Spy School Project X

Spy School #10

by Stuart Gibbs

In the tenth book in the New York Times bestselling Spy School series, Ben Ripley races against time and across state lines—by car, train, boat, and plane—to avoid his new cyber enemies and track down Murray Hill.

Ben Ripley’s longtime nemesis, Murray Hill, has put a price on Ben’s head and accused him of being at the center of a conspiracy on the internet. Now Ben finds himself in his greatest danger yet, on the run from both assassins and conspiracy theorists.

Ben must find Murray before his machinations catch up to Ben—but with so much at stake, even some of Ben’s most trusted friends might not be at the top of their game, leaving Ben to be tested like never before.

Genres: Middle Grade, Mystery, Fiction, Adventure, Espionage, Audiobook, Childrens

352 pages, ebook

First published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[Joni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a review copy from Edelweiss, and when I got it I could not put it down. This book had way more suspense than the last nine, which made it way more enjoyable. I really like how this book created a new future for the series due to the big changes that happened in the book. I really enjoyed the character development, especially with Erica, and that we got to meet a new Hale. I really appreciate how Stuart Gibbs gives each of his books its own style or theme that makes it different from the others. He has done a swasome job (as Ashley might say) on this masterpiece.

[Brok3n · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gibbs flips the game board

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an advanced review copy of Spy School Project X.

Spy School novels have a formula. We have Ben Ripley, a gifted kid who achieves excellent results by not being stupid, Ben's friends who are well-intentioned and sometimes competent, and the ever-expanding dysfunctional Hale family made up of the World's worst spies, who believe themselves to be the World's best spies, including toothsome teen sisters Erica and Trixie Hale. Gibbs picks a setting (frequently this is the site of a vacation or a sight-seeing visit he made), then makes up a silly James Bond-esque plot to play out there, with jokes! The main questions one asks on picking up a new Spy School book are "Where will it happen?" and "How will character relationships change?" At the end of the previous novel (Spy School at Sea) Erica and Ben became boyfriend and girlfriend, so we were expecting to see that play out in book 10. (And of course I'm not going to tell you what happens with that.)

To me, however, the big question was what would happen to the formula. It seemed to be getting a bit tired. Book 8, Spy School Revolution felt decidedly "Meh..." to me. Spy School at Sea recaptured a little of the magic, but still was not as funny as the first book. Now, there was no pressing need to change the formula. Spy School has an army of devoted followers (I am one -- I have read every one of the books) and new releases regularly rack up 4.8-star average ratings on Amazon. Why not continue to give the readers what they so evidently want? Why not milk this cow?

Well, score one for artistic integrity! Apparently Gibbs realized he was getting into a rut and took action to boost himself out of it. He doesn't say exactly this, but in an Author's Note at the end he writes

... in the first nine Spy School books, the evil plots of the bad guys have all been riffs on the sort of ridiculous, over-the-top evil schemes of James Bond villains ... But when the time came to think about book ten, I realized that there were actual, real-world issues that would make for good plots as well.

So in chapter one he blows everything up (literally). The Spy School novels will never be the same again. (At least I hope not, because this is SO much better.) Now, to allay the fears of avid Spy School fans, I hasten to add that Project X is still a Spy School novel. It still stars Ben and his friends and the Hale family, along with comically inept nemesis Murray Hill.

The result is a novel that is simultaneously much more serious and much funnier than previous Spy School novels. It is more serious because of those real-world issues he alludes to, which, to avoid spoilers, I will not identify. It is funnier because the jokes are more frequent and better. I don't know why that is, but I speculate that Gibbs was enthusiastic about this new direction, and inspired to be funnier.

Warning: when this is released, I predict that we will see politically motivated negative reviews on Amazon. ;-[

Blog review.

