The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories (Junior Library Guild Selection)

Product Details

• Requisite: NEW
• Notes: Tag New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• ISBN13: 9781931520577

Description

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Customer Reviews

Magical stories
I read about this book in the May/June 2009 issue of The Horn Book, and although I'd hardly read any other Joan Aiken (somehow, as a child, I got the idea that I didn't like her books) was somehow moved to order it. I'm so glad I did. I read the entire thing aloud to my 8-year-old son, who said, about halfway through, "I love these stories." They were just magical--not only in subject matter, but in their tone, their turns of plot, their gentleness, their sheer imaginative whimsy. Among my favorite stories was the one about the governess at the seaside cottage whose ghost is given rest when Harriet and Mark figure out what she is distressed about and contrive to relieve her anxiety. And the title story is simply breathtaking. Read this book--you'll love it, too!

2009-10-08 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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A Fantastic Series of Stories
Thanks goes to our wonderful children's librarian who steered me to this utterly delightful series of short stories. Although many of the stories in Joan Aiken's The Serial Garden were originally published over fifty years ago, they were completely new to me. It's hard to believe I never discovered them before, and I'm sorry that my children (who are now teenagers) never had the pleasure of hearing them read aloud.

The Armitages are an English family in the 1950's who live a rather magical life. It all starts when Mrs. Armitage muses to Mr. Armitage on their honeymoon that she's worried that living happily ever after could be a bit boring. Serendipitously she finds a wishing stone and makes a wish that things won't be dull, and that interesting and unusual things will happen to them, perhaps on Mondays, but not always Mondays (because that could get boring too). She also wishes that her future children will have a fairy godmother. And that their house will have at least one ghost. Right then and there, the stories are born.

Fast forward twelve years or so, and you meet Harriet and Mark, their two plucky children who manage to handle all that comes their way with grace and humor. There are witches and unicorns and best friends who are six inches tall. Things often go awry, and yet these two continue on, seemingly unperturbed by the chaos that surrounds them. They are curious and fearless, whether they are encountering druid brothers fighting over a bathmat made of human hair, or magical gardens that grow out of cereal boxes. In one story, an invisibility cloak is even mentioned, and these were written years before Harry Potter came on the scene.

The stories are imaginative and well written, with surprise twists and turns on almost every page. Children who are avid readers will delight in visiting the world that Aiken has created. But, even more importantly, I think this would be a wonderful read aloud book for reluctant readers. Parents could read a story a night to a child, or teachers could read a story a day to a class. It's a classic example of great storytelling and begs to be read aloud. This is one book I think every family should own!

2009-08-18 (Bainbridge Island, WA USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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When the Family Pet Is a Unicorn
This is old-fashioned story telling at its finest, reminding me why so few books manage to stick in my head these days. The best books are great because they are truly creative, as opposed to predictable and mundane.

Of course, Joan Aiken's gift is for making the ordinary extraordinary. A family called the Armitages lives in a house where magical things tend to happen, often--but not always--on Mondays. Mark and Harriet and their parents simply keep an eye out for such happenings, participating with true British aplomb as well as gusto. It's a place where your great-uncle's mythic apple might attract the Greek Furies to your basement, your parents might be turned into ladybugs, or a quince tree might be stolen by a lady journalist who is also a witch. Where you might be asked to raise a baby griffin, which sounds like fun until you discover just how much the creatures can eat. Where little people prove to be much more grubby and querulous than Mary Norton's Borrowers, and where cutting a puzzle off the back of a cereal box may lead you to a spell that has trapped someone inside for a century.

Most of the stories are funny, and some of them are poignant. Any child who loves the Narnia books and isn't locked into sitcom-type story telling will find that Joan Aiken's Serial Garden is the real thing--a fantasy book that leaves you saying, "Ahhhh" after you finish it.

Joan Aiken is best known for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, one of my favorite books as a child (and as an adult). But if you want to find out how to handle two druids fighting in your backyard over a bathmat woven of beard hair, you really should read The Serial Garden.

