However, "uber" is a valid word in the dictionary and I don't have a problem with that. I liked Chet's appearance- that seems to have been well done. And again, the writing is a lot better and Frank and Joe seem more mature- and I do like that. We're also seeing an abundance of technology like tablets and smartphones, etc.- but again, in the original text books, we'd be laughing today at the then-new technology of automats. (Just to help keep it in perspective.)
     Frank and Joe do seem to be pretty well in character and there are some things about this series I already do like a lot! The action wasn't quite as big in this chapter, but it did get things rolling with some intrigue and that's a good approach too- everything doesn't have to be action jammed in your face all the time- as it seems was the approach of the UB books most of the time. The Youtube video was interesting- I wonder if there was going to be something more to that or if it was just a teaser. (I suspect something more will come of it.) But again- I'm still not liking the "retired" thing. That will get old soon, I feel.
       But at least some things are more or less back to the status quo, with some wrinkles here and there to keep it interesting. I'm still excited to read the new series and compare it to previous books. Also, I've heard these books are supposed to be getting back to the 200 page or so length of the Original Text books (these first two have 176 and 160 pages, respectively- so that's close anyway- and still longer than the UB books)- so that will definitely be pretty cool. I'm getting the impression of a blend of an UB book and one of the later Digests so far- and I'm cool with that. We'll have to see how the books up the ante in the rest of the chapters.

[MacGyver]

I see the third book is also 160 pages. I wonder if 176 pages was just the length for the kickoff book and the rest of them will settle into a standard 160 pages. That's still a nice increase in page length in any case and I do like that- but it could be that the books will vary here and there as the series progresses. We'll see. It's also encouraging to see Chet Morton in the second book- and nice to see Frank and Joe standing up for him. That's definitely back to the character I expect to see in The Hardy Boys.
I just hope we'll see Fenton Hardy, Laura Hardy, Aunt Gertrude (Trudy, apparently in this series), Chief Collig, Con Riley, Biff Hooper, Tony Prito, Phil Cohen, Callie Shaw and Iola Morton as well. (I'd love to see even more long gone characters return as well- like Jerry Gilroy, Sam Radley and Jack Wayne- you never know, it might happen.)

[VLoneWolf]

I hope they enclude more of the origanl charters.

[SkyWarp]

I noticed the "Trudy" reference right away and was "irked" by it too.   I quit reading after I saw "Trudy".   

[MacGyver]

I thought of something else with this- I wonder if "The Hardy Boys Adventures" title of the series is also referencing the fact that Frank and Joe are "retired" in this series. So maybe they don't solve mysteries so much, but rather have adventures. (Which might or might not involve a mystery.) I hope they push more towards actual mysteries though.

[JoeHardyRocks]

I thought of something else with this- I wonder if "The Hardy Boys Adventures" title of the series is also referencing the fact that Frank and Joe are "retired" in this series. So maybe they don't solve mysteries so much, but rather have adventures. (Which might or might not involve a mystery.) I hope they push more towards actual mysteries though.

That might be interesting, it's definitely not really been done before. Maybe if there are just a couple regular adventures, and the rest mysteries, I'd be okay with that.

[Hardy Sleuth]

I just hope we'll see Fenton Hardy, Laura Hardy, Aunt Gertrude (Trudy, apparently in this series), Chief Collig, Con Riley, Biff Hooper, Tony Prito, Phil Cohen, Callie Shaw and Iola Morton as well. (I'd love to see even more long gone characters return as well- like Jerry Gilroy, Sam Radley and Jack Wayne- you never know, it might happen.)

I hope they enclude more of the origanl charters.

Me, too, MacGyver and VLoneWolf! Ever since I first heard about the Hardy Boys Adventures I've really been hoping to see the Hardy family, Phil, Callie, Iola, Biff, Chet, Tony, Con, Sam and Ethel Radley, Jack Wayne, Chief Collig, and Jerry Gilroy, written as themselves, not just other people with the same names.

[MacGyver]

Sam and Ethel Radley

Nice! I'm impressed you remember Sam Radley's wife's name- that's a good Hardy Boys trivia question there. I don't she appears or gets mentioned very often, but I know it's been mentioned at least once somewhere.

[MacGyver]

Oh yeah! Now I remember the other thing I was going to comment on with the Chapter 1 preview of the second book. I like how Joe comments that he and Frank have been helping their dad with cases and solving mysteries since they were 7 and 8- nice reference to The Hardy Boys: Clues Brothers series and The Hardy Boys: Secret Files series. (Particularly the latter since it's currently the only Hardy Boys series still running- though The Hardy Boys Adventures will soon hopefully slide in next to it as a great companion and exciting successor to the all the Hardy Boys series that have come before it.)

[Hardy Sleuth]

Nice! I'm impressed you remember Sam Radley's wife's name- that's a good Hardy Boys trivia question there. I don't she appears or gets mentioned very often, but I know it's been mentioned at least once somewhere.

Thanks, but I have to admit, it's not been that long since I've read her name in a book. So no amazing feat there. She's in The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge, The Four-headed Dragon and maybe other books.