Split in two.
For the first time, Dan's determination to escape gave way to fear. 'I'm being kidnapped!'
The Emperor's Code is the eighth book in the first series of The 39 Clues.
One belief has sustained fourteen-year-old Amy Cahill and her younger brother, Dan, on their hunt for the 39 Clues: They are the good guys. But then a shocking discovery about their parents discovery shatters everything Amy and Dan think they know, dividing the two siblings for the first time ever. When Dan disappears in a country with more than a billion people, Amy has to make a terrible choice - find the next Clue...or find her younger brother.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gunman: Dan finds and keeps a locket of a mysterious woman. The next book reveals that woman to be Madeleine Cahill, the secret fifth child of Olivia Cahill.
- Coincidental Broadcast: Dan has just left the company of the Wizards, with whom he'd temporarily allied after he and Amy split due to an argument. He ends up watching a TV report on weather conditions at Mount Everest, where he suspects the clue that they're looking for is hidden - and suddenly sees a few familiar faces on the broadcast. Turns out that the rival Clue-hunting team of the Holts have beaten everyone else to the mountain.
- Foreshadowing: Many of the front cover and first page codes have this.
- On the crown, the words "Because it's there" can be clearly seen. This refers to a quote from mountaineer George Mallory
, who hid the Janus serum in his final attempt to traverse Mount Everest, resulting in his death. There is also his initials being seen on the right side of the helmet. - Symbols are seen on the first page. With a key, it creates "Tenzing knew too", implying that he was a Cahill and knew about the Clue all along.
- On the bottom left of the front cover, a name, "Henry", can be spotted in the pattern. That was Emperor Puyi's pseudonym after he was forced to leave the Forbidden Palace.
- On the crown, the words "Because it's there" can be clearly seen. This refers to a quote from mountaineer George Mallory
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Not exactly a friend, but Amy chooses to save Ian from a collapsing icy ledge in Mount Everest, at the cost of the Janus serum.
- I Am What I Am: After struggling throughout the whole book with the revelation of his parents being Madrigals, Dan later accepts not only this, but also the fact that he is also a Madrigal too. It happens when he yells out this trope after finding out that Jonah and his parents never had any intention of returning him to Amy, and were instead trying to use him for their personal gains."I'M A MADRIGAL!"
- I Know Kung Fu: Dan learns Wushu from Shaolin monks.
- It Was with You All Along: The Clue wasn't the Janus serum, it was actually the silk sheet that Dan and Amy picked up as a hint in the Forbidden City.
- Oh, Crap!: Basically, the Wizards' faces when Dan says the aforementioned quote in the I Am What I Am entry.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: The entire plot of this book, with the realities of Amy's and Dan's parents being Madrigals finally breaking them, resulting in an argument that sees Dan storm away in anger.
- Wham Line: Certain words have been circled in the book, and when put together in the order of appearance, it reads this:Madrigals are behind everything. They lay out the path the others will walk. The end is coming.