2009-01-01 (Los Angeles, CA United States) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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A Delightful Surprise
I was a bit skeptical when I heard about these because I'm not a big reader of short stories (sorry!) and so loved Aiken's children's novels that I didn't think these would hold up. Well, they do more than hold up. They are absolutely magical! Really. The Armitage family comes out of the tradition of families like those of Nesbit or Eager. There was for me even a tinge of the Peterkins in these stories (though, I assure you that these folks are not nearly as bumbling and there is no lady from Philadelphia to bail them out). The humor, often involving magic gone wrong, is in the vein of Diana Wynne Jones. There are sad moments too, say the one of the poor music teacher and another involving a baby goblin.I guess this is what is sometimes called domestic fantasy, stuff that happens with this family, in their small village that just seems to have witches, unicorns, and other magical stuff in the daily life of the place and people. Highly recommended.

2008-12-20 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Midwinter Nightingale

Description

King Richard, son of James III lies gravely ill and there are rumours that the king`s enemy, the Duchess of Burgundy, is preparing an imminent invasion. The ancient crown of Alfred must be found so King Richard can pass it on to his successor. Is Simon, Duke of Battersea and friend of the king, next in line to the throne or will the evil werewolf Baron Magnus Rudh succeed in his plot to make his son, Lot, king? To add further complications, Dido Twite, held prisoner by the Baron and the Duchess, does not know the whereabouts of either Simon or the dying king: can she escape in time to find and warn them of the treachery afoot? This latest adventure with a truly galloping plot and breath-taking situations, will delight all fans of Joan Aiken`s books

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Customer Reviews

Midwinter Nightingale
Midwinter Nightingale
By: Joan Aiken

" What? Where am I? And my keys-where are the keys of the palace?" wailed the king. The king is becoming sicker and sicker each day, and the enemy grows ever closer. How much longer does King Richard have before he goes to live among the angels? King Richard goes missing just before Dido Twite comes back from America. She is a good friend of Simon Bakerloo, the duke of Battersea, who is also gone missing. Not only does the king's archbishop believe that Dido knows where the two are, but the Duchess of Burgundy thinks so too. As soon as Dido is finished being questioned by the archbishop, she is kidnapped and taken to an old school that is being used as the Burgundian's headquarters. While Dido is trying to stay alive and find a way out of the dreadful place, Simon is struggling to keep the king alive long enough so that he can find King Alfred's headpiece. He already knows that the king`s, "Cousin Dick," days are numbered, so Simon is trying to find King Alfred's headpiece, so that he can finish the coronet ceremony which is the passing of the headpiece to the new king. Dido escapes the school and meets up with Simon and his faithful herd of animals, a flock of sheep and two bears accidentally imported from Russia. Together they are able to get the king and themselves to safety and perform the coronet ceremony just minutes before the king dies. Luckily for the king, he was able to hear the nightingales sing one last time efore he passed away. This was a good book, but it was a little confusing at times. The setting is in England, so the characters talked like the English do. I would recommend this book to all who love to read an exciting mystery.
English people talk different from Americans, so some words were confusing, but it got the reader into the book because by reading the dialogue, it felt like the person was talking to you. Just before the king died, he met and talked to an old friend. He said, "`Sir Thomas Coldace?' he whispered. `Nay, he's no stranger. I ken him well. I'd like tae see the callant!'" Another English use of a word was how the used "Ay" before beginning a sentence, like Americans use hey. Another example of how confusing the dialogue became was when Simon was talking to the king and he replied, "'Och, aye, so tis. Lucy who scarce seven hours herself unveils.'"
This book was somewhat disturbing in the horrible ways the people were killed. One man who refused to tell the duchess where the king was hiding was stuffed into a tiny crate, starved for several days, and then thrown into a moat full of crocodiles. Another gruesome death was when Lot's father who had just gotten out of prison was killed my molten silver. His own daughter set fire to the school. Then the bags of silver were melted down and were poured onto Magnus as he tried to climb the ladder. The most horrific death was when lot killed his own sister. He was trying to kill Simon, but he moved out of the way, and Lot's sister Jorinda stepped in to protect Simon. Lot caught her right in the throat with his spear and it took him a while to try to get it out of her throat.
This book had some interesting characters. Simon Bakerloo, who was a duke, was very modest to be of such high authority. When he is first introduced, he is riding a regular train and meets Jorinda. He shows great patience that helped him be patient and levelheaded with the king. Aboard the train, he had to listen to the constant chatter of Jorinda. The when they had a train check he had to withstand being checked many times by the guards. They had put stolen jewels in Simon's bags, but Simon had checked them and took them out before his bag was checked. Aunt Titania was another character. She had the gift of prophesy and tried to us it to figure out what side she wanted to be on. She helped Cousin Dick through most of his sickness, but two days before he died, she left without telling Simon and went to the school where the duchess was. The last character was Baron Magnus. He was an awful man. The reason he had been in prison was because he'd murdered people, and the reason why he killed people was that he was a werewolf and couldn't help it. The thing was is that even though he couldn't help that, he could stop himself from murdering others when he was in his human form, but he didn't. After he got out of prison, he killed the doctor that had taken care of him and all the guards that had watched his room.
Midwinter Nightingale is a great book. If you want to read about a werewolf craving revenge, an ailing king and some strange animal behaviors plus twenty new ways to torture a person, this is the book for you. It's a great book to get lost in for hours!





