New Term at Malory Towers

Malory Towers #7

by Enid Blyton, Pamela Cox

Darrell has left, and Felicity is head of the third form. What a lot she has had to deal with - June and new girl Freddie playing tricks continually, the sickly Bonnie shadowing her, and the stuck-up Amy, who has a strange family secret.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, School Stories, Boarding School, Middle Grade, School, Adventure

208 pages, Paperback

Published May 4, 2009

About the author

Please don't merge with Enid_Blyton
This author profile has been created as Enid^^Blyton to form a collective profile for all commissioned works, by various authors, published under the author name of "Enid Blyton" but nor actually written by herself.

Reviews

[Geoffery Crescent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's be clear, despite what the front cover may want you to think this is NOT a book by Enid Blyton. It's a continuation of her Malory Towers series, by Pamela Cox. The Malory Towers books were some of my favourites growing up, and although I was slightly apprehensive about someone else taking over the reigns, I was too eager for more adventures to resist. In fact I needn't have worried. Although when I started the whole thing felt a bit like fanfiction, a bit "uncanny valley" in how close it was to Blyton, the feeling soon wore off and I quickly forgot I was reading anything but an original!

Cox had some help here of course. The latter Malory Towers books spent a good deal of their time with the younger kids anyway, so that starting a new series with Felicity, Susan and June feels like a very natural progression. Darrell, Sally and Amanda show up to give the book some nostalgic flavour and all the teachers are exactly as they should be. Cox clearly knows the series very well, aside from one minor slip-up when June says she wants to be the first person to trick Mam'zelle Rougier (she already did that, in a previous book!) and changing the name of the girls' sewing mistress (this might actually be an in-joke, Blyton was never consistent with her name either). She is a little more descriptive with the characters, which I actually prefer; Blyton was never a great one for describing people. There's one quite bizarre piece of innuendo as well (cockhorse, Mam'zelle, really?) but new girls Veronica, Amy, Freddie and Bonnie could have wandered straight out of a previous book.

A really enjoyable way to carry on the Malory Towers series, I will definitely be reading the others!

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

So yes, since I really did not all that much enjoy Pamela Cox' continuations of Enid Blyton's St. Clare's series (and mostly because in my humble opinion, Cox in her featured texts often ends up making the St. Clare's girls appear not really how they are deporting themselves, how they are acting under Enid Blyton's pen, and that in some ways, Pamela Cox is often also and actually making use of more problematic stereotyping than Enid Blyton ever does in her original six St. Clare's novels), I of course, after having now finished with the six Malory Towers novels written by Enid Blyton, was approaching the first of Pamela Cox's continuations of the series, I was approaching New Term at Malory Towers with a considerable amount of worry and trepidation (and was, in fact, actually even rather expecting Pamela Cox to once again pen a decent enough story in and of itself, but also likely one thematically not really sufficiently similar to Enid Blyton to make New Term at Malory Towers feel adequately authentic and in the true spirit of Blyton's boarding school stories).

But no, I really need not have worried about this, since the Pamela Cox continuations for Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers series do feel from what I have read thus far with New Term at Malory Towers quite majorly superior to what she, to what Cox has penned for going on with, for finishing up with the St. Clare’s series. For not only are the characters presented by Pamela Cox in New Term at Malory Towers NOT the previously featured Darrell Rivers et al, since they all graduated from the sixth form at the end of Last Term at Malory Towers, by having the main protagonists and antagonists of the continuations be from the lower Malory Towers forms and characters like Darrell Rivers younger sister Felicity, Alicia's cousin June (all previously introduced by Enid Blyton but not really having been all that expansively depicted and described) and an interesting array of new characters, Pamela Cox avoids the trap she fell into with regard to her St. Clare's offshoots, namely, that she is able to successfully create characters who are in the spirit of Enid Blyton but do not feel either like a pale mirror or individuals who just do not fit with how Enid Blyton had described them in the original Malory Towers novels. For example, Felicity and June do not ever appear in New Term at Malory Towers as though they make no sense from what they used to be under Enid Blyton's pen but that they also are still sufficiently blank slates so that Pamela Cox can create her own original but still totally and absolutely akin to Enid Blyton characters.

