I enjoyed Pamela Cox's continuation novels in the Malory Towers series, so much so that I have no problem considering them a real part of the series, along with Enid Blyton's novels. Therefore, when it comes to the St. Clare series, I'm reading Pamela Cox three novels along with Enid Blyton's six, in internal chronological order. This is therefore the fifth book in the series, after Blyton's
Second Form at St Clare's.

Unlike Malory Towers, where the continuation novels are set after the original ones, and with a different set of characters, here we are in the middle of the original series, following the O'Sullivan twins and her school-mates. That has the problem that any small difference is style is more noticeable. However, it was fine. Pamela Cox is able to channel her inner Blyton quite well, and this has a similar feeling to the originals.

If you have read some of these books, you know how it goes. Most of the drama is centered around new girls, who are therefore unknown quantities for the reader and can easily have more character development than more established characters. In that sense, and in the kind of plot threads Pamela Cox uses, this fits very well with the rest of the series. You could say it's too faithful to the premise and style of the series, and that it doesn't bring anything new to the table, but that's really what I want from a continuation novel. If the author is not going to follow the same formula and is going to do her own thing instead... well, she might as well write her own novel instead of a continuation novel is someone else's series. Besides, Enid Blyton's novels are formulaic too, and the familiarity is part of the charm for young readers.

I have read another reviewer complaining that Janet, Carlotta and Allison are out of character here and... yes, there's something to that complaint, but the differences seemed acceptable to me. For example, Janet is jealous that Carlotta is head of the form instead of her. That's rather out of character for her, but then it's mostly an unconscious kind of jealousy, and I guess that even a normally generous and plain-spoken person can sometimes nurse such a resentment. She realizes her mistake at the end and vows to do better, so why not.

All in all, I find it a perfectly fine entry in the St. Clare series, and like with her Malory Towers books, I don't have a problem regarding Pamela Cox's books as a real part of this series. ( )