[Mark Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any student will tell you that finals is a stressful time, but it is even more so at Spy School. After all, not only do you have to pass your classes, but failing could lead to serious pain. Ben Ripley has something extra to worry about since he’s been summoned to the principal’s office. Fortunately, he is running a little late since, while he is on the way, the principal’s office explodes. Another attack confirms it – assassins have targeted Ben. Fortunately, Ben’s friend, Erica Hale, knows exactly who is behind it. Unfortunately, that means a trip to find and confront this villain with danger around every corner. Will Ben make it?

This was another wonderful book in the series. The action is almost non-stop, yet it never feels forced into the story but is instead a result of Ben’s need to stop the attempts on his life. There’s also plenty of humor, often coming from the over the top (in the best way) action sequences but sometimes coming from the characters. Speaking of characters, there were a couple of slower moments, which allowed for some good growth. I’m intrigued by the tease at the end of the book, so I’m anxiously awaiting the next entry in the series. If you are a fan old or new, you’ll enjoy this book.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[ethansbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually don't care to much if I read something in a book that I disagree with, sure it'll annoy me, but it's usually not that bad.
But goodnight, this book was definitely not that amazing compared to the other books.
I already had a feeling it wasn't gonna be that great. And unfortunately I was right.

Gibbs makes complete fun of conspiracy theorists, and it's so absurd. Which could be funny expect it's LITERALLY EVERYONE who is labeled as a "conspiracy theorist", which is just so unrealistic.
It would have been funny if a few wackos thought Ben was an alien. Not like HALF THE POPULATION.
At the end of the book Stuart Gibbs adds a note that said that the last nine books have all been funny/crazy plots that the bad guys have come up with and that he wants to now start using real life problems in his books.
And real conspiracy theorist are HARDLY a problem​. Why does he care if someone thinks the world's flat? Or the moon landing was faked?
It's cause there's more of an agenda, lol call me a conspiracy theorist now cause I think that.
And Gibbs has been doing that recently, pushing his own ideas in his books. And it's starting to get old. Just make books like you did years ago, even if it's not the "thing" now, it's definitely better.

Anyway besides the annoying theorists parts, this book just wasn't as good as the others. And I had been wondering is it because I'm getting older? Is this series just not for me anymore?
Nope and nope. I reread the whole series this year, to see if I am growing out of it. And I'm not, I still enjoy a LOT. But this book was just not that amazing, mostly cause it's kinda getting repetitive, and WE NEED NEW VILLAINS!

But, but. It wasn't TOO bad. It was still enjoyable, with the clever Gibbs humor. And thank goodness no gay characters either. He's doing great not writing them into his main series lol.

Anyway hopefully the next book is good. (Cause c'mon, I'm still gonna read it. I'ma fan.)

[Rizwan Khalil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, I think after this latest crapfest of plotless, payoffless, pointless drivel I am finally done with the Spy School series. This once fun series at the beginning was lighthearted, amusing, at times exciting teen middle-grade spy fiction consisting the first two books that really hit its stride by the opening of the third book and consecutively book 3-4-5 (each three gotten five stars from me) were positively thrilling edge-of-seat suspenseful teen spy missions! But then since the later part of the sixth book the series has turned more and more repetitive, ridiculous and just plain stupid yet at the same time bland, boring and so much cliched with each new installments.

Most of all, it had gotten crystal clear after a certain point that the whole series has absolutely zero consequences or any lasting after-effects without ever changing any kind of status quo. The good guys will win the bad guys will lose but not a single bad guy will ever die (even after a supposed extreme damage), and the worst thing is, almost no captured bad guys will even stay in prison, at all. Just on to the next big scheme for them, and our young heroes will be there to thwart them, again. And rinse. And repeat. The supposed evil mastermind of the series Murray Hill for example is the most idiotic supervillain there ever can be, he's not even very good at being a particularly intelligent or clever person, and yet counting this book how many times now he has escaped prison? three or four times? Who cares. And look, there is also Joshua Hallal, Ashley Sparks and Warren Reeves there too. Obviously. Its all just a big children's game, with appropriate amount of Hales family adults present (this time every single one of them) to supervise the youngones, of course, so there's not a drop of blood, no harm to anyone, no actual damage anywhere. Even if they were supposedly fighting off hordes of world-class bloodthirsty assassins. Good guys or bad guys, everyone is okay by the end, and everyone just having fun chasing and near missing (may be a conk on the head at most), that's all.