And yes, in my opinion, Cox does this with the newly appearing story characters as well, creating a solid boarding school based story in New Term at Malory Towers, one which feels like a smooth progression from Enid Blyton to Pamela Cox and one that also feels like a smooth progression from featuring Darrell Rivers and company to focussing on the now third form, with Felicity Rivers as main protagonist and with an engaging and intriguing array of mildly typecast nasties, but who do seem to often learn important and interesting lessons whilst at boarding school (an enjoyable and readable way to spend a few reading hours and I also do find it delightful that while in New Term at Malory Towers Felicity Rivers, some of the teachers and even Miss Grayling the Headmistress sometimes mention especially Darrell Rivers and how popular she was at Malory Towers, thankfully, nostalgic remembrances of the just graduated sixth formers are not ever too exaggerated, are just a sweet memory, and for Felicity, a reminder that she does have some very large shoes to fill with regard to her older sister Darrell and her rather brilliant career at Malory Towers).

[Kavita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pamela Cox continued the Malory Towers series and published six books that follows Felicity and June up the school. The first of these books, New Term at Malory Towers, shows the girls at school in the third form. Unlike her atrociously writtenSt Clare's continuation series, Cox seamlessly manages to transit from Blyton's books in the Malory Towers series.

The new term sees Felicity as the head girl of the third form. I didn't really like Felicity in the original books as she always appeared wishy-washy to me, but Cox manages to nicely develop her character in this one. I rather enjoyed seeing more of the lives of the other girls in the form, who had previously been only mentioned in passing or appeared in plots concerning Darrel's form.

In the old Blyton tradition, the school sees three new girls. One is Veronica Sharpe, who was dropped down a form. She is rather sly and a snob. Her story is intertwined with Felicity's character development as the latter gradually draws her out and ensures that her good side comes to the fore.

Another new girl, Bonnie, is Felicity's neighbour and is a bit of a stalker. She forces her parents to send her to the school because she misses Felicity. But she is sly and does whatever she wants and causes a lot of havoc. She also sucks up to the teachers and I am a little surprised that none of the girls seem to mind. Not my favourite character and I rather dislike such smarmy kids.

My favourite new girl was Amy, who has a secret that even she does not know! She is rich and snobby and it is interesting to see her character development. On the whole, Cox goes a lot lighter on the girls than the heavy handed lessons of Blyton, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The plots are also well-developed. Felicity shines in a way her sister never did and I began to like her as much as I disliked Darrel.

Great start to a rest of the series!

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised by this book! I am always wary when someone takes a beloved author's work and continues on with an established series. But Pamela Cox has done a wonderful job with this series.

Of course Darrell leaves Mallory Towers at the end of Enid's last book, so she only features at the beginning. Then Felicity takes the reigns, and I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed reading about her. I wondered whether she would inherit her father's temper too, but it was not the case. Also there is another old favorite, June. I enjoyed reading about her too.

A great book to continue on a series I adore, and I'm glad I discovered them. Look out for my reviews of the rest, I'm almost finished all six!

[Jo_Scho_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 7 in the Malory Towers series, written by Pamela Cox, very much in the style of Enid Blyton.

Darrell & her friends have left Malory Towers and now it’s her younger sister Felicity’s turn to take the starring role, which she does especially well. It’s a new term, with new girls, old girls, high jinks and the obligatory secrets and deceptions.

The pastiche is actually done so well that at times I wondered if I’d read the plot in a previous book, it felt so familiar. Nevertheless it’s a wonderful way to read about the continuation of my most favourite fictional school in the world so I’m not complaining one bit. Can’t wait to read book 8!

