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Junior
Jonathan Cape
Hardback £10.99
ISBN: 0224064894
Reviewed by Pat Almond
[Armadillo 6.3 Autumn 2004]
A long and sometimes, confusing novel for hardy readers.
This is a fantasy, first and foremost, with many characters, plots and situations from many historical periods, including modern times, so, for instance, spears bows and arrows exist alongside railway trains, electricity and viaducts. The story also takes on some modern issues such as vegetarianism and the transportation of live animals.
The plot, though, at times, is tortuous in that many of the characters have difficult names and their relationship to one another is not easy to discern without re-reading pages or chapters. The overall theme has a medieval flavour with the attempted usurping of royalty involving the Burgundians, (from France), also involving a family of dissatisfied werewolves!
However there is something about the story that entices the reader to read to the end. Maybe it's Joan Aiken's humour which is prevalent throughout, for example; "..hair cut so short it looked like rusty paint over their bald heads" and "Stuck his lip out so far he could have balanced a walnut on it" or perhaps it's the fact that, by chapter 7, the plot begins to speed up and the major characters dominate.
This is certainly a book I would recommend despite my reservations but I would add the suggestion that it would be a wonderful story to read aloud, because the variety of characters and situations would demand many accents, heightening the humour and the story, hopefully making it accessible to many more children.