This is the last Malory Towers novel by Enid Blyton (there are more novels in the series but they were written by a different author, Pamela Cox, well after Enid's death).

Again I found her storytelling style very entertaining and compelling, although I have to say that it got a bit heavy-handed in the moral lessons. I do not mind the old-fashioned, wholesome impulse to teach values that we have in many older books for children, but here it gets a bit too manipulative, with the girls who are bad examples in some way (Gwen, Jo and Amanda) getting heavy-handed consequences. The worst thing is that, to present them in a bad light, they make unrealistically bad decisions, just for the sake of the plot and the moral lesson. In the case of Gwen, the punishment is in the form of his father's serious illness, and there's a message that those who deserve good things get them, and those who deserve bad things get the bad things. Which is a good-intentioned but flawed message to send to children, because normally it's not a child's fault if her parent gets ill.

The tricks the girls play on the poor Mademoiselle were a bit too forced and elaborate, perhaps, as if the author was trying too hard to come up with something new. Also, it seemed weird that the second formers would play their tricks in the sixth formers' class, where they (the second formers) would not be able to see the teacher's reactions. I assume this was an attempt by the author to keep involving the older girls in the tricks, now they are too old and dignified to do them.

Anyway, still many things to like here. The whole subplot with Amanda and June was interesting, and I was happy to see that June has been rehabilitated without losing her impish individuality. The final chapter with Darrell and the others saying goodbye to Malory Towers was bittersweet, and a nice ending to the series.

Now I guess I'll check Pamela Cox's continuation novels. ( )

Han pasado los años y Darrell, Sally, Alicia y las demás empiezan su último curso en Torres de Malory. Ahora son las mayores del colegio, disponen de habitaciones para ellas solas y todas las alumnas las miran con respeto. Sin embargo, aún les queda algo de su espíritu infantil, lo suficiente para gastar algunas bromas a su querida Mademoiselle Dupont,correr por el campo de deportes, y aprovechar al máximo su último curso antes de enfrentarse a la vida adulta.

En este curso, Catherine se va debido a que su madre se cree una inválida. Sally y Darrell irán a la universidad juntas, Mary-Lou será enfermera de niños (lo cual todas aprecian), Irene se dedicará a la música, Belinda al arte, Mavis se va a una escuela de canto y además Bill (Wilhelmina) y Clarissa montarán una escuela de equitación. Gwen se va casi a final de año debido a que su padre iba a morir (al final solo queda inválido) pero se mandan cartas porque Gwen empieza a ser amable. Suzanne, la sobrina de Mademoiselle Rougier, también se aloja con ellas y dice cosas extrañas como perrón (perdón) o pelucuar (peculiar) . Además, Amanda (otra nueva alumna) insiste en nadar en el mar y lo hace aun estando prohibido, y se desgarra un músculo de la pierna porque la arrastró la corriente. June la salva en un bote.

I loved these books as a child, and indeed as a teenager, and although I hadn’t read any of them for some time, I found myself dipping into this (sixth and last in the Malory Towers series) in an idle moment and read the first chapter… and before long was deep within the book.

Darrell and her friend Sally are sixth-formers, in their last term at the girls’ boarding school. Enid Blyton’s characterisation wasn’t the greatest; she tended to caricature her minor people and some of the main ones too but in my view Darrell and Sally are two of her finest creations who have matured into likeable young women through the series.

There are lots of interesting threads interwoven in this book, which brings the series to a good ending. There’s high drama too, and a surprisingly moving section towards the end of the book.

It’s not the greatest writing; there are stilted conversations, viewpoint switches almost at random, cliches and too many exclamation marks. And yet the moral aspects shine through. Enid Blyton encouraged an entire generation of British children to become readers, and I’m thankful that she did. ( )

WHAT? THAT's the end? I feel robbed. There's no send-off of any kind and the whole thing feels completely unfinished. I liked the sports parts and I loved the fact that Darrell and Sally are both going to university after this - indeed, the girls discussing their plans post-Mallory was my favourite part of the book. Well, goodbye Malory Towers I guess. I'm glad I still have the fill-ins to look forward to. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1976597.html

While it was probably not a great idea to start with the last of the series, I found it wholesome stuff about building character and learning to get along with other people, in the all-female environment of Malory Towers boarding school, the tough life lessons - and there are several - leavened by the fun of bullying the French teacher by removing her hair pins magnetically (but she is not English so it doesn't matter). I understand that part of the thrill of earlier books in the sequence is waiting to see when Darrell loses her temper, and was a little sorry to discover that she manages to keep her composure in this last volume. The only men who get much of a mention are fathers; little talk even of brothers and no talk of boyfriends. However I think it does no harm to sample a setting where there are a variety of female role models to choose from. ( )