Salutations!
Victorious!
It's my 200th book review!
And just before the end of 2014!
Better make an effort then.
'The Secret of Platform 13' is a fun, magical children's tale by an acclaimed author, the late great Eva Ibbotson. Unlike all the other books I'd borrowed from my school library, I got this one before the start of the holidays.
I remember it well. It's creative, sweet, funny, quirky, and all around entertaining, like a little music box.
I'd heard that 'The Secret of Platform 13' was possibly one of the inspirations for J.K. Rowling when writing her first 'Harry Potter' book. There are similarities: A magic world with a portal to the real world - to a train station platform in London; a spoilt, overweight and noisy little boy who bullies another, much nicer boy; and a cast of wacky, colourful fantasy characters and creatures.
The Island is home to wizards, ogres, hags, centaurs, foul-smelling harpies, and an array of fey in all shapes and sizes. Mist makers, with the appearance of cute little seals, help to conceal the existence of the Island from the rest of the world. This enchanted kingdom is ruled by a beloved King and Queen, who have a newborn prince. Every nine years for nine days a "Gump" opens, allowing access to modern society through London Station, Platform 13.
Three young sister nurses (who were originally from London) are entrusted with the prince on a trip to the big city. Disaster strikes when they suddenly lose the infant. The rich and childless Mrs Trottle has kidnapped him! This is just before the Gump closes to the Island, so a rescue party cannot be dispatched until nine years later...
The guilt-ridden sisters are now starving themselves as hermits in a cave. The prince's rescue party consists of the elder wizard Cornelius, the fey Gurkintrude, the giant Hans, and the young hag Odge (not the most reliable bunch, but it's a children's book so this can be forgiven). The delightful group of oddballs find Mrs Trottle's mansion and discover Raymond Trottle, a ghastly, extremely fat and spoilt boy of nine years old. Could he seriously be the missing prince? The quest grows more complicated by the day, and there are only nine days for which to bring the prince back to the Island and his true parents...
The downsides which cause me to rate 'The Secret of Platform 13' three stars out of five are:
1. The way the story will go is fairly predictable, even for five-year-olds, once we meet Ben the servant boy.
2. Despite me calling the rescue group "delightful", Odge, who out of all in the group has the most written about her, is not a pleasant character to read about. For an underdog heroine, Odge comes across as being as cold-hearted, nasty and mean-spirited as the Trottles. At one point she suggests to the team that they murder Raymond because he's not fit to be a prince. Even if it is meant as a joke, I didn't like her at all after that.
3. Ben is far too good and formal for a young boy. And too happy for an abused child servant. In a book featuring fantasy creatures and a hidden magical kingdom, Ben's ridiculously polite presence is enough to make my suspension of disbelief disappear like mist. He's like a little human C3-PO with all the things that make him entertaining sucked out of him.
4. And the ending, after a dark and intense climax, is abrupt. It even uses the cliché of having letters written between the characters explain what occurred after the final confrontation - instead of showing us what the heck happened.
All these things keep what could have been a true treasure chest of biblio-magic from achieving great charm. It's a little weak as both a coming-of-age journey (there is no clear, single main character from what I can remember), and as an adventure narrative, mostly because of how predictable the plot twists are.
But this is all my opinion, and nevertheless I highly recommend 'The Secret of Platform 13'. It's not only for 'Harry Potter' fans. It is unforgettable in its own right; in its own fanciful, Disneyland-ish flight.
R.I.P. Eva Ibbotson.
Final Score: 3/5
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