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Max Tilt #3
Max Tilt: Enter the Core
TheÌý New York Times Ìýbestselling author of the Seven Wonders series and of books in the 39 Clues series, Peter Lerangis, brings us the final installment of the thrilling Max Tilt trilogy.Ìý Max Tilt thinks his luck is finally changing, thanks to his great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne’s unfinished, unpublished manuscript, The Lost Treasures . Using the clues Verne left behind, Max and his cousin Alex were able to bottle the magical healing elements needed to cure his mother’s illness just in the nick of time. But then Max and Alex discover that the vials were stolen by their former friend, Bitsy. She has plans to use them to save the world—but her plans might be much more deadly than they seem. And so now it’s up to Max and Alex to stop her before it’s too late. Working against the odds, the two kids glean clues from one of Verne’s best-loved books, Journey to the Center of the Earth . In it, they discover a map to their most dangerous destination yet—the very core of the world. And so now the two cousins are off on their most unlikely, most important quest yet—literally to save the world! It’s the final installment of the riveting adventure series from master storyteller and New York Times bestselling author Peter Lerangis.
384 pages, Paperback
First published February 19, 2019
13 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Peter Lerangis
150Ìýbooks793ÌýfollowersLerangis's work includes The Viper's Nest and The Sword Thief, two titles in the children's-book series The 39 Clues, the historical novel Smiler's Bones, the YA dark comedy-adventure novel wtf, the Drama Club series, the Spy X series, the Watchers series, the Abracadabra series, and the Antarctica two-book adventure, as well ghostwriting for series such as the Three Investigators, the Hardy Boys Casefiles, Sweet Valley Twins, and more than forty books in the series The Baby-sitters Club and its various spin-offs.[1] He has also written novels based on film screenplays, including The Sixth Sense, Sleepy Hollow, and Beauty and the Beast, and five video game novelizations in the Worlds of Power series created by Seth Godin.[2] As a ghostwriter he has been published under the name A. L. Singer.[3]
Lerangis is the son of a retired New York Telephone Company employee and a retired public-elementary-school secretary, who raised him in Freeport, New York on Long Island. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biochemistry, while acting in musicals[4] and singing with and musically directing the a cappella group the Harvard Krokodiloes,[5][6] before moving to New York. He worked there as an actor[7] and freelance copy editor for eight years before becoming an author.[8]
In 2003, Lerangis was chosen by First Lady Laura Bush to accompany her to the first Russian Book Festival, hosted by Russian First Lady Lyudmila Putina in Moscow.[9][10]Authors R. L. Stine (Goosebumps) and Marc Brown (the Arthur the Aardvark series) also made the trip with Bush.[9]
Also in 2003, Lerangis was commissioned by the United Kingdom branch of Scholastic to write X-Isle, one of four books that would relaunch the Point Horror series there.[11] A sequel, Return to X-Isle, was published in 2004.
In 2007, Scholastic announced the launch of a new historical mystery series called The 39 Clues, intended to become a franchise.[12] Lerangis wrote the third book in the series, The Sword Thief, published in March 2009.[13][14][15] On March 3, 2009, Scholastic announced that Lerangis would write the seventh book in the series, The Viper's Nest.[14][16]
Lerangis lives in New York City with his wife, musician Tina deVaron, and their sons Nick and Joe.[17]
Lerangis is the son of a retired New York Telephone Company employee and a retired public-elementary-school secretary, who raised him in Freeport, New York on Long Island. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biochemistry, while acting in musicals[4] and singing with and musically directing the a cappella group the Harvard Krokodiloes,[5][6] before moving to New York. He worked there as an actor[7] and freelance copy editor for eight years before becoming an author.[8]
In 2003, Lerangis was chosen by First Lady Laura Bush to accompany her to the first Russian Book Festival, hosted by Russian First Lady Lyudmila Putina in Moscow.[9][10]Authors R. L. Stine (Goosebumps) and Marc Brown (the Arthur the Aardvark series) also made the trip with Bush.[9]
Also in 2003, Lerangis was commissioned by the United Kingdom branch of Scholastic to write X-Isle, one of four books that would relaunch the Point Horror series there.[11] A sequel, Return to X-Isle, was published in 2004.
In 2007, Scholastic announced the launch of a new historical mystery series called The 39 Clues, intended to become a franchise.[12] Lerangis wrote the third book in the series, The Sword Thief, published in March 2009.[13][14][15] On March 3, 2009, Scholastic announced that Lerangis would write the seventh book in the series, The Viper's Nest.[14][16]
Lerangis lives in New York City with his wife, musician Tina deVaron, and their sons Nick and Joe.[17]
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 27, 2019
This is the third book in a series. The children have found unimaginable wealth and have found a healing serum that can heal all sicknesses and bring people back to life. This serum is stolen by their former friend, who brings it to her evil father. They are going to go to the center of the earth and put the serum into the water supply that goes everywhere. The problem with this is that first of all the person who's doing it is a totally evil dude, and second of all that the serum makes you live forever, a terrible curse. The dude is obsessed that after climate change brings flooding everywhere he's going to develop underwater Neimand Cities. He's going to give his scientists the serum and ask them to find a way to control it so that his underwater cities have the added bonus of "live as long as you want, live as short as you want." The serum makes you live forever, but you can chose to die whenever you want. You can live to 999, you can live to 15. You chose it. So basically he's going to curse the whole population with eternal life, and once they discover that he's going to come to market with the "cure" which allows them to die whenever they want.