At least I enjoyed the last one Spy School At Sea for its creative set-pieces on a massive ocean liner and the crazy but exciting evil plot of turning the ship's nuclear reactor into a giant nuke to blow up the Panama Canal. I thought the series is hopefully back on track. Not so much. Project X is by far the worst in the series. It felt completely nonsensical, and surprisingly dull without an ounce of creativity. There's no evil scheme or even any actual plot so to speak... just one predictable, tiresome, hollow chase sequence after another. Yawn. Literally, multiple times. I hoped maybe the third act would bring some unforeseen new threat, like several previous missions... nope. Nothing. Seriously, is it too much to ask for a new bad guy with a unique threat who didn't endlessly (and absurdly) keep escaping death or prison in the previous books? I guess. And by the end it looks like the series is even dropping the eponymous 'Spy School' concept all together, from now on only going to focus on special training our selected group of heroes (Ben-Erica-Zoe-Mike), as if they are not getting ALL the focus on the series all the time... I dearly missed Chip and Jawa in the last several books, and got my hopes up when these two were also involved this time from the start livening things up a bit, but then comes the sudden plummet. Literally and figuratively. Leaving us with the same bunch of overused supporting characters, once again. So yeah, I am done.

Lastly, I just have to add, as a former fan who genuinely enjoyed the earlier books of the Spy School series, anyone who have read another teen-spy action series like Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz that had actual consequences-damages-deaths, can't help but realize how utter cartoonishly poor and creatively empty this series has become. Depressing.

1.5 out of 5.

[Larry Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly Mr Gibs is showing us that #45 lives rent free in his mind! Turning what started as a great, fun series, into trying to indoctrinate the next generation to his voting preference.
Some ideas for future books:
Send the spy kids to Russia to find how they influenced the 2016 election.
Or the spy kids search for #46’s brain?

[Jeromy Siebenaler · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing

There were a lot of plot twists and I loved the entire story nothing is bad with Stuart Gibbs I loved how Erica finally learned that she could rely on others and that he chooses option 2 in the end

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was happy to see that our library had another Stewart good Gibbs spy school story.

Like the rest of these that I loved to the plot which is fast and easy and the characters are just fantastic. Very much like James Bond kind of movie with fast paced and incredible weapons and situations.

I was first introduced to the series by my fifth grade grandson who is now a junior in high school. We both continue to be in love with this series

Highly recommend and hope you give them a try.

[Cyrus Hung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spy School Project X is a action packed book about Ben and his friends being hunted down by assassins all over America and conspiracy theorists. The cause of this? Ben's nemesis Murray Hill. Murray Hill added a 21 million dollar bounty to Ben's head and on a website full of conspiracy theorist he gave them false information about Ben. Will Ben and his friends survive or will they be killed by the assassins? Read this book to find out.

Compared to the book before, this book was much more adventurous and had more action involved. I really enjoyed this book because this book was very adventurous and funny.

[Yapha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry into the Spy School series! I think the "evil plot" is particularly important in this one. Murray is using fringe groups and conspiracy theorists on the Internet in his pursuit of revenge on Ben. The reader sees just how easy it is for lies and misinformation to spread. While there are some silly and ridiculous elements to this, the discussion of why it works is essential to readers in the target age groups. As a librarian, I really appreciate the ability to use this as part of a discussion on reliable sources and misinformation. The action scenes are as fantastic as always! Highly recommended for grades 4 and up.

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss

[Rubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my favorite Spy School Novel!

