Kiki Strike
Encyclopedia
The Kiki Strike series by Kirsten Miller
is a series of novels revolving around the adventures of six girls in Manhattan, and currently consists of two books (Inside the Shadow City and The Empress's Tomb
).
Five delinquent Girl Scouts,
a million hungry rats,
one secret city beneath Manhattan,
and a butt-kicking girl superspy-
welcome to the world of Kiki Strike'
Told from Ananka's point of view, these books describe the adventures of the Irregulars, a group of girls who join together to explore the underground city under Manhattan called "The Shadow City."
Ananka attends a private school called Atalanta, and lives in a small apartment nearby that is crammed with books on every subject imaginable. Although she does not believe it, she is quite intelligent and very eccentric. She has brown, mousey hair,(some people believe she has glasses, but this is just something the illustrator has added in of her own accord) and thinks of her self as very unattractive. Later in the book, she is given a makeover by Betty, and finally sees herself as pretty.
When asked what she would like to be when she grows up, she says she would like to study the Giant Squid. At the beginning of the book, she needs to be led by Kiki Strike, but by the end she is a leader herself.
Ananka is not gifted in school, but she learns much more important things, such as how to survive in dangerous situations and to look at things and see them as they were in the past. Her parents do not recognize her special talents, and are instead very focused on how she does in school. Her grandfather was a rat lover and invented a way to safely and effectively get rid of them, The Reverse Pied Piper.
Besides narrating the series, Ananka also writes the interesting sidebars found at the end of each chapter, which teach useful skills.
Kiki Strike
Kiki Strike is a small, white-haired girl who founds the Irregulars and is often considered the leader of the group. Although her platinum hair, height of under five feet, and unhealthily pale complexion are off-putting, she is said to be extremely attractive but she's very small. Her real name is actually 'Katarina Galatzina' but this was changed when she was poisoned.
Kiki is always determined to help everybody who needs help. She is clever, and knows multiple languages and martial arts. She also is reputed to have an extensive knowledge of weaponry from her caregiver, Verushka.
Kiki's cousin, Princess Sidonia, is also her arch nemesis, whose mother poisoned Kiki's whole family, and even Kiki. Sidonia is determined to kill Kiki, because as long as Kiki lives, she might someday rule. Kiki in turn wants to get Sidonia's pink diamond ring so that she can use the inscribed instructions to find directions to the proof that Sidonia's mother had killed her mother. Kiki was left allergic to almost everything except cafe au lait and a special nutritious gruel that Veruksha prepares for her. She has escaped to New York, with her caregiver and friend Verushka Kozlova, whom she lives with. She is sometimes bossy, and very ambitious.
Luz Lopez
Luz Lopez is the 'electro-genius' (inventor) and she is good friends with DeeDee Morlock, but often clashes with her, quick to point out the fact that DeeDee is much more well off and privileged than she. She has installed her a fire extinguisher which saves Deedee's life many a time. Although Luz is innocent, she has a criminal record which she is often worried about. She is very poor, but more than meets the eye.
DeeDee Morlock
DeeDee Morlock is an incredibly talented chemist. She is very clumsy, but very kind and shy. She is the daughter of a chemistry professor. She gets in a bad accident during one of the Irregulars' adventures in The Shadow City.
We are introduced to her at yet another Girl Scouts meeting, where we are told she has just "succeeded in refining a particularly dangerous strain of botulism
".
She is the scientist of the groups, and during the course of the series crafts many clever concoctions, including several explosives and Morlock's Miracle Mixture, a self-made substance which repels poisons when digested, and Fille Fiable a concoction used to make one seem trustworthy.
Betty Bent
The third Irregular to be introduced to us, Betty Bent is a master of disguise. Her parents are theater costume designers, and Betty is always in a self-made disguise. She rarely shows her true form, even though she attends the Girl Scouts weekly.
When going to meet Betty, two scouts mistake Ananka for Betty and accidentally insult her.
However, despite her idiosyncrasies, the other Girl Scouts worship Betty for her disguises, and are kind to her. Betty is incredibly shy, sweet and forgiving, rarely clashing with the others' strong personalities. She is also very brave. She also makes the costumes, disguises, and uniforms for the group.
Oona Wong
A disgraced daughter of Lester Liu, the leader of the Fu Tsang gang.
