Having read the first two books in the Graustark series I expected this novel’s title to be a reference to a king from a fictional place called Truxton. As it happens, Truxton King is the name of a young American man in search of romance and adventure.

I enjoyed this one more than the previous Graustark instalments, mainly because the plot is stronger and there are few mundane passages, though I feel the main characters in this tale are not as strong as those in Books 1 and 2. Some of the secondary characters from those novels appear here. Interestingly, the author changes the main players each time. In a way he had to do so to open up new possibilities.

My favourite character was seven-year-old Prince Robin, aka Bobby. I found him both endearing and amusing. The author does a great job of bringing this boy to life, making him likeable rather than a spoilt brat.

As mentioned, I liked the plot, but at times I had to suspend belief. On occasion I found things a little too melodramatic. Some off the dialogue sounded unnatural because the author was conveying information to the reader that should’ve been relayed via the narrative.

George Barr McCutcheon’s works often have a strong patriotic theme, something which is very much in evidence in this book. In fact it’s borderline fanatical, almost preaching that the Americans are the best in everything, like they’re some sort of master race.

Nothing wrong with anyone being proud of their country, but in this instance I felt like the author – or the third-person narrator if you prefer – was forcing “American superiority” down my throat.

In my opinion Mr McCutcheon’s greatest strength is his use of humour. Here he employs it at times to good effect on and off throughout this novel, complementing the large amount of action and romantic interludes.

In short, this was a good read on the most part. ( )

I remember this was one of my favcorite Graustark novels when I first read the series, but that was forty years ago or more and I do not recall details. ( )