S.Gore

2006-02-17 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Dido Twite is here!
Dido Twite has just returned to England, from a visit to Nantucket, and a chilling welcome greets her. She is captured and imprisoned by Baron Rudh (werewolf), his awful son Lot, and the evil Duchess of Burgundy. Her captors hope that she will lead them to Simon Battersea (6th Duke of Battersea) and King Richard, who is on his deathbed. The bad trio plan to put Lot on the throne.

Meanwhile, Simon is struggling to hide King Richard, in the flooded wetlands (where the Burgundians are planning to invade).
Simon also has to find the ancient coronet, but is hampered by the boring Jorinda, a flock of sheep, Russian Bears, and the United Real Saxon Army, who do not fight.

Who will be the King?

A thrilling novel, by Joan Aiken, that makes you want to read it.

2006-01-26 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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A weaker continuation of the wonderful Wolves Chronicles
I have been a fan of Joan Aiken's Wolves chronicles ever since my mother brought home The Wolves of Willoughby Chase for me to read in first grade; I own most of her books and enjoy her short stories and other novels as well. However, both this novel and the preceding Dangerous Games disappointed me. While I have no objections to the fantastic plot, it needed to be more fleshed out in order to be convincing. In The Stolen Lake and The Cuckoo Tree Ms Aiken successfully meshed magical, mysterious elements with the vivid, real-feeling world of her novels. Midwinter Nightingale, despite some promising plot elements, falters: she takes her readers' suspension of disbelief for granted. This wouldn't be so bad, however, if the characters held up. Instead, Dido seems a flat imitation of her usual self, drained of all complexity and turned into a dashing puppet. Simon, too, is reduced to a cricature. The villains are unconvincing, and they way that the story deals with them is troubling. One character in particular does not seem evil enough to merit the swift death and lack of remorse that the plot imposes, while another character is killed off in a rather callous manner. I hope that Joan Aiken's next (and final) novel is a return to form; all of her previous books are so good, it would be a shame for this one to overshadow her memory.

2005-04-13 | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 3

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Continuing Excellence
I loved Joan Aiken's series, starting with the Wolves of Willoughby Chase, when I was a child, and now at 36 they still have just as much ability to charm me. This latest in the installment had enough excitement and humor to keep me reading cover to cover in one sitting. At first I thought she might have gone too far in this story line-werewolves after all! (though I suppose after the Stolen Lake anything was possible), but Aiken carried it off admirably. I was a bit disappointed by the ending though. I suppose I was hoping she might wrap up the story, not because I want the series to end (I wish it could go on forever), but because Aiken is 80 after all and I hope she ties up loose ends before she dies. I hope she's working on the next one!

