The Castle of Adventure - Review

The Castle of Adventure is the second book of the series. This was the one I read first and got introduced to the series. This book opens at a school. That way the settings are similar to island of adventure. Isle of Adventure started at a master’s house. This one starts at the hostel of the girls’ school where Dinah and Lucy Ann study. They break off a day before the boys and arrive at a cottage Dinah’s mother has arranged for them. Once again it is a remote location away from the hustle and bustle of human activity. This kind of setting is one of the best part of Enid Blyton books. You yourself feel like you are in a relaxed peaceful vacation. The castle on the hill looms ominously in the background but once again it is a slow start with a leisurely beginning where children meet up after vacation and settle down in a new place. We are also filled in on what happened in their lives since the last book and also about the characters for people who are starting with this book. That way people can read this stand alone.

There are parallels between Isle of Adventure and this one. There, the children are led by Jack’s pursuit of Great Auks to the island of Adventure. Here they are led by Jack’s pursuit of the golden eagle. The Castle of Adventure has an even more placid start than Island of Adventure. Here it starts off with curiosity about the Castle that changes into a desire to get in when it is discovered the eagles are nesting inside the castle. Before they manage to enter the castle, they acquire a local girl as a friend and Phillip gets one of this exotic pet that is a special aspect of every book. The pet plays a major role in the story as well like his pets do in quite a few of the books of this series. I won't mention what the pet was because one of the things I looked forward to while reading every book was to discover what the pet would be. I am hoping my review would inspire someone who has not read this one to pick up and read and enjoy.

I liked this story better than Island of Adventure because here the children remain inside the Castle of Adventure for more days. That feels much more exciting. In island of adventure, the children don’t remain so much in the island of adventure. Here also, till half the book, there is no sign of any criminal activity. Like the stories about Isle of Gloom, there are stories about a wicked old man who used to live in the castle, keep prisoners and torture them.

There is the usual Comic relief of Kiki making her funny remarks that sometime make sense in a funny way. Kiki frightens the villains. Kiki in many of the stories works both ways. She flies away and has Jack follow her and gets him trapped. At the same time, she makes human and animal sounds to scare the villains and rescue him as well. I used to like Kiki so much I would pester my mother to get me talking parrot for one of my birthdays.

This book also has secret passages and hidden rooms. There is again pulse pounding action in the last part of the book - tussle with the bad guys as well as fleeing from a cataclysmic disaster.

There is just one surprise in this story and that too a small one. This was one of the reasons I liked to read it so many times – because nothing is lost by having it read it already.

One thing I find about these books though is that the criminal elements seem too soft. Enid Blyton portrays a world where sex and death do not exist. There is rarely any romantic sentiment expressed ever in her book and even the villains usually do not die. Villains always only imprison the kids and at worst whip the boys. That way it is fairy tale of sorts. Real world criminals would kill without slightest compunctions and going to lonely places like castle and islands of adventure carries a great risk of running into sexual perverts. As a child I wanted so much to emulate the children in the stories. But now as an adult, I realize how dangerous it could turn out to be. Like one of my friends told me – he prefers all adventures in dangerous jungles and all in the safety of his bed at home curled up with book rather than actually going to such places and exposing himself to real dangers. While on this point, I also wanted to mention about this talk of not exposing sisters to dangers that comes up often. In a sexless world, what extra dangers would a girl be exposed to that a boy is not? Here what is talked about is dangerous climbing and such which kind of implies women are less suited to physical exertion than men which might not go too well with modern ethos.

The characters begin to grow on us by the time we are into the second book. Jack is easy going, enterprising and sensible. And of course his crazy love for birds which contributed to plot development in both Island and Castle of Adventure. Phillip comes across as a bit more brasher and impulsive as well as dominating, given to tempers and also to teasing sometimes bordering on nastiness. He has that magnetic personality that makes him attractive not only to animals but neglected children as well. Dinah is the sensible no-nonsense girl, not a tomboy like George of Famous Five but still bold and not easily cowed down, not too sentimental, impatient and irritable. She also has a dominating nature that often brings her into conflict with her brother other than his love for animals and insects and her repulsion towards them. Lucy Ann is kind of opposite of Dinah, soft and sentimental, devoted to her near and dear ones and tendency to be easily scared. There is a strong endearing quality to her and the reader immediately feels he wants a sister like her.

This was one of my favorite books during my childhood and was devastated when my mother ripped it apart to pieces.