Post by tintin on Dec 30, 2021 15:48:52 GMT 1
An awful lot goes on in this book.
The main thrust of the story is about entering a team in the Pony Club Mounted Games contest The Prince Philip Cup. However, the book brims with sub-plots - weight loss, false allegations of exam cheating, a breakout from an RAF Guard Room and a desparate rush to get to the venue in time for the games.
I've never read Harry Potter. My father had to read the first book to report to his Church whether it was fit for their children to read (have no fear it was) - I got the job of going to the Titanic film. He described J K Rowling as a very good author, but a very derivative one who must have been very well read and erudite. He had actually stopped noting the references after about ten. Similarly in this book we can describe Pat Smythe as very derivative - the Vintage Car Driver is SO from Genevieve, the race to the show is very reminiscent of one of the Silver Eagle Riding School stories and the exam cheating owes more than a little to Agatha Christie. This is not plaigirism, just that what goes in often comes out. Like J K Rowling she spins her own tale from the ingredients she has picked up in various places. I think the "heavy rider" issue though is her own original thing - has any one else done this?.
Despite all that happens the writing is noticeably less light and pacey than in the other books.
Again I think Pat Smythe was pretty close to what was going on in the forces. At first sight the young boy escaping from an RAF Guard Room is far fetched, but there were a number of security scandals at this time that were equally as daft. From a Security perspective that part of the book is a text book example of how not to do it.
A good three for me, but found it more of an effort than the others in the series
The main thrust of the story is about entering a team in the Pony Club Mounted Games contest The Prince Philip Cup. However, the book brims with sub-plots - weight loss, false allegations of exam cheating, a breakout from an RAF Guard Room and a desparate rush to get to the venue in time for the games.
I've never read Harry Potter. My father had to read the first book to report to his Church whether it was fit for their children to read (have no fear it was) - I got the job of going to the Titanic film. He described J K Rowling as a very good author, but a very derivative one who must have been very well read and erudite. He had actually stopped noting the references after about ten. Similarly in this book we can describe Pat Smythe as very derivative - the Vintage Car Driver is SO from Genevieve, the race to the show is very reminiscent of one of the Silver Eagle Riding School stories and the exam cheating owes more than a little to Agatha Christie. This is not plaigirism, just that what goes in often comes out. Like J K Rowling she spins her own tale from the ingredients she has picked up in various places. I think the "heavy rider" issue though is her own original thing - has any one else done this?.
Despite all that happens the writing is noticeably less light and pacey than in the other books.
Again I think Pat Smythe was pretty close to what was going on in the forces. At first sight the young boy escaping from an RAF Guard Room is far fetched, but there were a number of security scandals at this time that were equally as daft. From a Security perspective that part of the book is a text book example of how not to do it.
A good three for me, but found it more of an effort than the others in the series