Poll 16: The Secret Series

[kirrin_castle]

Hi everyone, I hope we are not getting too bored, don't worry, it's the last 4 polls today, and then a two week wait for the final results and the final poll for the favourite book of all.

Last but by no means the least, this poll is for the Secret Series. Choose 2 books please.

I only had The Secret Of Moon Castle as a child, and was always a bit scared of the books jumping off shelves, the twanging, and Lord Moon's eyes glowing! I have read the others now, so will choose Moon Castle and Killimooin as my favourites.

I've copied the rules below, for any newcomers. Discuss and enjoy please

The Rules:

I thought it may be interesting to run a series of polls over the next few weeks, to find what order people rank Enid's books in each major series, and then finally to take the winner of each series and put them in a poll to find what the most popular book is of all.

There are 15 Popular series on the Cave Of Books, so I will run a series of 16 polls (will have to do 2 polls for Noddy as there are more than 21 books & each poll can only do 21 options). I will run 4 polls per night over the next 4 days, and leave each poll open for 2 weeks to give as many people as possible the chance to vote. Hopefully in that time there will be some interesting discussions about the various books & series.

Keep watching out for the 4 new polls every night (THESE WILL HAVE TO BE CREATED AS NEW TOPICS AS CAN'T CREATE MULTIPLE POLLS UNDER 1 THREAD), and then I will announce the ranking of each book in each series from favourite to least favourite in about 2 weeks time, then do a final poll to pitch each winning book from each series to find the ultimate favourite book.

In the event of a tie for the winner in a series and the final poll, I will do a play off poll between the winners until a winner is determined.

I will enable each user to choose 1 book only if there are 4 or less in a series, 2 books if there are 5 to 10 books in a series, and 3 books if there are more than 10 books in a series. As Noddy is in 2 parts, I will allow 3 choices from each part. I will also enable each user to change their vote if they wish until the voting time is finished.

Hopefully not too complicated and a bit of fun.

[pete9012S]

The Secret Of Moon Castle
The Secret Mountain

Slightly easier choice here. My choices are in the main driven by when I first read the book, who bought it for me and where I was at the time.

I think my Nan bought me these two on a mid 1970's trip to Alton Towers. It was a lovely summer and I was convinced the castle in the grounds would hold untold secret passages if I could just find the right trap door/lever...

[Courtenay]

I've only read The Secret Island, which I absolutely loved, but as I haven't read the rest of the series (and I'm aware they're quite different from the first one), I'll hold off voting this time!

[Rob Houghton]

The Secret Of Moon Castle
The Secret Mountain

Completely agree! These two are by far my favourites in this series - with 'Mountain' being streets ahead of all the rest. I absolutely love Mountain - and its such a tragedy that this book is now no longer available and has been taken out of print.

I first read both of these as an adult. As a child I only read Island and Spiggy Holes - although I think I didn't really realise at the time that they were part of a series!!

[Lucky Star]

I'll choose Mountain and Killimooin. They are both fabulous adventure books. In fact they are worthy of being in Enid's flagship Adventure series plot wise. Both books are utterly gripping, heady with danger and all the sounds, smells and atmosphere of strange exotic places.

I had to agonise over leaving Island out. It's one of my all time favourite books but I always tend to regard it as a stand alone book as it's so different in tone to the rest of it's series.

[Darrell71]

I chose only one - Killimooin, for I couldn't choose between the others. Killimooin for how absolutely thrilling it is. Exotic lands, fogs that roll up out of nowhere, wild mountains, a secret forest within, fox-tailed thieves, moving statues, underwater rivers, massive cataracts - I mean, need I say anything else?
I like Island but have only read it once and I prefer the plot style of the other books. Spiggy Holes is not as memorable save for the communication through the windows (I mean I honestly can't remember it), Mountain seemed a little depressing but I have to re-read it since it seems really popular, and Moon Castle didn't seem as dangerous.

[Anita Bensoussane]

This was an easy one for me. I just had to vote for The Secret Island as the island is a dreamy and idyllic haven and I love being there with the characters and soaking up the atmosphere. I always feel bereft when I reach the end of the book and have to return to everyday life.

My other vote went to The Secret Mountain because it's such a hair-raising adventure. There's a feeling that the children are real explorers and that all kinds of unexpected things await them. Indeed, they have some absolutely terrifying experiences - though there are also episodes of humour and wonder. A brilliant book that has stayed with me strongly ever since I first read it over forty years ago.

If I could have picked a third title it would have been The Secret of Killimooin as I'm drawn to the wild landscape and the idea of people living cut off from the modern world.

[Daisy]

Those were my two choices too, Anita. the Secret Island was the first Blyton book I owned and I still love to return to it for a taste of peace and an idyllic feeling of safety after the life the children had had before they escaped. To share in that life is always uplifting and a wonderful escape from reality. Secret Mountain is also such a good story that I couldn't leave it out although Killimooin ran it quite close.

[Chrissie777]

I've only read The Secret Island, which I absolutely loved, but as I haven't read the rest of the series (and I'm aware they're quite different from the first one), I'll hold off voting this time!

I've read "The Secret Island" multiple times, it's probably my favorite EB book together with "The Valley of Adventure" and the Kirrin Bay sequels of the FF.
Tried to read some of the others, but couldn't get into the them.
The German translation of "Spiggy Holes" was nice.

[kirrin_castle]

The German translation of "Spiggy Holes" was nice.

What was that then?

[IceMaiden]

The Secret Island which is wonderfully dreamy and fantasy like and Killimooin because Baronia sounds heavenly with it's hot sunny climate , gorgeous scenery and fairy tale sounding castle. The forest in a ring of mountains that can't be reached is intriguing and exciting and the whole lot makes for a super read!

[shadow]

I love The Secret Island, no doubt in my choice there. For my second choice I chose Spiggy Holes as it's the book with the least amount of Prince Paul in it.

[Rob Houghton]

I'm glad someone else feels the same about Prince Paul!! For me, he's like a human version of Kiki!!

[Chrissie777]

From everything I've read about the sequels of "The Secret Island" I got the impression that the books are too exotic for my taste and too fairy-tale like for me.
I prefer the more realistic ones like FF, Adventurous Four, FFO & Dog, R series and Adventure series (but then, what's realistic about a group of British kids getting involved in adventures with every new school vacation? ).

[Rob Houghton]

I think you've got the 'wrong' impression! Yes, The Secret Mountain and The Secret of Kilimooin are quite 'exotic' I guess, but they are also very dramatic and nail-biting. The scene where Jack and Mafumu swim through a water-filled passageway, (in The Secret Mountain) is, in my opinion, the most tense and realistic description of a tunnel that Enid ever described! Absolutely terrifying, as they don't know how long it will be before they can come up for air, and wouldn't be able to hold their breath long enough to swim back again!