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm currently binge-reading this series, and I'm really enjoying myself back into the Malory Towers world that I grew up with as young reader in Primary School!

Pamela Cox takes over for this part of the series, as main character Felicity Rivers is about to return to Malory Towers for the first term being part of the third form. Her older sister Darrell (main character in books 1 to 6 of the series) is about to start University. On returning to boarding school, Felicity is made head of the form, however, not everyone is happy about that. Pranks, family secrets and fighting drama, this is such a fast-paced read but with a great array of characters.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published 6 decades after the original Malory Towers books by Enid Blyton, these new sequels had quite a lot to live up to. Focusing on Felicity Rivers, Darrell's younger sister, and the girls in her form, this was a lovely read in a very similar style to Blyton's writing with just the same feel to it. Looking forward to reading the rest of the new books.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good sequel to the original Malory Towers books. It's been written "nearly" in the same style as Enid Blyton, though there was one instance which stood out as not in the same vein. This was the phrase "I'd have told him where to get off". Hmmm, not quite in keeping!
A worthy extension to the original stories.

[●tk● · Rating 5 out of 5]

My initial impressions
Within the first few pages I realised that these continuation books might just be OK. I was pleased to see that the language retains the flavour of the original with plenty of uses of jolly and your people etc. I wouldn’t say the writing instantly grabbed me as identical to Blyton’s, but copying her style exactly is difficult.

We get a brief glimpse of Darrell and Sally in the first chapter, almost as if they are passing a metaphorical baton to Felicity to continue the series, and Mr Rivers says something that sounds very much like something Blyton would write:

‘That’s what comes of wrapping children in cotton-wool,’ remarked Mr Rivers. ‘It would do young Bonnie the world of good to be sent to a school like Malory Towers, where she could mix with other girls and learn to stand on her own two feet.’

It’s almost Miss Grayling-esque wisdom, in fact. I’m jumping way ahead now, but there’s another quote I really liked, from Miss Potts this time.

‘There is no doubt that Susan has more confidence in herself than Felicity. However, I have always felt that young Felicity was a little overshadowed by her older sister. Darrell was so popular, and such a success at Malory Towers – especially in her last year, when she was Head Girl – that Felicity was always known as her little sister and never really came into her own. She has always been less sure of herself than Darrell, and less forthright in her opinions. Yet she is a very strong, determined little character and, now that Darrell is gone, I think that the time has come for Felicity to shine.

The Plots
There are actually several different storylines running through the book, some of which collide in unexpected ways.

First we have Felicity’s neighbour, Bonnie, who has latched onto her. Felicity isn’t at all keen on this new friendship as Bonnie is rather drippy and annoying, but as she is also rather an invalid Felicity is kind to her. She feels safe in the knowledge that she can escape to Malory Towers for most of the year and thus escape Bonnie’s clutches, too.

Then there are the two new girls at Malory Towers. One is Freddie, a cheerful girl who enjoys jokes tricks and the other new girl is Amy Ryder-Cochrane. Amy is, to put it mildly, a snob. She has previously been to an exclusive boarding school, called Highcliffe Hall, where maids unpack your trunks and there’s a heated indoor pool, so she looks down on Malory Towers.

Another girl new to the form, but not the school, is Veronica who has been left down from the previous form. Veronica is a bit of a Gwendoline Mary in that she is spiteful and not well liked. She makes friends with Amy (in an attempt at social climbing, I suppose).

The relationships between these girls and the established North Towers girls of the third form provide most of the storylines for the book.

There is rather a lot of scheming in this story, with Felicity, Susan, June and our other familiar faces trying to alternately squash the new girls and turn their attentions elsewhere.

Bonnie turns up at the school (this was quite obviously going to happen before they pointed out there was an empty bed in the dormitory!) and tries to resume her friendship with Felicity, but Felicity tries to palm her off on Amy instead. Amy accepts this as they have a love of fashion in common, but Veronica is irritated at losing her grip on Amy.

