The people in the world realized something during what was known as the Great War: duh, war is horrible. With many lives lost and many displaced or affected, even the victors who got ahead and could say they won truly didn’t feel like they did — that’s just awful it all was. So eventually, all the nations gathered, signed peace treaties, and spoke about ensuring wars never actually see the light of day ever again. And so far, this has been true…
…But only in public view.
Spy Classroom informs us that instead of wars being seen, they’re hidden in the shadows — many nations have secret spy groups angling to uncover and/or hide each of their nation’s secrets or die trying. We follow at first Klaus, a man later called by his master Guido, “The Greatest Spy in the World,” whom we learn is a true eccentric, painting with mostly reds and being capable of handling missions and killing his enemies with unparalleled skill. Amongst his oddball spy group Inferno, he is tasked by Guido to handle a secret mission apart from his comrades, and said task has a sub-ten percent chance of succeeding.
Some time later, we see Klaus again — when he meets a group of girls known around their spy academies as washouts, yet they’re all assembled under the group name Lamplight. These girls are under orders to be taught by Klaus and prepare to take on the Impossible Mission, and whatever that mission is, it has a 10% chance of succeeding. Aside from the foreboding percentage, all of them learn in two days two things: that all the girls essentially flunked out of their respective academies, and as amazingly gifted he is, Klaus is a god-awful teacher.
…The Impossible Mission starts in a month!
The very first page before we get to the prologue is “A spy always lies.” Very apt from start to finish, which generally means one of the main hooks throughout this first volume is spotting the truths from lies. It doesn’t seem like, for example, that when you open and see the insert poster and spot a bunch of cute or oddly colored haired girls (and Klaus) with their codenames plastered all over that you’d go roughly 3/4 of the book knowing only one of the girls would have their name, codename, and ability actually revealed…and also then realize someone is missing who then gets revealed — name and code name — way earlier. So forget the first page, the web of lies and deceits begin when you open the book.
For the majority of this first volume, aside from Klaus and the codenamed person, we follow one of the first to essentially flunk out of her academy, Lily. Codenamed Flower Garden, she’s the typical high-energy girl amongst the group who eventually carves her way to being the de facto leader of Lamplight and pushes herself and everyone else to actually try and do what they can to complete the Impossible Mission, since as it stands, they’re in major trouble. Klaus can’t teach a lick, and after deciding this was her best option after leaving school, it’s looking like it’s her worst option instead. So we mainly follow her efforts to steer the group, which does lead to them eventually getting Klaus to give them a way to get better, but between her vigor and her errors (one of them was when everyone finding out how she had the funds to have financiers for the group all the time), it does somehow unify everyone.
The main mission seems a bit common, and one of this volume’s drawbacks is some of the subterfuge regarding the main cast — in short, not every girl gets expanded upon aside from basic personality details and their color-coded hair. But for the most part, it doesn’t really harm the overall reading experience. There’s a good rhythm in the writing that is fairly compelling, and the intrigue of spotting what’s fact or fiction stems from how certain aspects are written — for example, the very moment everyone was introduced, the rules of where the girls are staying at, etc…all of it leads to a few twists that almost make you go, “Ah-hah, I see.”
The main twist does somewhat involve the classic student surpassing the teacher moment, but all in all, Spy Classroom was a pretty fun read from start to finish. Aside from what I mentioned earlier regarding the cast of characters, the naming sense is a little poor in some areas (yes, there’s a reason, but Heat Haze Palace as your base? Really?), and your tolerance of Lily since she’s the focus character might not click for everyone. But this was a good time, and at some point I’ll see about catching up to future volumes.