I loved this one! Erica finally shows how much she cares about Ben and mot only that, but she learns she is not, in fact, perfect and that she can rely on others to help her. Zoe stepped up her game, Trixie made another appearance, and even Erica's dad supported!
So much action and crazy chases and fun moments! Couldn't put it down and CAN'T WAIT for Spy School 11 😍

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action, adventure, and humor run as high as ever in this latest installment of a popular series, but unlike the other books, this one takes a sudden and wonderful twist.

It's test time, and like so many other kids (even those who aren't spies), Ben is anything but thrilled. But toughing those tests is soon the least of his worries as a rumor hits the internet, and Ben is accused of being at the heart of the latest conspiracy theory. It's open season on Ben's life as a huge reward is offered to anyone, who can kill him. In a high-tension attempt to stop the lunacy, Ben takes off to find his arch-enemy, but with everything going on, who knows what will happen next.

This was such a refreshing wind into the Spy School world. The author has stepped away from the usual scheme, which has dominated this series, and taken a new plot route, while keeping the action scenes as exciting as before and even adding to the humor and atmosphere. Ben has more to deal with in new directions, and that while still handling his age old enemy, Murray.

There will be those out there, who will criticize this read, thanks to it's twist into the realm of internet and disinformation...just because it is what it is. But for the normal reader (who stays down-to-earth), it's clear that this adds to the story, doesn't mean anything political, and actually opens up the doors for readers to realize that everything on the internet should be investigated, considered, and re-checked more than once because...well, the internet is the internet and can't be taken at face value. So, kudos to the author for attacking that bag of worms without attacking it.

Fans of this series are in for another treat as they accompany Ben on yet another exciting adventure, meet old characters as well as one or two new, fever for Ben as he battles one hurdle after the other, and laugh more than every now and then the entire way through. I received a DRC and was glad to see the exciting change.

[may · Rating 5 out of 5]

I began reading this series in elementary school (Evil Spy School had just come out, in 2015!), and I'm a freshman in college now still reading them; they're just my thing. These and Alice Oseman's books are the only things I can rely on to completely engage me from start to finish because they're just fun, but watching Erica's growth adds a lot of emotion into them as well. She's one of the most well written characters I've ever read. Her character arc is achingly gradual, because of how realistically hard it is for her to completely reshape her personality and view of the world. Often with characters there's a gap in their arc where their behavior suddenly shifts, but here each book feels like a slightly different Erica in the best way, because a little bit more of her is revealed, even if she seems just as closed off as before in the beginning.

Am I probably much older than the target demographic of this series by now? Definitely. The repetition of the theme of not believing everything you read on the internet definitely was a bit much for me, a chronically online 18 year old. But, if the books keep coming out, and Erica is still in them, I'll probably be reading them when I'm in my 30s. I still love middle grade even if it can lack some subtlty because there's just something magical about children's literature to me. Every time I pick up a middle grade book, I'm reminded of when I started to love reading in 3rd grade all over again.

[Carter Fitch]

AMAZING BOOK

I have read every spy school book in the series and this is easily one of the best. Amazing Book!!!!!!!

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its ok but the book was kind of predictable.

[maven calore’s venice b!tch]

NO THE CLIFFHANGER I’M GONNA DIE. i miss spy school content. after secret service it turned bad. it’s called spy school for a reason! (this is just the fan in me complaining) i rlly hate what happened in the book

[Catie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series but if I had to tier rank them, this would be probably be my least favorite in the series. Still good though!

[Ken Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was by far one of my favorites of the Spy School series

[Analie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book #10 did not disappoint. One of my favorites in the series!

[Dominika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miła przerwa od modernistycznego bełkotu

[Tommy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't as good as past books but still not terrible hope future ones are better

[Belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben is on the job again, but this time it's different. This time its personal - Murray has just launched Project X, a project that has put Ben in the path of every single assassin and killer on the planet, as well as in the way of internet conspiracy theorists.