Freddie makes friends with June, but June feels threatened in her role as chief trouble-maker and joke player, and so involves Freddie in a foolish plot involving Amy’s grandmother to distract her.

Everything comes out all right in the end, of course, for everyone, and various hard lessons are learned by most.

Only a few of the plots are new to us – some are re-used just like Blyton often re-used plots. Veronica being left down is not dissimilar to Moira and Catherine in In the Fifth at Malory Towers, as all these girls were unpopular and that contributed to them being left down. What’s interesting is Pamela Cox seems to have Blyton’s disregard for any sensible schedule of schooling, and Veronica being left down is a big deal despite her only having been in the third form for one term anyway.

Although Amy and Maureen Little are very different, their comparisons of their old schools to Malory Towers are taken the same negative way by the other girls, and in fact the same could be said of Amanda Chartelow.

Didn’t she realise that it simply wasn’t done for a new girl to criticise everything like this?

– Very similar is said in Last Term at Malory Towers

‘Dear me,’ said June smoothly, walking over to Amy. ‘What a come-down for you having to rough it with us at Malory Towers.’

– Also June is really channelling Alicia here.

The pranks played on Felicity echo those played by Gwendoline in First Term at Malory Towers, too.

How does it compare to Blyton?

Over all I think it’s actually a good boarding school story. There’s plenty of interesting things going on and the different plots and new characters are woven together cleverly. I think if this was a book set in a different boarding school with brand-new characters I would rate it reasonably highly in an ‘If you like Blyton’ sort of way. The fact that it’s trying to emulate Blyton and carry on with established characters means I am going to have much higher expectations, and be harsher in my judgement of it.

As I said at the start of the review, a flavour of the original books is kept with the language used, which is really important in helping this book seem a natural continuation of the series. Although we are focussing on a different group of girls the transition isn’t too jarring as we have had chapters dedicated to Felicity’s form in the previous books.

I’ve also already said that the writing doesn’t quite match up to Blyton’s but I would find it hard to pinpoint the exact differences. There isn’t often a clear sense of Blyton would never say that (except maybe for a description of an aquiline nose) or anything terribly jarring, but the book doesn’t have Blyton’s easy style. There are various paragraphs you could think it was Blyton, but it doesn’t usually last long.

‘Look everyone, it’s Felicity! Did you have good hols?’

‘Hallo, Nora! Goodness, don’t you look brown?’

‘I say, isn’t that Pam over there, with her people? Pam, come and join us!’

‘Have the train girls arrived yet? My word, isn’t it super to be back?’

– Pretty Blytonian, don’t you think?

One thing I noticed is there are quite a lot of long-winded explanations, reminding us of plots from previous books and describing the thought processes of the girls in detail. A few times I thought that Blyton would have conveyed the same information in less words, or left more to our imaginations. That’s not to say the writing is at all bad it’s just different, which is a problem when you try to seamlessly continue a series.

The extract below, I am almost certain did not occur in the actual Last Term book, but it has been shoe-horned in to give a reason for Veronica to dislike Felicity in particular, though it’s not the best example of long-winded-ness.

‘You had better watch your step, Felicity,’ said Julie, with a frown. ‘Do you remember how your sister, Darrell, caught her snooping around in the sixth’s common-room last term?’

‘Yes, I remember,’ said Felicity, with a grin. ‘Darrell made her write an essay on respecting one’s elders, and got her to read it out to the whole of the sixth form. But I don’t see what that’s got to do with me!’

For me there’s too much inner-thoughts and machinations,

But Veronica hadn’t been in the dormitory earlier and had only just met Amy, so she couldn’t possibly know anything about her. Perhaps Veronica really had changed her ways, and was being kind and unselfish in putting Amy at her ease. But somehow June doubted it.