2003-08-21 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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Dido Twite is back...as sassy as ever
Who needs Harry Potter when you can thrill to the adventures of Dido Twite, the indefatigable Cockney heroine of Joan Aiken's Wolves Chronicles?
In this latest installment, Dido is back in England during the (fictional) reign of King Richard IV, just in time to help save the throne from the loutish son of a werewolf baron. Yes, the plot sounds outrageous, and perhaps it is--but the story is so fast-paced, the narrative so vivid and yet so concise, and the characters so charismatic that even the most literal-minded reader (youngster or adult) is unlikely to care.
For fans of Aiken's entire series, which begins with "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" and includes "Black Hearts in Battersea," "Nightbirds on Nantucket," and "The Cuckoo Tree" (one of my favorites), one of the most rewarding aspects of "Midwinter Nightingale" is Dido's reunion with her mate Simon--and the bittersweet yet open-ended way Aiken closes the book. Surely another episode is in the works?

2003-06-14 | schiger (New Rochelle, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 5

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Midnight is a Place

Description

Now, back in print, the engaging and suspenseful British fantasy by one of England"s most imaginative storytellers. Lucas Bell is lonely and miserable at Midnight Court, a vast, brooding house owned by his intolerable guardian, Sir Randolph Grimsby. When a mysterious carriage brings a visitor to the house, Lucas hopes he"s found a friend at last. But the newcomer, Anna Marie, is unfriendly and spoiled—and French. Just when Lucas thinks things can"t get any worse, disastrous circumstances force him and Anna Marie, parentless and penniless, into the dark and unfriendly streets of Blastburn.

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Customer Reviews

A great old book
I enjoyed this book and used it as a supplement to our study of the industrial revolution for 7th grade history. Gives a good view of that time period and has an engaging story line.

2010-03-06 | "slightly crazy mom" (Sturgis, MI) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A Cozy Read for Young and Old Alike
Midnight is a Place is a charming book.

It takes you back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, inside dirty mills where child labor is common, down dark back streets in poor neighborhoods and elsewhere. The characters are worth caring about and each chapter leaves you wondering what will happen next to our hero and heroine. It's got lively action, and an interesting plot.

Good Read for all.

2008-07-16 (Placerville, CA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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SO FAR SO BAD
I have just read part I and am beginning to read part two. So far, It has gone no where much, and nothing good at all has occured. I find myself mindlessly stairing at the pages trying to keep my eyes open. It is also a bit random. I don't know many people who collect cigarette butts to sell for money. I read this for school, otherwise I would have never set my hands upon this worthless (and so far boaring) piece of junk.
The only reason I didn't give it one star is because I have not yet finished it.

2007-02-22 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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SO FAR SO BAD
I have just read part I and am beginning to read part two. So far, It has gone no where much, and nothing good at all has occured. I find myself mindlessly stairing at the pages trying to keep my eyes open. It is also a bit random. I don't know many people who collect cigarette butts to sell for money. I read this for school, otherwise I would have never set my hands upon this worthless (and so far boaring) piece of junk.
The only reason I didn't give it one star is because I have not yet finished it.

2007-02-22 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Joan Aiken's best one
I think that Midnight is a Place is the best of Joan Aiken's. It is more suspensful than the others, and at the end of every chapter your always wondering what's going to happpen next. Also, the story is very origional. Joan Aikens writing is so good that you feel like you are actually there!

2006-10-02 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Nightbirds on Nantucket

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780395971857
• Notes: Stigmatize New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Inure: NEW

Description

Having had enough of life on board the ship that saved her from a watery grave, Dido Twite wants nothing more than to sail home to England. Instead, Captain Casket's ship lands in Nantucket, where Dido and the captain's daughter, Dutiful Penitence, are left in the care of Dutiful's sinister Aunt Tribulation. In Tribulation's farmhouse, life is unbearable. When mysterious men lurk about in the evening fog, the resourceful Dido rallies against their shenanigans with help from Dutiful, a cabinboy named Nate, and a pink whale.

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Customer Reviews

Why did I stop reading after book 1 when I was eight?
Joan Aiken, Nightbirds on Nantucket (Doubleday, 1966)

The third book in the Wolves series addresses a mystery Aiken left unanswered at the end of Black Hearts in Battersea--what happened to Dido? As Nightbirds on Nantucket opens, Dido has been picked up by a whaler out of Massachusetts, and has been in a coma for some ten months. When she finally wakes up, her main goal is to get back to London pronto, but life, and the ship's captain, have other plans for her.

