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4.0 out of 5 stars
Unlikely Plot, But Who Cares?, Sep 19 2002
Having read all three of the original Sally Lockhart novels, I was thrilled to find a sequel of sorts on the shelves of my local bookshop. Pullman takes a brave shot at writing a traditional swashbuckling adventure story, and succeeds wonderfully on many (though not all) levels.The basic plot is thus: Adelaide Bevan, the penniless waif of The Ruby In The Smoke, has resurfaced after having gone missing for ten years. And she appears with a bang: she's married to a European prince of a small country called Razkavia. The problem? Adelaide is illiterate and has no idea how to be a princess, someone is assassinating the royal family of Razkavia one by one, and the great European powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary are itching to take over the tiny country at a moment's notice. It's left to Jim Taylor (the roguish friend of Sally Lockhart from the previous novels) and new character Becky Winter to try and keep everyone safe whilst trying to prop up the future of Razkavia and its people. Implausible maybe, but Pullman infuses a nice feeling of reality into the proceedings with plenty of historical reference and accuracy. The story isn't perfect: Pullman's love of detail and an excess of rich and varied characters clutter it up, and the plot has more twists than a plate of spaghetti, but the overall story is so delightful, adventurous and well-written that this can be easily overlooked. Pullman's real strength lies in his brilliant characterisation for his three or four main characters and the interaction between them. Adelaide and Becky are appealing, likeable and strong heroines, the Germans and a number of Razkavians make wonderful villains, but the star of the book is undoubtedly the delightfully clever, crafty, courageous and somewhat dangerous Jim Taylor, who steps into the limelight in place of Sally Lockhart and never gives it back. This book is definitely worth a read if you're a Sally Lockhart fan - it's interesting to see how the characters from the original trilogy develop away from the London backdrop. Even if you're not a fan, read it - it's brilliant escapism, excellently written and well worth wading through the detail for.
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by Philip Pullman
by Philip Pullman
by Philip Pullman
by Philip Pullman
by Philip Pullman
