Not much like Blyton's other series. I get the distinct feeling that this first book was a one-off brought back By popular demand. Apparently the second book wasn't as good as the first, but I don't know, I haven't read it yet.
This adventure is good. A family is down at the sea, a mother with her twin daughters Mary and Jill and an older (presumably) son called Tom. They become good friends with Andy, a local and older fisher boy who is obviously their leader, but all this is established in the first chapter. They go off on a trip in Andy's fishing boat very early on, planning to stay 2 days on an island but miss their way in a storm and are shipwrecked on a different small island.
They soon set up a very comfortable 'house' for themselves from the leftover huts of people who used to farm there. One day exploring, they go to the next island in the chain (there are 3) and discover a cave full of food supplies, from which they take a few things. (One of the unbelievable but really fun parts of this book is how despite being shipwrecked on some deserted island Blyton finds all these ways to furnish them with really nice food just like in her other books). But they find a seaplane there from "the Enemy" and quickly realise the second island is being used as a storage point for supplies. Tom has a handy camera in a waterproof case and he snaps a few shots.
On the third island, they find a deep harbour that houses about a dozen enemy submarines! Things have gotten much bigger! They want to set back to inform the authorities, especially as Tom has filled his camera roll with a few more snaps as evidence. So they lug more food from the second island and steal a boat, one of many stored there, and plan to sail away.
Alas, Tom leaves his camera in the cave with food! Feeling like an idiot, he sets off to retrieve it which is even more idiotic, and promptly gets caught. The 'Enemies' question him and search the islands to see if there's anyone else. Andy and the girls have a brainwave and disguise themselves under sand and seaweed as rocks, and are not discovered. This bit was realistic, but something seemed a bit off about it. I don't believe it could be done in real life. But I made special efforts to suspend my disbelief in acknowledgement that this was a kid's book. Andy goes at night to the second island and discovers a hole in the roof of the cave where they're holding Tom. Not as incredible as it sounds, since there must be some way of getting fresh air. They escape later, by enlarging the hole and...wait for it...setting their gramophone into the cave so it sounds like Tom's singing! They rush back, repair their shipwrecked boat (which they've pulled off the rocks and found the damage isn't quite so bad) and are ready to set off ---! when it turns out they've been watched all along. So the boat is confiscated, and they're all stuck on the island, but with a lot of good food.
They're not defeated. Andy thinks up the idea of a raft, built from the hut they're staying in. They make it look like it's collapsed in the storm, get a tent from the enemy, live in that while they stealthily pull the hut apart and make a raft complete with a sail. Tom and Andy get onto that and float away and Jill and Mary stay behind because it's none too big.
Tom and Andy are floating round in the sea, making good way. On the second day, a sea plane comes so they hang in the water from the sides, hoping it doesn't see them. It does, but it turns out to be British! And Tom's dad (pilot in the war) is on it! They tell the big story, the adults are suitably impressed. They go to pick up the girls.
Meanwhile, the 'Enemy' has realised they're gone upon a raft, because only the twins are on the island. They threaten to bring the twins back to their country so they run and hide on the second island in the cave of food in a big box. This is luckily where the rescue plane lands and they're all reunited! They fly away and the islands and submarines are blown up.
All in all, it's quite a thrilling adventure. Blyton carries all the plot twists off well, and the ideas are quite ingenious. I doubt I'd have been able to get off the island at all. The adventure is so good you don't really think about the characters so much, which is best because they're not so distinct, except for Andy who's quite brilliant and skilled with his hands. However, the use of 'the Enemy' did disturb me a bit. I know it wasn't written during war time so it wasn't targeted against any country at all, and Blyton was very careful not to name any whatsoever, but there's a speech at the end: It's something to cry about, to think that we have to fight so much evil and wickedness. It is right against wrong and we have to be strong and courageous when we fight suhc a powerful and evil enemy as ours. But dry your eyes - you are on the right side and that is something to be proud of! We know in real life things are never that clear cut. World War II was awful, there were clear victims then, and Hitler was evil but just reading a little bit of All's Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque will show you the tragedy of World War I from Germany's side. Even Hitler's troops, cruel as they were, had been brainwashed. There will never be a war where there are no innocent deaths. It's devastating to think, that as educated as we are now, there will still be a third and final World War where the world comes against Israel that God tells us about in His Word. But I know Blyton didn't mean to say Britain was always right in everything they did, so I'll leave it at that.
But another thing is the treatment of children during war. I kept thinking that the 'Enemy' would have just shot them all, it would've been easier. I've heard of Nazis ripping children bodily apart. They would have hardly fed them and given them tents when their soldiers were starving. But surely, if children were to accidently stumble in on something like this, soldiers must remember their own and take pity on them for that? I'd like to think so, but it's something I hope I shall never know.
LITERARY MERIT: ***1/2
ENJOYMENT: ****3/4
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