The Latest Tom Swift and My Ongoing Problem with Books

I am requiring myself to write a review of every book that I read.  This is the only reason why I wrote this post.  In the end, it turned out okay.

Tom and his friends are excited to be spending their spring break out at Lake Carlopa, where they’ll be camping and testing inventions to clean up the shores as part of a service project sponsored by Swift Enterprises.  Rock star of the engineering world Jonathan J. Jefferson is even set to make an appearance as part of the event.  Tom’s also really looking forward to using the trip as an opportunity to test out his most ambitious creation yet—a two-man submarine!  Lake Carlopa is a haven for scuba divers because of its clear waters, and it will be the perfect place for the sub’s maiden voyage.

But when a scuba diving team shows up at the campsite and seems to be there for more than just pleasure diving, Tom and his friends wonder what they’re really up to.  Are the divers using the exhibition as cover for something more sinister?

This book does not have a next title listed.  The most recent Nancy Drew Diaries and Hardy Boys Adventures books do list the next title.  It sounds like the Tom Swift series might have ended with this title.  Speculation abounds that Simon and Schuster could be planning a relaunch to tie in with the new Tom Swift television series.  Or it could be that sales of the Tom Swift Inventors' Academy books just have been that bad.

These books are now way too science-heavy for my enjoyment.  I do realize that's the point, but that doesn't change how I feel.  I found the book to be mostly uninteresting until I reached around halfway through the book.  From that point on, I found the book to be enjoyable.

Not enough people in the collecting community are reading and saying anything about these books for me to know how much of my reaction is just me.  I assume that I am the problem.  I know that at least one other person continues to enjoy the Tom Swift books.  For a time, I thought that the Tom Swift books were the strongest of the remaining Stratemeyer series currently in print.

I don't know what people think of the Hardy Boys Adventures books at this point.  They now bore me, and I can no longer stand the first-person narrative.  I did at one time think that the Hardy Boys Adventures books were the best.

I currently like the Nancy Drew Diaries books the best, when I did think that they were the worst.  The writing of the Nancy Drew Diaries books has changed for the better.  Since my natural inclination is to like Nancy Drew the best, it is logical that I am now responding to them the best. 

That may be what changed.  Nancy Drew improved, so I no longer like the others.  However, I do feel that the Hardy Boys Adventures books have become more boring.  I do think there is a difference.  It may not be much, but I think it's there.  

I no longer find the Tom Swift books to be fun.  Is it me, or are the books less fun?  I'm not sure.

I did so enjoy the Drina books, which I finished reading right before reading this Tom Swift book.  I find that when I finish something really good that I struggle with what I read next.  These modern books fall flat compared to them, so that may be my main problem.  Regardless, I continue to struggle with reading most books.  

Each time the Nancy Drew Diaries, Hardy Boys Adventures, and Tom Swift Inventors' Academy books are mentioned on Facebook, someone asks about them.  

Are the books good?

Are the books worth reading?

I can't answer those questions for you.  I can say what I think, but what I think does not apply to you.

You must decide for yourself whether you might enjoy the books.

My opinion of the Stratemeyer triumvirate has shifted from what it once was, and I do feel that most of it is me.  Other people aren't struggling with the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books like I am.  My opinion is no more valid than that of anyone else.  

The best way to know if you would like a book is to start reading it.  Sites like Amazon typically have a free sample of the beginning of books.  If the book is in a library, then check it out so that you can try it.  I can't tell you if you would like the book.