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ellen's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
this is probably one of the best mysteries in a yellow Nancy book!!!
bargainsleuth's review against another edition
3.0
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The Original Text (OT) The Password to Larkspur Lane is just a crazy mess, but I couldn't put it down because I had never read the OT before and had no idea how it would end.
The ghostwriter was Walter Karig. His first Nancy Drew book, Nancy's Mysterious Letter, was just awful, full of misogynist writings. His second book, The Sign of the Twisted Candles was much better. The Password to Larkspur Lane fell somewhere in-between with me. It was good, but not great. There were quite a few head-scratching sentences. "Nancy, despite her remarkable deductive powers, was a normal, healthy girl, and a bedtime lunch appealed to her as much as it does to any young person." Or, "It was Nancy's turn to look astonished. She often forgot that few people were gifted with her sense of observation and deduction."
In true 1930's form, Nancy's encounters are not what you'd find today. Nancy's in her yard one day picking larkspur for a flower show (I prefer the name delphinium for the flower) when a low flying plane (flying so low she can make out a symbol on the tail) hits a bird that lands in the yard. It's a carrier pigeon. That carrier pigeon is injured, and is carrying a message. Nancy calls the International Carrier Pigeon Association (she does not have to look up the number--Nancy is all-knowing!) and finds out the bird is not registered to them. A rogue pigeon and a mysterious message lead Nancy on to her next mystery.
There's a kidnapped doctor and an elderly woman being held hostage at some shady sanitorium. Karig makes Carson Drew sound not-so Carson Drew-like: "It is more important to me that you are free from harm than that all the mysterious women in the world should have their freedom." That does not sound like the caring Carson Drew I grew up with.
There's the racial stereotypes we often find in these 1930's volumes. Helen Corning just calls her servant Cook, who speaks in broken English like the stereotypical black servant. And once again, Karig forgot that Helen Corning should be married to Jim Archer by now. His Helen has her dating random guys.
One line cracked me up. When Nancy is asking for information about the suspected kidnappers, the hotel proprietor says the Tookers are mysterious because "They don't come to church, or don't subscribe to the local paper." Crazy dialogue. Crazy plot lines, but somehow it works.
The Original Text (OT) The Password to Larkspur Lane is just a crazy mess, but I couldn't put it down because I had never read the OT before and had no idea how it would end.
The ghostwriter was Walter Karig. His first Nancy Drew book, Nancy's Mysterious Letter, was just awful, full of misogynist writings. His second book, The Sign of the Twisted Candles was much better. The Password to Larkspur Lane fell somewhere in-between with me. It was good, but not great. There were quite a few head-scratching sentences. "Nancy, despite her remarkable deductive powers, was a normal, healthy girl, and a bedtime lunch appealed to her as much as it does to any young person." Or, "It was Nancy's turn to look astonished. She often forgot that few people were gifted with her sense of observation and deduction."
In true 1930's form, Nancy's encounters are not what you'd find today. Nancy's in her yard one day picking larkspur for a flower show (I prefer the name delphinium for the flower) when a low flying plane (flying so low she can make out a symbol on the tail) hits a bird that lands in the yard. It's a carrier pigeon. That carrier pigeon is injured, and is carrying a message. Nancy calls the International Carrier Pigeon Association (she does not have to look up the number--Nancy is all-knowing!) and finds out the bird is not registered to them. A rogue pigeon and a mysterious message lead Nancy on to her next mystery.
There's a kidnapped doctor and an elderly woman being held hostage at some shady sanitorium. Karig makes Carson Drew sound not-so Carson Drew-like: "It is more important to me that you are free from harm than that all the mysterious women in the world should have their freedom." That does not sound like the caring Carson Drew I grew up with.
There's the racial stereotypes we often find in these 1930's volumes. Helen Corning just calls her servant Cook, who speaks in broken English like the stereotypical black servant. And once again, Karig forgot that Helen Corning should be married to Jim Archer by now. His Helen has her dating random guys.
