From Publishers Weekly
Readers just tuning in for this latest addition to the series that began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase will quickly find their bearings. Aiken's playful, inventive language once again creates a vivid world that?though recognizable?is more heightened than our own. As the indomitable Dido Twite prepares to set sail for home, she and her captain are drafted into a search party for the roving ambassador to England's King James III, Lord Herodsfoot, who is on a mission to discover "wild games" to cheer the ailing royal. Dido's travels take her to the South Seas island of Aratu, an ancient rain forest inhabited by Angrian colonists and the native Dilendi, who are possessed of mysterious powers. En route, she befriends the enigmatic young Doctor Talisman van Linde, who is returning to the island after many years spent abroad (and disguised as a man). Soon after their arrival on the island, Dido and Talisman run afoul of the draconian local law (the Angrians have an attitude toward women worthy of the Taliban) and must flee with the help of their Dilendi companions. Their trek includes stops at the gloomiest Angrian spice plantations, the most sacred of Dilendi holy places and spellbinding encounters with shamanlike figures. Meanwhile, Talisman's shifting and growing powers foreshadow her ties to the destiny of her native island. Aiken's storytelling is fearless: fanciful high jinks are set off by serious?even frightening?events (a girl's life is at stake because she is improperly veiled; an unwed mother kills herself). Dido's adventures and the isle of Aratu will linger in the reader's mind long after these games have ended. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-The irrepressible Dido Twite, who began her rollicking adventures in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Yearling, 1987), is still roaming the high seas and trying to get back to Battersea, but now she has been called upon to chase down Lord Herodsfoot, who is wandering the world looking for interesting games. The nobleman is needed in London, where King Jamie III is languishing with a mysterious disease. The chase takes Dido and her comrades to Aratu, a remote tropical spice island inhabited by deadly pearl snakes, sting monkeys, and 30-foot crocodiles, as well as the Dilendi or Forest People, who are healers with magical powers, and the Angrians, invaders who drove them from their homes 400 years before. Traveling with Dido is Dr. Talisman, who was born on the island to the king and his wife 20 years earlier, and thrown off the Cliff of Death at the age of 5 by a jealous uncle aspiring to the throne. Dido and her friends uncover a new plot to overthrow the monarch and race against time to thwart the uncle anew. Aiken is particularly adept at that pivotal and powerful ingredient of good fantasy: the creation of place. The tumultuous weather, dramatic landscape, and evidence of games throughout the terrain create a land that is both physically real and wildly imaginative. Many plot lines, multiple characters, an intriguing vocabulary (particularly Dido's dialect), and clever lampoons of contemporary society make this book challenging and more appropriate for competent readers or as a read-aloud. At the end, Dido sails off again, hoping to reach London and home, but the way is certainly left open for the chronicles to continue.
Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, MECopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