———-

The girl brooded on it during the drive to the restaurant. Perhaps she had been spending too much time with Amy and neglecting Felicity. Although it had been Felicity’s idea for her to make friends with Amy in the first place, so she ought to understand. But Bonnie had, in her own way, become quite fond of Amy as their friendship grew, and she certainly enjoyed her company. Maybe Felicity had sensed this, and had gone off with Veronica to get back at Bonnie. Yes, that was the only sensible explanation, for Felicity couldn’t possibly like Veronica! Bonnie made up her mind that she would devote more time to Felicity when they got back to school, and show her that their friendship was still important to her.

These are only two of the lengthy looks we get inside the heads of various girls as they try to figure out each others’ motivations and make plans of their own.

I do think it’s clear that Pamela Cox is either a fan of the series or has carefully read all the books and taken note. There are some pleasing details included, such as one of the teachers remarking that It’s a wonder she [June] and her cousin, Alicia, haven’t turned my hair grey between them. Words to this effect are also used in the original series. She also includes mention of Bill and Clarissa (and their riding stables), and Amanda, as Games Captain, is there coaching the younger girls still. None of it seems forced or awkward, even if some of the reminder/summaries are a bit long and unnecessary.

Mam’zelle Dupont is as silly as ever, saying pulling my foot instead of pulling my leg and confusing Amy Ryder-Cochrane with Ryder-Cockhorse, as in Ride a Cock-horse to Banbury Cross. These aren’t her best misunderstandings but Pamela Cox has given it a good go.

There are some contrivances such as the never-mentioned-before neighbour Felicity’s age, the girls suddenly being able to wear their own clothes and wander off into town or along the cliffs whenever they feel like it (and not in a sneaking off way). Miss Grayling suddenly has a private garden, and Mrs Rivers becomes so kind she accompanies Veronica, a relative stranger, to chat with Miss Grayling. But then again Blyton wasn’t averse to contrivances to further her plots so I can’t be too critical of these!

Pamela Cox has also introduced a few new teachers (in passing) and given some girls surnames, and fleshed out their roles.

My one problem with the book is the storyline involving Amy’s grandmother. In short, they haven’t seen each other in years due to a family issue, but she moved close to the school to try to get to know her.

Firstly, several third formers bump into the grandmother and get a detailed story all about Amy’s family, these girls are complete strangers to her! Secondly, if you ignore that, the story is actually very interesting and yet it gets completely ignored for a lot of the book while the girls fight and fall out etc. When we do finally find out what it’s all about, it seems rather anti-climatic, not helped by great swathes of explanations into all the ins and outs of it.

Ok I lied, I have a second issue. And that is that in Blyton books good characters don’t lie. They will do almost anything to answer a question in a way that is technically the truth but without giving away a secret. Yet Freddie blatantly lies to Amy’s grandmother (egged on by June and in a way trying to be kind, but still) and Felicity tells a whopper to Mam’zelle Rougier after a joke. Talking of which…

The Jokes
Well, it wouldn’t be a Blytonian school book without some practical jokes, would it! We see a fair bit of Felicity’s class in Last Term at Malory Towers, and much of it revolves around them playing practical jokes as the sixth formers are too staid and sensible.

We get three jokes in this book, which are carried out with varying degrees of success.

First is what amounts to a self-tanning soap. June intends to plant it for Amy to use, but Freddie manages to get Mam’zelle Dupont to use it instead. It’s quite funny, actually, though a bit reminiscent of Darrell painting a chalk ‘oy’ on the piano stool and angering the other girls. June isn’t impressed that Freddie took the initiative and went one better on her trick.

Second is a decent one with a fake spider. Mam’zelle Dupont would absolutely have a fit over a large, hairy spider.

Lastly, June finally plays a trick on Mam’zelle Rougier, which is supposed to be impossible. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem plausible at all. She basically hides in a store cupboard (a contrived, suddenly-there-but-always-locked cupboard with keys easy to steal) and pretends she’s become invisible.