One line cracked me up. When Nancy is asking for information about the suspected kidnappers, the hotel proprietor says the Tookers are mysterious because "They don't come to church, or don't subscribe to the local paper." Crazy dialogue. Crazy plot lines, but somehow it works.
bargainsleuth's review against another edition
4.0
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Once again, I thought the Revised Text better. There aren't any continuity errors like there were with Walter Karig's OT. Helen Corning Archer is indeed married in this volume. I had forgotten that The Password to Larkspur Lane featured Helen as well as Bess and George; that had never happened before in the series.
Taking out much of the filler of the Original Text, "Carolyn Keene" added a subplot involving Helen's grandparents at their home on Sylvan Lake. Naturally, their favorite dates, Ned, Burt and Dave happen to be camp counselors across the lake at Lake Hiawatha and make several appearances. Of course, the second mystery Nancy gets herself involved in is tied to the first mystery of the elderly woman being held against her will in a shady sanitorium that happens to have larkspur growing on the estate.
Once again, I thought the Revised Text better. There aren't any continuity errors like there were with Walter Karig's OT. Helen Corning Archer is indeed married in this volume. I had forgotten that The Password to Larkspur Lane featured Helen as well as Bess and George; that had never happened before in the series.
Taking out much of the filler of the Original Text, "Carolyn Keene" added a subplot involving Helen's grandparents at their home on Sylvan Lake. Naturally, their favorite dates, Ned, Burt and Dave happen to be camp counselors across the lake at Lake Hiawatha and make several appearances. Of course, the second mystery Nancy gets herself involved in is tied to the first mystery of the elderly woman being held against her will in a shady sanitorium that happens to have larkspur growing on the estate.
rballenger's review against another edition
3.0
Type of read: Weekend/Lunch time read.
What made me pick it up: Here's the deal, sometimes you just need an easy read for lunchtime or appointment waiting or those little moments where you can sneak in a few pages, Nancy Drew is just that. As a child of the 90s, I grew up on Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. These were the books that taught me how to read and adventure through pages. It's been fun revisiting the Nancy Drew series.
Overall rating: As I reread through the Nancy Drew series, I'm not going to rate them significantly or provide a detailed review. I'm simply reading these because it makes me happy and makes me think of simpler times. I will always recommend books like Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Box Car Children, Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, Animorphs, and so on as those are the books that drew me into reading and kept me excited to continue turning pages.
What made me pick it up: Here's the deal, sometimes you just need an easy read for lunchtime or appointment waiting or those little moments where you can sneak in a few pages, Nancy Drew is just that. As a child of the 90s, I grew up on Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. These were the books that taught me how to read and adventure through pages. It's been fun revisiting the Nancy Drew series.
Overall rating: As I reread through the Nancy Drew series, I'm not going to rate them significantly or provide a detailed review. I'm simply reading these because it makes me happy and makes me think of simpler times. I will always recommend books like Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Box Car Children, Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, Animorphs, and so on as those are the books that drew me into reading and kept me excited to continue turning pages.
blondierocket's review against another edition
Nancy’s latest mystery has her searching for the owner of a bracelet that has been snuck to a doctor while visiting a secret compound.
Something is fishy as Nancy finds a pigeon with strange markings and soon links it to a hidden house with some big secrets. It’s a world of mysteries for Nancy when she rescues a young girl only to find out her grandmother has been missing, and the initials on the bracelet become the clue to finding the hidden house and the missing pigeons.
This was a very interesting stories with lots of twists and little clues from all different areas that slowly lead Nancy to finding out the truth … but not before risking her life again.
Something is fishy as Nancy finds a pigeon with strange markings and soon links it to a hidden house with some big secrets. It’s a world of mysteries for Nancy when she rescues a young girl only to find out her grandmother has been missing, and the initials on the bracelet become the clue to finding the hidden house and the missing pigeons.
This was a very interesting stories with lots of twists and little clues from all different areas that slowly lead Nancy to finding out the truth … but not before risking her life again.
laura_cs's review against another edition
4.0
Singing horses, wounded pigeons, mysterious bracelets, rings of blue fire, oh my! Good thing Nancy Drew is on the case!
caytlynn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
This book was pretty exciting overall. Very high stakes. And great to read in between high times at work. Easy to pick up and put down as needed.
tiedyesunflower's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0