Courtenay wrote:Oh, it starts out really promisingly, with the introduction of the characters — especially Barney and Miranda — and the mysterious, lonely, creepy, abandoned old manor with the sad story behind it and the children's rooms still furnished and all full of dust and cobwebs and so on... it looks like it's setting up to be a hugely exciting mystery. But then as the adventure unfolds, it turns out that the actual mystery has nothing to do with the house itself and the whole thing gets a bit improbable with the hidden tunnels and the underground river with the goods being sent along it and so on. I also found it disappointing how it's mainly just Barney, held captive underground, who gets involved in the most exciting and dangerous part of the mystery and the others are relegated to the fringes till almost the end. It's a book that could have been brilliant, but it just feels as if Enid didn't handle the plot as skilfully in this one as she usually does.
Yes, I suppose I see what you mean now you point it out - but those things didn't seem to bother me. I know from previous discussions that the abandoned children's rooms and the story behind them resonated with many - but it's possible that it didn't so much with me, so that setting being left behind as the story moved on didn't seem to bother me so much.
I guess you don't turn to Enid Blyton adventure stories, though, if improbable events bother you.
The point that it's largely about Barney, too, could be a problem - I suppose a bit like "The Circus of Adventure" is largely about Jack. I guess I just accepted it, because the stories were still interesting and exciting. If I were writing a story where that was happening, though, I think it would cause me to pause and consider whether it should and could be changed. But if it really didn't want to change, I would probably decide in the end to go along with it and resolve to redress the balance in the next story.
Courtenay wrote:MJE wrote: So what series are your favourites, Courtenay?
The Adventure series, as I've said. Also the Find-Outers, despite my still not having read all of them! For the shorter series, definitely Galliano's Circus.
Okay - sorry - I did read your reference to having read all of the Adventure series, but it didn't say it was a favourite series - although that should have been a reasonable assumption, and I should have picked that up from a comment you made elsewhere.
Now the Mr. Galliano's Circus series is one I have not read - so perhaps I could use that to test my theory about the magic of childhood - although it may not fully work because, even as a child, the animal-type stories were not my favourites, and I'm not even sure if I read any as a child. But I did more recently read both the short novels in "Dog Stories" (well maybe 10-15 years ago) and enjoyed them.
I do have the paperbacks of the series, which I picked up one by one maybe 20 years ago, and my reason for not having read them, even now, is rather odd.
You see, for many years, I believed the series had four books in it. Without having seen all the books, I believed one particular book belonged to the series, and I think that was "Come to the Circus" (the 1944 one about Mr. Carl Crack's Circus - there are two books of this title). And, believing I had only three out of the four books, I was reluctant to even start on a series I thought I might not be able to complete after getting involved in it.
The books got stored in boxes, and I later found out that there were only 3 Galliano books, and that I therefore did have the complete series - but life went on, and I never got around to doing anything about it. Next time I see the books, I will pull them out and read them in correct order.
If you like the Mr. Galliano's Circus series, Courtenay, are you aware that there is a short story also in the series? I have read that in the past, it being the only part of that series I have read. It's called "A Circus Adventure", and can be found in "Enid Blyton's Omnibus!", a collection I found quite a while ago, but well into adulthood - also in a more recent collection, "The Secret of Skytop Hill and Other Stories" - although I bet the illustrations in that won't be nearly so good, if there are any at all (I don't recall).
Regards, Michael.