Mam’zelle Rougier is too smart to fall for that! I mean June is in a cupboard shouting about how she’s still in her seat. Her voice would give the game away, not to mention the great obvious door right behind her desk. She also sneaks in and out of the cupboard more than once, absolutely silently, without being detected by sensible and suspicious Mam’zelle Rougier.

Over 2,000 words later, and I think I’m done reviewing this book.

To summarise: it’s a good boarding school story with some convincing Blytonian touches, but it doesn’t consistently keep up that standard. It’s absolutely not terrible as I thought it might be. I will definitely read the other books as I’m intrigued by the blurbs.

Have you tried any of Pamela Cox’s books? What did you think of them?

[Ben Parry · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a big surprise when Bonnie appears in Malory Towers and Amy is too focused on fashion instead of studying.It is a very good book

[Melissainau · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first of the "second" Malory Towers series - six books written not by Enid Blyton but by "Pamela Cox" (which may be a pseudonym for a group of authors).
Where the first set of books had a certain charm about them, I found the second set repetitive to the point of dullness. The few fun new ideas that were there weren't explored sufficiently due to the very prescribed format of the novels. In fairness, the fifth and sixth (books 11 and 12 in the series) were probably the best of the lot.
OK, I am an adult reader, and a reasonably picky one. But I enjoyed reading the first set with my (12 year old) daughter and encourage my 7 year old to explore them as well.

[Preeti Nair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Went back in time. Thoroughly enjoyed

[Rayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5/5) 1 hour 21 minutes - I enjoyed the continuation of this series by a different author - the writing style is cleverly mirrored that I could hardly tell the difference. It's a good lighthearted read with an overall good message for children, and I do enjoy the nostalgia I get from reading this.

[Malaika Opany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took ages to finish since I’ve had finals. Super cute book tho. Quite funny.

[Teju · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a perfect copy of 3rd year at malory towers. Just the characters are changed.
darrel - felicity
Sally - Susan
Alicia - June
Bill - Freddie
Daphne - Amy
Gwen - Veronica
And so on im really bored by reading this book 📖. Dialogues are almost same. The story is Little bit different.

[Eng Elysse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about sisters Felicity and Darrell going to boarding school. This year, Felicity goes to boarding school, Malory Towers, as Darrell heads off to college. Felicity has fun with Susan, her best friend, but Bonnie, Felicity's neighbor, finds Felicity her very best friend. Bonnie and Susan both hate each other making Felicity the one to choose. Bonnie thinks that Susan is ruining their friendship, while Susan and Felicity thinks vice versa.When Felicity had to leave for school and pick up Susan, Bonnie was sobbing and crying as she wanted Felicity without Susan. When they arrived Malory Towers, they saw June with another girl, which Felicity supposed as a new girl. There were 2 new girls and 1 girl left down from the upper form. The second day, Bonnie appeared at the dining room during breakfast. Susan almost choked, Felicity felt sick. They whispered to each other about why Bonnie is here, while Bonnie saw Felicity and ran towards the third form dining table. She explained to them that her parents couldn't resist her as she kept crying when Felicity was gone, so her parents sent her to school with Felicity. Veronica, the girl left down, made friends with this new girl called Amy, and bragged to her since she has been in the third form longer than the others, she will definitely be assigned head girl. Miss Peters, the third form mistress, announced that the head girl of the third form is to be Felicity. Veronica was shocked and told Amy that she only got the place because Darrell was head girl if the whole school last year. Amy didn't look convinced. Felicity told Bonnie to do a favor for her, to befriend with Amy as she and Amy had more in common rather than with Veronica. Susan helped Felicity with her duty and they both enjoyed themselves. They played some pranks on Madame Dupont, the French mistress, and enjoyed their term.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back into by rereads of Malory Towers! I know I've said it before, but I was so happy when these first came out so I knew how Felicity's story and time at the school ended. But it's been a while.

At first, it does feel a bit strange- the writing style is much the same as Enid Blyton's was, but of course, never 100% the same. However, they do blend together well and it was so easy to get back into life at the school- the continuity of the teachers for example, is very obviously meant to be them and it feels as though Blyton *might* have written them, had she lived long enough to do so.