She is a hacker, and a good one at that. She forges birth certificates, driving licenses, and even illegal maps.
She is a very elegant, but also a kind of assertive girl. She is Chinese, and is described as being very beautiful.
She has her own nail studio, which pays very well. However, she makes even more money from the salon because the rich clients believe that the salon girls do not understand English. This leads them to discuss everything with their friends, and Oona picks up much information that often eventually helps her get more money. Her job in the group when in the shadow city is to pick locks. She does this very well and starts to like it after she gets over grumbeling about it. She has a strong personality and can be VERY mean to many old ladies that don't deserve it.
Iris McLeod
In the end an honorary member of the Irregulars, Iris is known as the little girl who is always saving the Irregulars lives. She is often picked on by Oona, as she is the youngest and smallest of the Irregulars. She is eleven, though is also credited for looking like an eight year old. Iris is first mentioned in the series in the first book, as she encounters the Irregulars as they are escaping from the shadow city through a home.
Kiki's cousin, daughter of Queen Livia. Queen Livia is Kiki's aunt, who poisoned KIki's family. Sidonia is heir to the throne of Pokrovia, through nasty plans and fighting, and is also New York's "It" girl, and is the scourge of Atalanta School. She is extremely bossy and selfish. In the first book, she attempts to kill Kiki by giving her chocolate, which Kiki is allergic to. Sidonia also tries to kill the other Irregulars, and lures them in by kidnapping innocent girls who seem to be related to a precious map that the Irregulars have been fighting for, for a long time.
Verushka Kozlova
Verushka was once a member of the royal guard, and helped protect Kiki and her family, the royal Pokrovian family. But when framed as the one who poisoned Kiki's family, she was forced into hiding, but still managed to keep Kiki, and has been protecting her ever since. But will Kiki end up having to protect Verushka?
Kirsten Miller
This is an article about the American writer. For the South African writer of the same name go to Kirsten Miller Kirsten Miller is an American novelist and the creator of the Kiki Strike book series. Her first book in the series, Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City, came out in 2006...
is a series of novels revolving around the adventures of six girls in Manhattan, and currently consists of two books (Inside the Shadow City and The Empress's Tomb
The Empress's Tomb
The Empress's Tomb is a novel by Kirsten Miller, the second in the Kiki Strike series.The preface starts off with an intriguing tale of an Empress mistaken for a traitor...
).
Five delinquent Girl Scouts,
a million hungry rats,
one secret city beneath Manhattan,
and a butt-kicking girl superspy-
welcome to the world of Kiki Strike'
Told from Ananka's point of view, these books describe the adventures of the Irregulars, a group of girls who join together to explore the underground city under Manhattan called "The Shadow City."
Main characters
Ananka FishbeinAnanka attends a private school called Atalanta, and lives in a small apartment nearby that is crammed with books on every subject imaginable. Although she does not believe it, she is quite intelligent and very eccentric. She has brown, mousey hair,(some people believe she has glasses, but this is just something the illustrator has added in of her own accord) and thinks of her self as very unattractive. Later in the book, she is given a makeover by Betty, and finally sees herself as pretty.
When asked what she would like to be when she grows up, she says she would like to study the Giant Squid. At the beginning of the book, she needs to be led by Kiki Strike, but by the end she is a leader herself.
Ananka is not gifted in school, but she learns much more important things, such as how to survive in dangerous situations and to look at things and see them as they were in the past. Her parents do not recognize her special talents, and are instead very focused on how she does in school. Her grandfather was a rat lover and invented a way to safely and effectively get rid of them, The Reverse Pied Piper.
Besides narrating the series, Ananka also writes the interesting sidebars found at the end of each chapter, which teach useful skills.
Kiki Strike
Kiki Strike is a small, white-haired girl who founds the Irregulars and is often considered the leader of the group. Although her platinum hair, height of under five feet, and unhealthily pale complexion are off-putting, she is said to be extremely attractive but she's very small. Her real name is actually 'Katarina Galatzina' but this was changed when she was poisoned.
Kiki is always determined to help everybody who needs help. She is clever, and knows multiple languages and martial arts. She also is reputed to have an extensive knowledge of weaponry from her caregiver, Verushka.