MOM: Isn't eternal life a gift?
JAMES: Well, living forever can be really, really hard. First of all you have to live through every little hardship. Do you want to live through the collapse of society? Do you want to survive a nuclear blast when everyone else dies? So it can seem like a gift, but it really is a curse. Your body can still fall apart. Aging is stopped but your body still can have problems.
MOM: So... maybe eternal life in a sinful world is a really bad idea?!
JAMES: Yeah. If everyone had eternal life, bad guys could do whatever they wanted. They could defy death. No-one would be able to kill them.
MOM: Isn't eternal life a gift?
JAMES: Well, living forever can be really, really hard. First of all you have to live through every little hardship. Do you want to live through the collapse of society? Do you want to survive a nuclear blast when everyone else dies? So it can seem like a gift, but it really is a curse. Your body can still fall apart. Aging is stopped but your body still can have problems.
MOM: So... maybe eternal life in a sinful world is a really bad idea?!
JAMES: Yeah. If everyone had eternal life, bad guys could do whatever they wanted. They could defy death. No-one would be able to kill them.
November 2, 2021
What the heck did I just read? This was bizarre, weird, and kind of a leg down. As soon as I saw the cover I knew there were going to be dinosaurs at the center of the earth. What I didn't know was that they would be so weird and dull. A furry ball with tentacles? Really? Flying monkeys? Someone took a page out of The Wizard of Oz. And The whole thing with the serum being an immorality potion. So cliche. And also, why did Max let Bitsy and Spencer die? He could have warned them about the explosion. Sure they were backstabbers and thieves, but they could have changed. They could have spent time in prison and decided to give up on evil. It happens. Also, why did Max seem so unconcerned about Evelyn and his Mom possibly living forever? One last thing, I found the evolution bits soooo annoying.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2021
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY/TIME BUYING/READING THIS BOOK!!
plot who???
convincing characters where????
resolution how???
just don't expect anything good to come out of this. the reason why i gave this book 3 stars is because one of the characters i remotely liked is alive, and he was absent for like,,,, almost all of the book.
it's full of plot holes and unanswered questions. the ending is a let down and it's very meh. i expected more from someone who wrote in 39 clues tbh.
plot who???
convincing characters where????
resolution how???
just don't expect anything good to come out of this. the reason why i gave this book 3 stars is because one of the characters i remotely liked is alive, and he was absent for like,,,, almost all of the book.
it's full of plot holes and unanswered questions. the ending is a let down and it's very meh. i expected more from someone who wrote in 39 clues tbh.
March 15, 2022
The third and final book of the Max Tilt trilogy was action-packed, and had a very satisfying ending. It was nice seeing the characters again as well as meeting Kristin, which added a lot of local heritage and knowledge into the mix.
This trilogy is a must-read for any lovers of adventure, sci-fi or Jules Verne books.
This book smells like mint (you'll know what I'm talking about when you read it).
This trilogy is a must-read for any lovers of adventure, sci-fi or Jules Verne books.
This book smells like mint (you'll know what I'm talking about when you read it).
April 28, 2023
The final book in the series and the ending of a trilogy read aloud to my class of gr 6-8 students. By the third book more than half had lot interest in what was happening but the few who remained dedicated throughout enjoyed it and were surprised by a character being revealed.
I though it was a good middle grade series and enjoyed how it took classics and had the main characters discovering that the works of “fiction� were in fact true, then replicating some of the adventures that occurred in the original books. I hope it gives my students interests to read those books one day or if they see the title to remember the Max Tilt books we read.
I though it was a good middle grade series and enjoyed how it took classics and had the main characters discovering that the works of “fiction� were in fact true, then replicating some of the adventures that occurred in the original books. I hope it gives my students interests to read those books one day or if they see the title to remember the Max Tilt books we read.
August 1, 2019
Loved this book! Actually, I really like all of Peter Lerangis' books. Creative, fun, kids solving their problems and working together, and a fairly good variety of kids of different ethnicities, sexuality, gender, and emotional/mental makeup, and "handicaps", like Max Tilt, who is autistic.
December 9, 2020
This book was amazing better that the last 2 if I may add
October 20, 2022
Have to read in order. Captivating storyline, couldn't put it down.
November 13, 2022
Loved all of the three books
May 4, 2024
This book was amazing!!! Action, adventure, and science fills this book! If you love Jules Verne's book, "Journey to the Center of the Earth," you are gonna love this book!
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