Also, as Felicity and her form were featured more in the final two books of Darrell's time, it was a nice and easy progression. This is their third year at Malory Towers, and it never felt to me as though it were a copy or fanfiction of the original series.

There is also the nostalgia of having Darrell and Sally there in the opening couple of pages, which was a nice touch, along with other old characters mentioned. Bill and Clarissa have finally opened their riding school near to Malory and they do feature in the next book. I'm excited to read that again! But there really is the care and attention to detail throughout these 'newer' books from characters old and new that do make them feel as though they are all just one big series. :)

[iAmARainbow Yay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fun book. I remember when I used to be obsessed with this in like Year 4/5 and yesterday I thought about this and was like "I really feel like reading an easy and quick book and I wanna read this" so I did. Love love love (even though I'm way way way too old for this). I literally could not put this down even though I had an oral to study for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm gonna start the next book now HAHAHA

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well Darrell and her friends have "graduated" from Malory Towers in the last book. But her sister Felicity and her friends are still there. Pamela Cox does an excellent job keeping the tone of the book the same as the original six by Enid Blyton.

[Areej Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felicity should really get on her own feet!! Pamela Cox had left me surprised! She really picked up from Enid’s pen skills! Still...... I would prefer Darrell's point of view anyway! (For all MT books)

[Emma Bissonnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Term at Malory Towers was a decent book that was just as good as the prequels. However, I feel as though the girls were the same, and only the names were different. Felicity was Darrell, Susan was Sally, June was Alicia etc. I do think that this book was very good.

[Christywongcy Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING

[Deb Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

a fun book.

[BlamedDust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty Good

[Farseer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first of the Malory Towers continuation novels written by Pamela Cox. My expectations were not high, and I was very pleasantly surprised. This book was much better than I had expected. This one at least can be placed beside the ones written by Enid Blyton without any shame.

Pamela Cox does a very solid effort to imitate Blyton's style, without it being exactly the same. That "almost but not quite" sensation is noticeable at the beginning, but it soon vanishes as one reads. It helps that Cox is writing about a different set of characters. That way the small difference in feel is less grating, since it makes sense that for a different group of schoolgirls the voice may be slightly different.

Perhaps Cox does not have the same effortless and engaging storytelling as Blyton did, but her style is also engaging, and it feels like a Malory Towers story. She is clearly very familiar with the series, and adds to it respectfully. The tricks, the classes, the conflicts between the characters, the insights they gain, it's all there. Perhaps one could say that she relies a lot on Blyton's work, making it less original, but I think this is what one expects of continuation novels like this. One wants to recapture the originals, not to read something rather different.

There's even one important area where Cox actually improves on her predecessor: she is less heavy-handed with the moralism, and that allows her to have characters who feel less one-dimensional. There is more nuance and less typecasting. In Blyton's Malory Towers books, the "bad" girls often found redemption, but it worked like this: they were awful, and at the end, after something bad happened to them, they had a change of heart, learned from their errors and reformed. With Cox, the antagonists do not act so awful to begin with. Sure, they are flawed, sometimes seriously so, but those flaws are also balanced with some good qualities. They not so much reform as learn to handle their flaws better. It makes for more interesting, well-rounded characters. Even the heroes do wrong things and learn.

I enjoyed many things about this. While not exactly the same as Blyton, because that's impossible, it's a very close imitation, and I'm now looking forward to reading the rest of Pamela Cox additions to the series, now with confidence that they are worthy.

[Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

It came as a surprise that this wasn't an Enid Blyton original. Honestly I think it should be illegal to write an author's name on the front of a cover without a clarifying line if it wasn't written by them! A clear "a sequel inspired by the works of" or "in the style of" type line would do.

That said, this is one of the only continuation stories I've read that's true to the style of the original author. If I hadn't known, I would have believed it was by Blyton herself! Very plausible writing style and carries on the Malory Towers plot pretty seamlessly.

