Rate the Last Titles from Major Series

[Anita Bensoussane]

Something like that!

[Irene Malory Towers]

Even though I love Enid Blyton I thought that most of her last books of the various adventure stories were very weak, the Rat A Tat and Ragamuffin mystery, the last 2 famous five ones although five on a secret trail was weak and the Mystery of the Banashee Towers was very poor and the River of Adventure also poor. The school books were good until the end though and in fact the final one of Malory Towers was brilliant. I think it is quite common though with very prolific writers. Certainly it was noticeable with Agatha Christie and other mystery writers. I think is understandable though, even if she didn't have dementia, she must have run out of ideas. I don't have enough ideas to write one single book, never mind hundreds.

[StephenC]

I agree with John and Anita, that Fun For The Secret Seven, is definitely the worst of the 12 books listed. It's mostly about Peter and Janet, and the ending, with Peter and Janet's parents helping to whip the villains into submission, is laughable. I actually didn't mind Look Out Secret Seven and Five Have A Mystery To Solve, but it would have been nice to finish the FF series with Demon's Rocks, and the SS series with Shock For The Secret Seven.

[Bertie]

I don't often read the last book or two in most of these series anymore. On my re-reads, I tend to end 'on a high' rather than sit through some pretty painful reads. The Circus Of Adventure is a huge outlier in that - a final / penultimate book that I actually really like and think is as good, if not better, than some of the earlier ones. And '... Strange Messages' is perfectly acceptable as well.
I've put the last two Famous Fives right near the bottom as I've always hated those - as did my brothers, and mum, before me. For us all, they just never read the same as the other books in the series. It's not just the quality, as is the issue with some of these, it's the 'feel' as well. The tone, dialogue, etc. They just feel wrong, like they were written by someone else. I have similar issues with Banshee Towers.

1. The Circus Of Adventure - Very good
2. The Mystery Of The Strange Messages - Good
3. The Rat-A-Tat Mystery - Good / Decent
4 The Secret Of Moon Castle - Good / Decent
5. The Ragamuffin Mystery - Decent
6. Look Out Secret Seven - Decent / Poor
7. The River Of Adventure - Decent / Poor
8. The Mystery Of Banshee Towers - Poor
9. The Secret Of Killimooin - Poor
10. Five Are Together Again - Poor
11. Five Have A Mystery To Solve - Poor
12. Fun For The Secret Seven - Poor

[Bertie]

I've just finished reading the last book of the Mystery Series - Banshee Towers.

It's always been the weakest book, as I think Enid tried her best to give the readers what they wanted and that was to write another Find-Outer's book. But sadly for me reading this book after reading all the Mystery Series in order, just didn't read like a Find-Outer's book at all.

It was more of an adventure sort of book - like a stand alone novel. It was as though someone was trying to write a Find-Outer's book, but had no idea of how the Mystery Series ran. It just didn't seem to fit in with the flow of the other books. Fatty was said to say - We'll have to give up on this mystery! Fatty was going to be the best detective since Sherlock Holmes. He would never give up on a mystery.

But this mystery was more of an adventure - going along a dark passage to get inside Banshee Towers, was more like - The Mystery of Cliff Castle. The Find-Outers solved mysteries with clues, and interviewed suspects. As I said, it was as though someone thought - I'll try my hand at a continuation story of this series, but wasn't very well up on what the Find-Outers were all about. I found it quite hard to read, I must confess, and at the same time, felt very sad that Enid really did her best with this the last book in the series. But I think maybe she should have stopped at Missing Man, and then would have ended the series on a high, and not a disappointment.

Very good review of the Banshee Towers book. All that you mention is exactly why I dislike it as well. And I have similar feelings towards the last two Famous Five books.
The only thing I'd maybe disagree with is the last sentence. Between Missing Man and Banshee Towers there was 'Strange Messages', and I think that's a reasonably good book so I'm glad she wrote that rather than end the series after 13 books. It's not as good as Missing Man, but as far as her later books go, I think it's one of the better ones and is one I still enjoy reading nowadays.

[Boodi 2]

Oddly enough, I always include "The Secret of Moon Castle" and "The River of Adventure" among my favourite Enid Blyton books, as I read them when I was young and they made a huge impression on me!

[Lucky Star]

1. The Circus Of Adventure - Very good
2. The Mystery Of The Strange Messages - Good
3. The Rat-A-Tat Mystery - Good / Decent
4 The Secret Of Moon Castle - Good / Decent
5. The Ragamuffin Mystery - Decent
6. Look Out Secret Seven - Decent / Poor
7. The River Of Adventure - Decent / Poor
8. The Mystery Of Banshee Towers - Poor
9. The Secret Of Killimooin - Poor
10. Five Are Together Again - Poor
11. Five Have A Mystery To Solve - Poor
12. Fun For The Secret Seven - Poor

A good list but The Secret of Killimooin poor?? I love that book. I think it's extremely exciting. Just goes to show that we all have different preferences. It's one of my all time favourite Blytons.

I agree with you about the last two Famous Fives although I have always like Mystery to Solve. It's a weak book but I love the setting and the fact that it's all based definitely upon real places. I'd also class River of Adventure as "decent" but drop the "poor". It's only real flaw in my opinion is the weakness of it's baddie Raya Uma.

[Bertie]

I'm not often as fond of the books that are set abroad, or in Mountains, Forests, etc.
Circus and Valley of Adventure are exceptions, I think those books work really well and I really enjoy them. But books like Killimooin, Secret Mountain, Mountain and River of Adventure, aren't really the types of Enid books that I prefer so I'd rank them low in lists like this.