Kiki's cousin, Princess Sidonia, is also her arch nemesis, whose mother poisoned Kiki's whole family, and even Kiki. Sidonia is determined to kill Kiki, because as long as Kiki lives, she might someday rule. Kiki in turn wants to get Sidonia's pink diamond ring so that she can use the inscribed instructions to find directions to the proof that Sidonia's mother had killed her mother. Kiki was left allergic to almost everything except cafe au lait and a special nutritious gruel that Veruksha prepares for her. She has escaped to New York, with her caregiver and friend Verushka Kozlova, whom she lives with. She is sometimes bossy, and very ambitious.
Luz Lopez
Luz Lopez is the 'electro-genius' (inventor) and she is good friends with DeeDee Morlock, but often clashes with her, quick to point out the fact that DeeDee is much more well off and privileged than she. She has installed her a fire extinguisher which saves Deedee's life many a time. Although Luz is innocent, she has a criminal record which she is often worried about. She is very poor, but more than meets the eye.
DeeDee Morlock
DeeDee Morlock is an incredibly talented chemist. She is very clumsy, but very kind and shy. She is the daughter of a chemistry professor. She gets in a bad accident during one of the Irregulars' adventures in The Shadow City.
We are introduced to her at yet another Girl Scouts meeting, where we are told she has just "succeeded in refining a particularly dangerous strain of botulism
Botulism
Botulism also known as botulinus intoxication is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by botulinum toxin which is metabolic waste produced under anaerobic conditions by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and affecting a wide range of mammals, birds and fish...
".
She is the scientist of the groups, and during the course of the series crafts many clever concoctions, including several explosives and Morlock's Miracle Mixture, a self-made substance which repels poisons when digested, and Fille Fiable a concoction used to make one seem trustworthy.
Betty Bent
The third Irregular to be introduced to us, Betty Bent is a master of disguise. Her parents are theater costume designers, and Betty is always in a self-made disguise. She rarely shows her true form, even though she attends the Girl Scouts weekly.
When going to meet Betty, two scouts mistake Ananka for Betty and accidentally insult her.
However, despite her idiosyncrasies, the other Girl Scouts worship Betty for her disguises, and are kind to her. Betty is incredibly shy, sweet and forgiving, rarely clashing with the others' strong personalities. She is also very brave. She also makes the costumes, disguises, and uniforms for the group.
Oona Wong
A disgraced daughter of Lester Liu, the leader of the Fu Tsang gang.
She is a hacker, and a good one at that. She forges birth certificates, driving licenses, and even illegal maps.
She is a very elegant, but also a kind of assertive girl. She is Chinese, and is described as being very beautiful.
She has her own nail studio, which pays very well. However, she makes even more money from the salon because the rich clients believe that the salon girls do not understand English. This leads them to discuss everything with their friends, and Oona picks up much information that often eventually helps her get more money. Her job in the group when in the shadow city is to pick locks. She does this very well and starts to like it after she gets over grumbeling about it. She has a strong personality and can be VERY mean to many old ladies that don't deserve it.
Iris McLeod
In the end an honorary member of the Irregulars, Iris is known as the little girl who is always saving the Irregulars lives. She is often picked on by Oona, as she is the youngest and smallest of the Irregulars. She is eleven, though is also credited for looking like an eight year old. Iris is first mentioned in the series in the first book, as she encounters the Irregulars as they are escaping from the shadow city through a home.
Secondary Characters
Princess SidoniaKiki's cousin, daughter of Queen Livia. Queen Livia is Kiki's aunt, who poisoned KIki's family. Sidonia is heir to the throne of Pokrovia, through nasty plans and fighting, and is also New York's "It" girl, and is the scourge of Atalanta School. She is extremely bossy and selfish. In the first book, she attempts to kill Kiki by giving her chocolate, which Kiki is allergic to. Sidonia also tries to kill the other Irregulars, and lures them in by kidnapping innocent girls who seem to be related to a precious map that the Irregulars have been fighting for, for a long time.
Verushka Kozlova
Verushka was once a member of the royal guard, and helped protect Kiki and her family, the royal Pokrovian family. But when framed as the one who poisoned Kiki's family, she was forced into hiding, but still managed to keep Kiki, and has been protecting her ever since. But will Kiki end up having to protect Verushka?