The series keeps improving book by book. It's a lot of fun, and if you missed it the first time around, you should definitely consider giving it a try now. *** ½

2007-06-10 | xterminal (Cleveland, OH) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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Part of the great series about Dido Twite
My daughter and I read this book together. I had read other books in this series as a child and loved them. Nightbirds on Nantucket is very well written. Dido's is a very engaging heroine and we have read most of the books by Joan Aiken that involve Dido. I recommend all of them, but this is one of my favorites.

2004-10-18 | Dido fan (Portland, Oregon) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Dido Twite, Meet Melville & Verne!
There's a more fantastical than Dickensian feel to this third in the Wolves Chronicles. As the story opens, we find Dido Twite (thought drowned in the climactic storm in "Black Hearts in Battersea") aboard the Nantucket whaler that has picked her up, just waking from a "long winter's nap" indeed--ten full months. The ship's Captain, Jabez Casket, is, like Captain Ahab, in quest of a whale--but his is as pink as a strawberry ice. Since the ship is currently in Arctic waters, he can hardly return Dido to her beloved London, but he does have a task for her: lure his young daughter, Dutiful Penitence, out of the stores closet in which she has locked herself ever since her mother's tragic death at sea early in the voyage. This the resourceful little Cockney succeeds in doing, but as she explores the ship and gets to know the crew, she discovers that there are mysteries aboard. Who is the stowaway hidden in the hold? What was the paper Second Officer Slighcarp tore into bits and flung overboard soon after the "Sarah Casket" had bespoken another whaler?

Returned to Nantucket with Pen (as Dido has christened her), our heroine finds that she will have to remain a while at Captain Casket's farm until arrangements can be made to return her home. Here it soon becomes apparent that Pen's "Aunt Tribulation" is in fact the mysterious stowaway. And lurking in the nearby woods are a band of Hanoverian plotters who have succeeded in fabricating an immense cannon with which they plan to lob a shot all the way across the Atlantic and murder good King Jim in his palace! Dido, Pen, and the "Sarah"'s ship's-boy Nate must find a way to expose the conspiracy and prevent the king's assassination. The pink whale, who proves not to be a figment of Captain Casket's imagination but a very real cetacean, plays a pivotal part in their counterplot.

In this book Dido assumes a central role in the series, one she will hold for several volumes to come. She's definitely a heroine for our time--gutsy, clever, quick-thinking, quick with a comeback and afraid of nobody, loyal to her friends and tough as a leather thong. Apart from the incredible elements of the cannon and the whale, which most kid readers shouldn't have much problem accepting, the chief difficulty I have with Aiken's story is that Dido--whose entire family was shown in "Battersea" to be Hanoverians down to the very youngest cousin--here declares herself a Stuart loyalist and risks life and limb to save her king, something which would have been easier to swallow if Aiken had given some thought to setting it up in the previous book. It would also be nice to know how Miss Slighcarp, the sinister governess from "Wolves," escaped getting her just due after her attempts to bring about the deaths of Sir Willoughby and his lady and take over their estate (no doubt with the view in mind of using it to finance James III's overthrow). But all in all this is another fast-paced and delightful alternate-Universe romp that maintains the author's previous reputation as a storyteller.

2004-10-05 (Scranton, PA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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A Rich and Exciting Read
When we last saw Dido Twite at the end of "Black Hearts in Battersea" she was going down with the Dark Dew ship, swept away from her friends Simon and Justin in the middle of the ocean. Whilst the two boys were forced to go on without her (eventually preventing an assasination attempt on the Duke of Battersea), Dido's fate remained a mystery, that Joan Aiken now resolves for expectant readers in the third book in her "Wolves Saga".

After a ten month long sleep, Dido awakes on board a whaler in the middle of the Artic sea, on a boat completely covered in icicles and frost. There she meets young Nate, a ship's hand, who informs her of her surroundings, of how far she is from home. Also on board is the fox-like and slimy Mr Slighcarp and the moony Captain Casket, who is determined to chase and catch the magnificent pink whale. He informs Dido that his young daughter Dutiful Penitence Casket is also on board, but who has locked herself away in a cupboard in mortal terror of the sea. He requests that Dido attempt to coax her out, and then accompany her to her Aunt Tribulation on the island of Nantucket before she tries to head back to England. Dido, taking it into her responsiblity to teach Penitence not to be so timid, agrees despite her homesickness.

