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lonelyfangirlirl's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
quietjenn's review against another edition
4.0
further adventures of dido twite. in this volume, she has barely made it back to london when her irascible father abducts her and involves her in the newest hanoverian plot. which of course must be thwarted, along with the help of simon, sophie and a host of homeless street urchins. slightly darker, in some ways, but also genuinely moving, dwelling in some deeper emotional territory than others in the series. neck and neck with "nightbirds" as my favorite in the series.
jackieeh's review against another edition
5.0
I first read this book (this entire series) fourteen years ago. Since then, it's been one of my favorite books of all time and Dido Twite one of my favorite characters. Dido and Pa is the Silver Chair of the Wolves Chronicles. It's darker, more complex, and it asks some very good questions. Most importantly:
I can see why Joan Aiken shifted focus to Is for a couple books, and then returned to Dido's earlier adventures. Between the opening and the closing of Dido and Pa, Dido grows up.
What makes her? Dido Twite is my favorite character, and of all the books she appears in this really is Dido at her best, but ultimately Dido and Pa is less about Dido and more about Pa. Abednego Twite is the best villain I have ever encountered in any book, written for children or written for adults. He is the perfect villain because his villainy is commonplace, because he has the capacity for eliciting great sympathy, and because, ultimately, he doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's a brilliant musician, but he is an awful father and an even worse human being. Seeing Dido, someone who literally circumnavigated the globe on the strength of her own heart and smarts, falling back into old patterns with her father is chilling. She has the upper hand now--she's just as likely to whack him upside the head as receive a whack upside the head--but she still seeks his approval and affection. Even when she knows she shouldn't. Her frustration with herself is the truest thing about this book.
I could say so much more; I've been writing this review for the past fourteen years. I haven't even mentioned the glory of Podge. Nonetheless, I'll end with this: Jo March, Anne Shirley, and Dido Twite all turn down proposals from the boys they grew up with, at least initially. Some of the refusals even stick. When I first read Dido and Pa I was ten and in the throes of my first ever fictional character crush. I couldn't believe that Dido would turn down Simon. It was incomprehensible.
It's always worth reading books like this again as an adult. Good job, Dido. No matter how complicated it might make your life, never stop being you.
How can somebody write such music - and act so?
I can see why Joan Aiken shifted focus to Is for a couple books, and then returned to Dido's earlier adventures. Between the opening and the closing of Dido and Pa, Dido grows up.
What makes her? Dido Twite is my favorite character, and of all the books she appears in this really is Dido at her best, but ultimately Dido and Pa is less about Dido and more about Pa. Abednego Twite is the best villain I have ever encountered in any book, written for children or written for adults. He is the perfect villain because his villainy is commonplace, because he has the capacity for eliciting great sympathy, and because, ultimately, he doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's a brilliant musician, but he is an awful father and an even worse human being. Seeing Dido, someone who literally circumnavigated the globe on the strength of her own heart and smarts, falling back into old patterns with her father is chilling. She has the upper hand now--she's just as likely to whack him upside the head as receive a whack upside the head--but she still seeks his approval and affection. Even when she knows she shouldn't. Her frustration with herself is the truest thing about this book.
I could say so much more; I've been writing this review for the past fourteen years. I haven't even mentioned the glory of Podge. Nonetheless, I'll end with this: Jo March, Anne Shirley, and Dido Twite all turn down proposals from the boys they grew up with, at least initially. Some of the refusals even stick. When I first read Dido and Pa I was ten and in the throes of my first ever fictional character crush. I couldn't believe that Dido would turn down Simon. It was incomprehensible.
It's always worth reading books like this again as an adult. Good job, Dido. No matter how complicated it might make your life, never stop being you.
crowyhead's review against another edition
5.0
Another volume in the wonderful series that began with The Wolves of Wiloughby Chase. Dido Twite is finally joyfully reunited with her old friend Simon, who is now the Duke of Battersea, only to be stolen away by her father before she and Simon can be properly reunited. Abednego Twite once again has a nefarious scheme to unseat King Richard, and he is determined that Dido will help him, like it or not. As always with the books in this series, Aiken neatly balances humor and grim reality, although this book isn't as fanciful as some of the others. One of the reviewers, in articulating why she thinks Dido is one of the finest female characters in children's literature, describes her as "resourceful, irreverent, intelligent, moral, funny, and completely unsanitized," which I think is perfectly accurate and does well at describing just what's so great about Dido. The other thing I love is that Dido has clearly grown and changed since her first appearance in Black Hearts In Battersea. She is still definitely the same girl, but older and wiser. Great stuff; I would give my eyeteeth to write half so well as Joan Aiken does.
christinecc's review against another edition
4.0
I love Aiken's Dido Twite adventures. Aiken always brings the right amount of historical authenticity and vivid world building. Her books make me dive into an alternate Victorian England where James III reigned. This is a world where kids grind carrots into coffee to sell it for cheap on the streets, create bands to help fend for themselves, and live at the mercy of the adults around them. (but give as good as they get). Aiken includes details that lend credence to her world; for instance, some of the street kids pay a small fee to sleep in-doors in a cellar, but specifically to rent a loop of hanging rope from which they can hang their upper body. They sleep with this large noose under their shoulders, their feet dragging on the floor, never quite standing but certainly not lying down, and it's the most respite any of them receive. Aiken doesn't use this for pathetic effect. She just shows the situation as it was and uses it to inform the characters' personalities and decisions.
In this novel, Dido finally confronts the difficult binary of an abusive, horrible person/father and gifted musician. She has trouble reconciling the two, and in fact, she never does. The music is beautiful, and Dido wonders if someday, the music will outlive the memory of her father, leaving only his better part (the music itself and nothing else). It's a moving portrayal of a child who has grown to see the real extent of her father's faults (to say the least) and accepts, with some disappointment, that there was nothing left to salvage in her relationship with her father, regardless of what used to be.
The plot, by the by, will not let you put down the book, and I read this in basically one sitting. I couln't help it, and I loved every moment. I want more of Dido and hope this isn't the end, but if it is, there are plenty of other Aiken books to explore, and many more installments left in the Wolves Chronicles.
Recommended for anyone who enjoys Victorian England fiction, adventures yarns that span London end to end, and royal plots that would make Alexandre Dumas grin and turn the page.
In this novel, Dido finally confronts the difficult binary of an abusive, horrible person/father and gifted musician. She has trouble reconciling the two, and in fact, she never does. The music is beautiful, and Dido wonders if someday, the music will outlive the memory of her father, leaving only his better part (the music itself and nothing else). It's a moving portrayal of a child who has grown to see the real extent of her father's faults (to say the least) and accepts, with some disappointment, that there was nothing left to salvage in her relationship with her father, regardless of what used to be.
The plot, by the by, will not let you put down the book, and I read this in basically one sitting. I couln't help it, and I loved every moment. I want more of Dido and hope this isn't the end, but if it is, there are plenty of other Aiken books to explore, and many more installments left in the Wolves Chronicles.
Recommended for anyone who enjoys Victorian England fiction, adventures yarns that span London end to end, and royal plots that would make Alexandre Dumas grin and turn the page.
nigellicus's review against another edition
5.0
Fun book. Horrible couple of days, so I don't feel like giving it a proper review. But it was a nice little escape from a lot of grimness and strain.
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