Who in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Who In The World Is Carmen Sandiego is certainly never a question that I thought to ask before and I think the answer may divide fans. I have not yet watched the new Netflix series but picked up this book as a bit of a nostalgia trip. However, it turns out that this is not the Carmen I remember from my childhood, which was a little disappointing.However, if taken on its own for its own merit, this story is actually reasonably enjoyable. While we don't discover all of Carmen's origins, it tells the story through flashbacks of how she came to be a noble thief, chronicling her early experiences with VILE and how she came to learn what they stand for.While the story is very easy to read and certainly action-packed, it does not have a lot of depth. Events felt very rushed as the plots of the first two episodes of the series were condensed into this breezy 196 page novel. Yet the prose is crisp and easy to read, making the action easy to follow by anyone who is a fan of the show. While I didn't really gravitate toward the framing (Carmen recounting the story of her youth to someone who already knew most of it), it was a fun light read that did make me want to watch the Netflix series to find out what happens next.While Carmen isn't the best of role models, this series does portray her as having a strong moral compass. She is a great female protagonist in that she is strong, confident and knows what she wants. Her desire to travel and broaden her horizons is very admirable, as is her desire to combat VILE by using their gains to help the needy. I also liked her relationship with the mysterious "Player", who is surprisingly likeable despite never appearing in person.Yet the secondary cast is not quite so strong. A lot of the villains lacked depth or motivation for their behaviour. I mean, VILE openly admit to being evil in their acronym. Tigress is particularly guilty of this, as there is never any real reason for her animosity towards Carmen. Some of the characters also felt a bit stereotypical, particularly the Japanese Ninja "Shadowsan" (who also, frustratingly, was always missing the hyphen before his honorific).Anyhow, in all, there is not much depth to this novel but it makes for a fun light read. It may not spark the nostalgia of an older reader but is great for young fans of the new Netflix series.

Very good book