But there are other mysteries about, such as the fierce stowaway that Dido finds hiding in the hold, and the suspicious actions of Mr Slighcarp that aren't solved by the time Penitence and Dido reach the domineering and threatening Aunt Tribulation. The two girls eventually realise there's a Hanoverian plot in the making that involves a giant gun being fired from Nantucket to London, which will not only succeed in destroying the palace, but with blowing Nantucket backwards into New York harbour! With pink whales, German inventors, hidden woods and a familiar villainess from "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase", Joan Aiken once more dishes up excitement and intrigue set in her continually-growing parallel world, where history mingles with fiction, and characters engage in some rather incredible situations!

To a point, "Nightbirds in Nantucket" was not quite up to the standards of "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" and "Black Hearts in Battersea", as the duo of the strong-willed Dido and the meek little Penitence reminded me a little too much of Bonnie and Sylvia of "Wolves", (especially in "Aunt Tribulation"'s treatment of them), and the Hanoverian plot of conquering King James III was basically the same threat that was faced in "Black Hearts". However, Joan Aiken's imagination is amazing, whether she be creating the icy whaling ship sailing through the Artic Sea, or the warm sunny moorlands of Nantucket with its white-washed cottages. Her melodramatic plot twists and devices are always humourous and adventuresome (despite their unlikeliness), and the story ends on a note of further adventure for the irrepressable Dido Twite.

2003-11-15 | Raye (New Zealand = Middle Earth!) | Helpful Votes: 7 | Rating: 4

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A Good Book
I read this book after Dangrous Games (another book in this series).It was nice to read about Dido as she was a child.I have enjoyed this book.If not by the story than by the delightful cast
of characters,starring Dido,Pentinence,Nate,Captain Casket and Aunt Tribulation.I recommend this book to children of all ages.

2002-05-02 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Dangerous Games

Description

This eagerly awaited addition to Joan Aiken's award-winning Wolves series takes us on Dido's most imaginative adventure yet!

Dido Twite has been sailing the high seas, chasing after Lord Herodsfoot, who is scouring the globe for new and interesting games. Now he's needed back in London, in the hope that his games will help King James, who is lying ill and wretched with a mysterious disease no doctor can cure. Dido's search has taken her to Aratu, a mysterious spice island where foreigners seldom venture--maybe because of the deadly pearl snakes and sting monkeys there.

When Dido lands at Aratu, she realizes that there is something even more dangerous than poisonous snakes on the island. She soon makes friends among the Forest People and learns of a plot to overthrow the island's king, who lives--deaf and sick--at his palace on the Cliffs of Death. Will Dido and her friends be able to reach him in time?

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Customer Reviews

Not really up to par with the rest of the books.
Joan Aiken, Dangerous Games (Delacorte, 1999)

I somehow got it into my head that Dangerous Games was the fifth Dido book, instead of the eleventh (and also found out that the one I thought was #4, The Stolen Lake, is actually the seventh); now I'm all messed up. Oh, well, reading them out of order has taken nothing out of my enjoyment of them, anyway.

In this eleventh episode of the journeys of Dido Twite, she, Mr. Multiple, and recent passenger Dr. Talisman put in at Aratu, a small island in the South Seas, in order to search for Lord Herodsfoot, who has been recalled to England. Dido, who it seems is finally on her way home, is a bit put out by yet another delay, but at least, she thinks, with Herodsfoot in two she'll have no choice but to get back to dear old Britain. Of course, things are never as simple as they seem, and before long, Multiple is in the hospital with a head wound, and Talisman, who saved his life, is being hunted by the town mayor for practicing medicine without a license. Then, to make things worse, their ship is seized. And Herodsfoot is off in the jungle somewhere. What now?

