This time the Verne flavour is Five Weeks in a Balloon, but instead of flying over Africa, Modo and the crew go flying over Australia in search of a strange and ancient artefact.

Of course, to keep with the main story line of this tetralogy, and also to keep things exciting, the Clockwork Guild is back and also flying in a balloon over Australia searching for the same artefact.

And, once again, the same caveat applies, don't apply 21st century thinking and science to anything and don't take it too seriously and you'll find it a rather enjoyable yarn that'll pass the time nicely.

And so i dive straight into the fourth and final chapter: Island of Doom ( )

***Possible spoilers you’ve been warned***

This series is so consistent and does not disappoint. So we covered the city, we covered the sea in the second book. Now it’s time to go into the deep jungles and go on an exciting adventure that involves natives, flying ships, an Egyptian temple placed in Australia (I know right?), which results in an Indiana Jones type of adventure but involves secret agents, spies, and horrible clockwork falcons that can kill.

You can’t get more exciting than this. It starts off at a good pace and it’s steady. I enjoyed how during the ‘down times’ there is focus on Modo and Octavia’s character development. Modo still has some childish characteristics in him but as the novel progresses he slowly gets over that and the change stands out. You really do feel for him as his appearance starts to affect him, especially with his relationship with Octavia. His encounter with the natives help him to be comfortable in his own skin and I think because of this he starts acting more headstrong and does the talk back to Mr Socrates (which was a great scene to read. Wowwweee Modo, you do that clap back because Mr Socrates sure can’t take it haha)

I felt for Modo when he reveals his true likeness to Octavia. I get where she’s coming from though. She had this mental picture of Modo and it was nothing like the real thing so of course she wouldn’t know how to react. It hurt to read though. I couldn’t even imagine how crush Modo would have felt considering how much he feels for Octavia.

The plot in itself was super good and filled with action during the last half of the novel. The bad guys run with their tail between their legs in this one (enjoyable to read no doubt) but they come back with a vengeance towards the end. I rather expected the temple to be a little more of a challenge to go through (more traps please) but then perhaps that would prolong the adventure just a little too much.

I’m wanting to know what’s going to happen between Modo and Mr Socrates considering they had a falling out in the novel. This is going to get good and I hope the fourth and final novel will close this on a good note. Greatly recommend this series so far, pick it up and enjoy! It’s a great adventure! ( )

Arthur Slade delivers yet another fabulous adventure. I love everything about this series. Each book involves clever plots that play homage to well loved classics. The characters are well developed and charasmatic. And they are simply a rollickingly good time! ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/2011/07/13/the-hunchback-assignments-empire-o... ( )