Starred Review ALA Booklist (Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2017)

Starred Review Twins Tess and Theo live in one of the only remaining buildings designed by the Morningstarrs, visionary twins who built glittering structures in nineteenth-century New York, as well as the Cipher, a notorious, citywide puzzle leading to fantastic treasure. Now, in the twenty-first century, Tess and Theo's building has been purchased by a mercenary developer, but Tess grasps at a shred of hope: if they solve the Cipher, they might be able to keep their home. With robust, architectural world building, Ruby reveals an alternate New York teeming with mechanical marvels and compelling secrets. This New York still has some familiar features, however: a rich culture of diversity alongside insidious greed and wealth inequality. Tess and Theo, and their friend and neighbor Jaime, have distinct voices and idiosyncrasies that, though some might consider them odd, become marvelous strengths. As the trio traverse the city, they're often baffled by how easily clues fall into their hands, but Ruby slyly sidesteps those coincidences by giving the Cipher itself a mysterious, subtle sort of agency. In this smart, immersive series starter, Ruby expertly juggles stunning plot choreography, realistic stakes in a captivating fantasy setting, well-wrought characters, and flashes of sharp cultural commentary. It's a brainy romp with a worrying heart, and while many plot threads are resolved, Theo, Tess, and Jaime will surely, thankfully, be back for more.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Printz winner Ruby's middle-grade series opener gracefully tackles magic, history, and gentrification. When a potato-faced real estate mogul buys their historic, rent-controlled building, three middle schoolers—bushy-haired, olive-skinned Jewish twins Tess and Theo and brown-skinned Trinidadian-Cuban neighbor Jaime—band together to solve a centuries-old mystery. At once thoroughly modern (a solar-powered city filled with a genuinely diverse cast of characters) and charmingly old-fashioned (steampunk machinery, ciphers, and a mystery at times reminiscent of Ellen Raskin or E.L. Konigsburg), Ruby's vision of New York brims with innovative details that perfectly support her themes of friendship, family, and history. Emotionally fragile, highly intelligent Tess and Theo are balanced by the less-volatile, artistically gifted Jaime: all are complex, nuanced adolescents. They throw themselves into the Morningstarr Cipher, named for the twins who built much of New York's astounding infrastructure (elevators that go sideways, subways that climb buildings), hoping to discover a treasure—but the Cipher "tr[ies] to solve you" as you solve it. This first volume opens up an ever expanding sense of magic, culminating in a bittersweet ending that promises bigger things to come. It's a doorstopper, but other than one brief dip, the pacing keeps the pages turning, while the details reward close reading. The past informs the present as the review informs readers: don't let this one go. (Mystery/fantasy. 10-15)

Horn Book

In an alternate-reality NYC, twins Tess and Theo and neighbor Jaime hope to solve the Old York Cipher--created by the nineteenth-century inventors of the city's "mechanical wizardry"--and save their apartment building from a scheming developer. Geography, history, and steampunk-esque machines are thoroughly integrated into the thrum of a strange but recognizable city. Both mystery and sci-fi fans will eagerly anticipate the next installment.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Printz winner Ruby's middle-grade series opener gracefully tackles magic, history, and gentrification. When a potato-faced real estate mogul buys their historic, rent-controlled building, three middle schoolers—bushy-haired, olive-skinned Jewish twins Tess and Theo and brown-skinned Trinidadian-Cuban neighbor Jaime—band together to solve a centuries-old mystery. At once thoroughly modern (a solar-powered city filled with a genuinely diverse cast of characters) and charmingly old-fashioned (steampunk machinery, ciphers, and a mystery at times reminiscent of Ellen Raskin or E.L. Konigsburg), Ruby's vision of New York brims with innovative details that perfectly support her themes of friendship, family, and history. Emotionally fragile, highly intelligent Tess and Theo are balanced by the less-volatile, artistically gifted Jaime: all are complex, nuanced adolescents. They throw themselves into the Morningstarr Cipher, named for the twins who built much of New York's astounding infrastructure (elevators that go sideways, subways that climb buildings), hoping to discover a treasure—but the Cipher "tr[ies] to solve you" as you solve it. This first volume opens up an ever expanding sense of magic, culminating in a bittersweet ending that promises bigger things to come. It's a doorstopper, but other than one brief dip, the pacing keeps the pages turning, while the details reward close reading. The past informs the present as the review informs readers: don't let this one go. (Mystery/fantasy. 10-15)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In this entertaining race through an alternate-history New York City, first in the York trilogy, several children attempt to unravel their city-s greatest unsolved puzzle in order to save their historic apartment building from an unscrupulous real-estate tycoon. Twins Tess and Theo Biedermann and their friend Jaime Cruz are determined to solve the clues left behind by the Morningstarrs, legendary architects and inventors who dazzled New York with fantastic technology and skyscrapers before vanishing. As the intrepid trio follows a chain of previously undiscovered hints, they-re drawn deeper into the truth behind the so-called Old York Cipher. Printz Award-winner Ruby (Bone Gap) conjures a compelling vision of a city rife with enigmas and secrets through third-person narration that highlights the key roles played by the friends and a young neighbor named Cricket. The details of Ruby-s alternate New York fascinate-this is a world that features familiar pop culture references (Legos, Nancy Drew, Marvel superheroes), which are subtly tweaked and accompanied by intriguing tech, such as the robotic caterpillars that keep the Underway (aka subway) clean. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers clamoring for book two. Ages 8-12. Agent: Tina Wexler, ICM. (May)