luffy79 's review for:

Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
3.0

This fresh and ingenious children's book is for me, divided into two parts. The first part gets 5 stars from me, but from the point where the children succeed, to past the climax, the book barely holds its own.

I really liked the first part. Many of the ideas were more than can be hoped in such a simple book. The children were lifelike. Their holidays's details were evocative. The Kirrin House, the island, the boat and the sea, and the people in the story were distinctive.

But when the villains made their appearance, I felt nothing. I really ought to like the climax, but the starkly real world felt like a doll's house.

I'm giving the book its due but I also cannot give the book more than it deserves. There were lots of positives to take from the story. I hope to reread this book one day and revisit the premise. For a while it made me feel like a wonderstruck person.