Needless to say, our local public library (in the US) does not have much in the way of Enid Blyton books. I was fortunate to find the Island of Adventure and the Castle of Adventure double book. This was actually what kicked off my quest to re-read the Blyton books again. I did not recall ever having read the Adventure series, so everything is pretty much new for me with these series.
I mentioned that I am buying second-hand hardcovers. I made one exception, by purchasing the full set of the Adventure series from Navrang. They shipped them quickly via UPS, and the books are arriving today!
“Shut the door, idiot!” roared the voice from nowhere, ”and don’t sniff! Where’s your handkerchief?”
Back to the books – the first two of the series are great. I read Island while we were on a vacation on the Oregon shore, and one could easily envision a Craggy Tops perched halfway down a cliff next to the roaring sea with the mysterious Isle of Gloom nearby. Blyton seemed to brush over character development a bit - after a while the characters of Phillip and Jack seemed to just meld into basically the same character to me. Other than that the books are great. I’m not sure I’d say these are two of the best adventure stories ever written by Enid Blyon as the book blurb says, but they were enjoyable nevertheless.