I love that Stuart Gibbs has taken a step from the crazy James-Bond-esque villains to talk about real problems. In this novel, he discusses how things can change and morph on the internet, how unreliable it is to believe everything you read. As a teacher, I can only think about the ways that this book can be used for discussions about credibility, hoaxes, and confirmation bias. This might be a book for kids but the topics it dissects are skills and ideas that everyone should know.

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murray Hill has gone rogue and is going after Ben! To make matters worst, the conspiracy theories wrong amuck and soon everyone is after Ben!

Sadly, I’m caught up on this series and o have to wait until the fall!

[Lauren Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve listened to all of the Spy School books with my 10 year old son and we’ve both enjoyed them a lot. Gibbs is a good writer who doesn’t dumb things down for his audience and also includes plenty of strong female characters in the books (my son thinks Erica Hale should be in Smash Bros).

But this book surpassed all the other books because the “evil plot” in this one was a simple Internet disinformation campaign. While not as immediately threatening as the previous Bond-esque machinations, this plot proves to be much more insidious and difficult to thwart. And more importantly: much more realistic.

Now that my son is spending more time on the Internet, I’m glad he was exposed to the dangers of conspiracy theorists and not automatically believing everyone you read on the internet.

[kai ☆ [hiatus] · Rating 5 out of 5]

my lungs almost collapsed because i was laughing so hard u should read this book its good

[Joanna R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks so much to Stuart Gibbs and Edelweiss for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Another fantastic addition in the Spy School series! In this latest installment, Ben finds himself caught in the middle of a conspiracy against him, engineered by none other than his nemesis, albeit a fairly unintimidating one, Murray Hill. Gibbs once again outdoes himself, crafting together action and adventure, Ben's hilarious commentary, and some of the more touching sentiments of the bonds between him and his friends. Murray has created his biggest attack on Ben yet - it's not just business, it's personal.

Though mentioned in my last review of Spy School at Sea, it's worth saying twice - Erica's character development throughout the series has been... stunning to see. From the first book through Project X, it's the subtle observations from Ben that make all the difference to hint to her true nature, and this novel was no exception.

I loved how in this book there was discussion of some real-life issues that still have extremely corporeal influence over the media today - conspiracies may not be real, but their impact is great. Thanks to Stuart Gibbs for another amazing novel.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every second of this! I’ve been following this series for a long time and to see the character growth in this book is outstanding. Both Ben and Erica have outstanding written character arcs, looking back to where they started as to where they are now makes me kind of proud of them. I truly enjoyed seeing how their character arcs unfold. Not to mention how the experiences they’ve had with each other affects that arc. Also every action scene in this book was written visually beautiful! I could picture everything perfectly. There is also a portion at the end where they go to a location and as someone who knows that location very well I can also say that was 1000% accurate. Everything from the weather to what it looks like, fantastic. I truly cannot wait to see how the rest of the series unfolds, I love this book series and it’s characters. There’s so many things I want to see from the side characters in the future and I can’t wait to read it. Thank you for writing this amazing book Stuart Gibbs!

[Chase Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best book yet! I loved Eric’s character development, and how you introduced Mary Hale! I can’t wait for book 11! Spy School, (In my opinion), is by far the best book series on the planet! Great job Stuart Gibbs!

[NotaTroll38199 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I was so shocked when I found out that Benjmain Ripley is going to be a superhero with special super powers.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like every Spy School book, this one well exceeded my expectations. There's a few things I would like to praise, particularly Erica Hale's character development. Throughout the series, Erica has been painted as this "Perfect, can do no wrong" spy, and I love how the author broke this mold in Project X. For the first time, Erica had something to loose and this changed her character. The author had the choice to keep her in the mold but chose to make it more realistic, giving us insight to her personal life and insecurities. Erica was able to realize that she does have a support system and people she can rely on if things go wrong, I think this is something often overlooked in children's media when portraying women. Often young teen girls are only portrayed as powerful if they are independent and don't rely on anyone, but Erica was able to show us that you can be independent and still rely on others. Overall, I was impressed and can't wait to see what happens next to these amazing characters.