Key differences in plot structure compared to previous books are the story starting at the home of Felicity & Darrell, although this does allow Darrell (who has left the school at this point) to be included which is a nice touch. Another key difference is that this book doesn't seem to cover the full school year as each of the other books do, just the Autumn Term. There's also no previous mention of Miss Grayling (Head Teacher) living & working from a cottage on the school grounds so this is a new narrative for the school layout.

Lastly, some others have noted some minor continuity errors including June wanting to be the first to play a prank on the French teacher even though she's already done this in a previous book, and another teacher's name has been altered slightly. However, Blyton's own continuity in some of her series is super questionable (see also: Famous Five and their surnames/family relations and the way these change randomly throughout the books for an obvious blunder) so this is very plausible for her own writing!

Overall, a very good sequel (albeit written posthumously to the original author) that stands up very well alongside the previous books. I hope the next few also live up to this standard!

[Francesca Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this Malory Towers book Pamela Cox wrote following on the series from Enid Blyton. The girls got up to tricks throughout the story to tease the teachers such as pretending their was an invisible cream. This time Darrell was dropping off her younger sister Felicity at Malory Towers, who became head girl. Two new girls join Malory Towers called Amy and Freddie. The others aren't fond of Amy as they find her snobbish. They accidentally stumble across her Grandma who lives close by and soon discover that Amy isn't allowed to see her. The mischievous girls think of an idea to pretend Freddie is her granddaughter to make Amy's Grandma happy in thinking that she is meeting up with her granddaughter. However, Amy's Grandma soon finds out the truth and the girls get into trouble for this. Furthermore, Veronica gets into trouble too by stealing other peoples items, but strangely she wasn't stealing valuables. She soon gets found out and returns them. I like in this book how the girls ALWAYS apologise for their mistakes and realise how they were in the wrong.

Overall, the book is fun-packed all the way through. There is never a quiet moment. As a reader you are always kept on your toes as to what the girls will get up to next!

[Rania · رانية · Rating 3 out of 5]

7'75 / 10 ☆

When I say THE first book is top-hole. The series just gets repetitive from then on, ngl.

Yet I do appreciate the effort Pamela Cox did with the sequel-series. Before diving into it, I was like "nah, Queen Blyton" (why, indeed), but Cox did an incredibly golly work. This woman knew what she's getting into. This woman knew the books prolly better than the author herself.
Although I noticed some teeny-tiny mistakes (e.g.: June actually did play a trick on Mam'zelle Rougier before), I daresay and I hope no one comes at me, I feel like P. Cox is slightly better than Blyton at describing characters. She doesn't explain directly how they are -just by her writing, you know what she means. And I, for once, appreciated that, for I've had enough Dostoyevski descriptions for a lifetime.
However, I do feel like Pamela did a copy-paste when it comes to Amy -she's, in a nutshell, Daphne's long-lost twin. Although I know Daphne improved afterwards (where'd she go in the last 2 books though 💀), and Amy still hasn't really, I kind of feel as if Cox didn't really try to make it look either way.
Will read the other ones.

[Iona Sharma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really curious about these modern additions to the series (which I loved when I was small and is no less compelling on an adult reread, though of course you can see the 1920s-ishness of it all a lot more clearly) so I picked this up, and regretted it. The thing about the original characters is that they had flaws, all of them, and either overcame them or didn't; in this book, there are good girls who do good things and bad girls who do bad things Which makes for much less interesting stories.

[Constance · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Darrell has already left the school and went to university. Her younger sister Felicity is the new head girl in her form. Her neighbor, Bonnie, came to school as well and annoys Felicity and her best friend Susan. Bonnie doesn't like Susan as she wants to be Felicity's best friend. My favorite character in this book is Amy, because her family background really was interesting and weird. I find the part where Freddie disguised as Amy and went to her Amy's grandmother's little cottage compelling!