Books like The Circus of Adventure

Another fine entry in the series, this adventure is rather original in Enid Blyton's work because it belongs to the genre called Ruritanian romance (in reference to the Ruritania of the novel The Prisoner of Zenda), It is a very good adventure too, with memorable scenes like Jack following the kidnappers and stowing away in their plane, the daring rescue of the other children from the castle...There were two things, however, that prevent me from placing it among my favorite in the series. The first one is that the trope of a wimpy boy (prince Gustavus, or Gussy, in this case) joining our heroes and being teased features prominently here. It is a trope that appears in several of Enid Blyton's books and I never enjoy it. Sure, Gussy is so wimpish and spoiled that it can be exasperating, but the other children always come across as a bit mean in these cases. Gussy's antics are supposed to be funny, but this element of the story doesn't quite work for me. I would have preferred him to be more like Richard in Five Get into Trouble, spoiled but not necessarily a coward. It's just too much.The other thing is that this never quite become a group adventure. Jack is the main hero of the book, and most of the time he is separated from the others, alone in a foreign country. Philip also has his big heroic moment with the bears. Then, for the resolution we have Bill and Jack working together, while the other children remain at the circus camp. This is not necessarily a problem, because it's an interesting change having one of the children in a situation where he must act and make decisions on his own, but I did miss having the group work together.I was amused because being undercover in a foreign country with Kiki is rather difficult, and there was a particularly implausible moment when Jack tells his parrot that she should make noises but not speak any English words, and Kiki understands him perfectly!So, all in all, this is a gripping Blyton adventure. For other of her books books i have said that I did not mind that the adventure was light because the pre-adventure part was very enjoyable. In this case, the adventure was the best part.