The Tin Princess (Sally Lockhart Quartet) [Paperback]

This is the final book of the four. It has Jim as the main character, with most of the other characters from previous books (including Sally) hardly appearing. The setting of the story is also changed from the first three books - it is set in a small country in central Europe. The main characters are the upper classes from this small state, and one of the themes of the story is the relationship between Royalty and the Royal Subjects.

The story is expertly written with never a dull moment and an exciting climax.

In reality this is Pullman's take on the Ruritanian novel, and is typically uncompromising. Take a small country stuck between great powers and would *really* happen? If someone who never expected to inherit a throne found himself on it, how well would he *really* cope? Fortunately Pullman's answers include the necessary addition of people with courage and determination, and (necessarily) a great deal more luck than anyone deserves, and you end up with a good story. Good enough to lead this reader to look for sequels, though they would be very difficult to do successfully.

There are disappointments - some readers will be upset that Sally Lockhart hardly makes an appearance. More seriously the character from whose view we see the story, Becky, is not really the heroine - that position belongs to the unlikeliest character in the book, the "Tin Princess" herself, Adelaide once the downtrodden skivvy from "The Ruby in the Smoke". Becky learns about life, romance and herself - a little - but many readers must feel a bit cheated in not having her given a story of her own as well. There is also a problem in that one of the strands of the story - a physically passionate love affair - has to be handled very allusively in a book sold to younger readers, though Pullman does an excellent job.

For fans of the Ruritanian novel, the problem lies in Pullman's unwillingness to suspend the rules of history or psychology for the benefit of royalty - or for little states with good scenery.

So readers need to be warned - put your preconceptions aside before you start. Having done that, you are in for a treat. The writing is skillful, the plotting masterly and the pace breakneck. Pullman's compassion for all his characters - including the unsympathetic ones - remains as persuasive as ever. He also plays fair with the reader - this is a very good story - not a lesson in historical morality.

But it would be nice to have more about Becky - another book maybe, Mr Pullman?

That said, previous reviewers who complained about Sally's absence are, I think, missing the point. This remains an excellent adventure story, and if all the attention was on Sally, we'd never get to know Jim and his co-adventurers better.

The story itself starts in London, but quickly moves to a small European kingdom called Razkavia. This is reminiscent of nothing so much as Anthony Hope's Ruritania (see his Prisoner of Zenda novels), and indeed the theme of an English commoner caught up in the affairs of minor european Royalty could have come straight from Hope's pen. Add an imprisoned prince, a crucial treaty, threatening foreign empires (Germany and Austria-Hungary), idealistic student-philosophers, a few swords and pistols, and steam-trains rushing through the snowy, forested night... and you have the recipe for an adventure story that will keep you up past bed-time while you read just one more chapter...

In short, ignore the complaints about Sally's absence. This story belongs to her friends, and they carry it off brilliantly.