I've read a number of criticisms of the book, and I really can't refute them; Dangerous Games does feel phoned in at times, with the minor characters not getting anywhere near the development they should and the pace flagging now and again. Still, though, Dido and her adventures are a good deal of fun, and this one's as enjoyable as the next. I think. If you like the series, give this one a try, but be warned-- it seems a lot of Aiken fans were less than impressed by this one. ***

2008-04-01 | xterminal (Cleveland, OH) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Dangerous Games
In my opinion Dangerous Games is Joan Aiken's best piece of writing. It is action packed and stuffed with adventure! Once you start reading, you can't put the book down.
Dangerous Games is about a crew of sailors in search for Lord Herodsfoot, a kind nobleman, needed back in London. Dido Twite's search brought her and the crew to the island of Aratu. After finding Lord Herodsfoot, Dido discovered a plot to over through the king of the island. Through dangerous forests and caves they must travel. Can they reach him in time? This book will send you over the edge! If you can get in to a breakneck plot and interesting characters, you will love this book!

2007-04-18 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Lord Herodsfoot, I presume.
I make a point of not reading the plot synopsis of a book before I read the book itself. When you pick up a novel and read the back or inside cover of it you might discover things that the author would really rather you find out within the context of the story and not via a fifty-word synopsis. So I didn't read the synopsis of "Dangerous Games" until after I read the book. Under normal circumstances, this rarely causes any problems. In this case, however, I discovered that I had unknowingly read this book out of order. You see, "Dangerous Games" is one of the books in the "Wolves Chronicles", which began with "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase". And Dido Twite, the heroine of this tale, began in those books. Not knowing this, I read this story without any idea that it was a sequel or continuing saga of some sort. And you know what? It didn't matter. "Dangerous Games" is so fast-paced, amusing, and intelligent that you needn't read any of its predecessors to appreciate it fully. Part "Treasure Island" part "Below the Root", the story is a comment on colonialism and how conquering a land does no good to either the conquerors or the conquered.

It may seem like a wild goose chase, but Dido Twite has been hunting down a ridiculously difficult prey for quite some time and thus far has had no luck. When the British King Jamie comes down with a cold (he's just a kid, you know), he insists that the only thing that will save him are some new and interesting games brought via Lord Herodsfoot. Herodsfoot studies games and his latest finds have taken him to the mysterious island of Aratu. Now Dido must find the man and bring him back to England, but not before she comes to know the lay of the land a little better. In Aratu you have native forest dwellers, called the Dilendi, and the colonizing Angrians. Once arrived, Dido finds herself caught in a war between a king and his brother, befriending a lost princess, speaking with ghosts, avoiding sting monkeys, creating rain itself, and all in all having a really grand adventure.

The book says some absolutely lovely things about the innate ridiculousness that comes when Europeans found colonies on already existing native populations. In this case, the Angrians settled on Aratu and began destroying the forest for further plantations. When the Dilendi cursed the Angrians with a deep abiding homesickness for their native lands, the population either emigrated or became peculiar. As a result, the remaining Europeans are a sorry crew. True, they control much of the island by force, but internally they've responded by oppressing their women, establishing rigid class systems, and generally disapproving of any and all fun. They're like puritans without the whimsy.

Aiken does a find job of never relegating a person to a distinct personality simply due to their skin color. I find it interesting that other reviewers of this book have accused it of racism when no one is a certain way solely because of their genetics. You've good Angrians and bad Angrians and good Dilendi and bad Dilendi. The villain of this tale is an Angrian who best represents all the failings that come with willful ignorance. The hero of this tale, Dido, is a wonderful London scamp with a Cockney accent and a penchant for pants. Her companion, Dr. Talisman starts as male and then turns out to be a wonderfully strong female character for whom you never worry one moment. As for the upper class twit Lord Herodsfoot, I found myself more than once wishing that someone would give the guy a swift kick in the butt once in a while. He's the perpetual schlemiel of the story. If there's a cliff to be accidentally fallen over or a poison to eat, you can bet who'll be the one doing the falling and eating.

Mostly, however, the book's real lure is its adventure. And I daresay that this is one of those rare adventure tales boys will read EVEN THOUGH the hero of the tale is, essentially, feminine. If your young male reader doesn't take to Dido then you may count them out as lost causes. She's such a wonderful character that it would take pounds of prejudice to keep from devouring her every word and action. I stumbled across "Dangerous Games" entirely by accident, but I'm truly glad that I did. It's a fine piece of work and a tale that, in spite of its series status, stands alone beautifully. A great great story.

2005-01-13 | Ramseelbird (Manhattan, NY) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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Don't bother with this one
In all seriousness, I doubt that Joan Aiken wrote "Dangerous Games." It reads as if a committee were hired to create a passable story against the backdrop of her alternative history. The publishers would have been better off finding some decent internet fanfic writers to do the job, because nothing about "Dangerous Games" is anything but an embarrassing failure to measure up to the period detail, extravagant plotting, wrenching moral dilemmas (a necessary ingredient for good childrens's literature), and dark humor that made the previous books in the series so satisfying.

Come to think of it, "Cold Shoulder Road" read as if it were written half by Aiken and half by committee. Perhaps she is simply tired of the series. If so, she should let the thing die.

2002-06-12 (aboard the Dark Dew) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 1

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Aiken is a wonderful author, but this is not worth it!
Please, I beg you, purchase one of her other books! I have read nearly all of Aiken's works and they are FANTASTIC. However, this book was very cut-and-dried, dull, and prejudiced. The characters of the island people were so caricatured that it was borderline offensive. No child deserves to have to read this book!

2000-11-09 | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 2

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Go Saddle the Sea

Product Details

• Qualification: NEW
• Notes: Sort New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• ISBN13: 9780152060640

Description

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Customer Reviews

Another winner by Joan Aiken
Here's another of Joan Aiken's "ripping yarns"---no one could write this sort of adventure story like she did! The plot is summed up in the editorial review above, so no need for me to go into detail. I'll just say that it's a very enjoyable read, certainly. I enjoyed the construction of the story: the book has a bit of the feel of the early Victorian magazine serials. In fact, the style of the first-person narrative put me very much in mind of Dicken's "David Copperfield." Each chapter is almost a self-contained adventure of its own, another step in Felix's journey from his grandfather's home in Spain, to his paternal father's family near Bath. (It's unfortunate that I know almost nothing whatsoever about the geography of northern Spain. I think if I had been better able to imagine what sort of landscape Felix travels through, it would appear more vividly in my imagination. Aiken perhaps is not a writer given to lengthy descriptions of the scenery. But that's not really a complaint about the story at all, just an observation.) The novel certainly is a exciting yarn---such adventures Felix has! While this book is a complete tale in itself, once you have finished it you will surely wish to read more about Felix; his adventures are continued in "Bridle the Wind."

I wonder if this story is, in fact, set in a sort of "alternate history" universe just like the Aiken's "Wolves of Willoughby Chase" series was. Because I found it interesting that Felix, throughout the journey, reads passages from a book of his father's titled "Susan." It becomes obvious that this book is, in fact, none other than a Jane Austen title---though in "real life" Austen did not have a book published by that name. It isn't spelled out at all---I daresay a lot of people reading this book wouldn't give a second thought to what Felix was reading---but I got a kick out of noticing that...

The dust jacket illustration on my old copy is very mediocre, though---a rather dull painting of a boy riding a mule by the seaside on a sunny afternoon. Honestly, it makes the novel look like some sort of animal story, not a hair-raising adventure at all. I see that these books are going to be reprinted soon, and the new paperback designs are considerably more exciting and dynamic than the old hardcovers were.

2007-02-03 (the Land of Trees and Heroes) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Well-paced and whimsical
Aiken is in top form in this (sadly) out-of-print children's novel. Felix, the main character, is engaging without being perfect; the minor characters are drawn with an eye to the amusing improbable detail. As usual, the plot is wild and rapid, but the pace is steady enough to make it all feel satisfyingly real . . . The trilogy (Go Saddle the Sea, Bridle the Wind, In the Teeth of the Gale) shares many stylistic characteristics with her other alternate history series, which begins with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. In some ways these three books are even better, being a little slower and more coherent as a single narrative. Of side interest to Austen fans is Aiken's use of _Lady Susan_, which appears occasionally throughout the story. I won't spoil the details, but the series makes a nice companion read.

2000-07-11 (Iowa) | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 5

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Go Saddle the Sea is predictable
Go Saddle the Sea is about a boy called Felix. It is quite exciting but predictable. A dying servant gives him a package. He cannot make out what the writing on a piece of paper is...

1999-02-07 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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