The Stolen Lake, the fourth book in the Wolves Chronicles, was a decent read, fully as compelling as the first three books in the series. The book mixes Arthurian lore with South American settings and folklore in an alternate history where the British/Romans colonized a portion of South American as they escaped the Saxon invasion in the sixth century B.C. The story itself, however, takes place in the wilds of New Cumbria and Hy Brazil during the reign of James III, King of England, as the HMS Thrush and its crew are summoned to the aid of Queen Ginevra of New Cumbria, a longtime ally of Britain.

Dido Twite is again the heroine of the story; in fact, maybe these should be called the Dido Chronicles since there’s more Dido than wolves in the stories that follow after The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. Dido’s straightforward, somewhat ignorant, but always brave and practical, character shines in these books, and I think children who are trying to make sense of a mystifying grown-up world will identify with Dido. Actually, I’m still trying to make sense of the world, and I identify with Dido.

These stories involve lots of kidnapping, spying, adventure, and derring-do. I think Dido is kidnapped and held prisoner in this book no less than three, maybe four, times in the course of 291 pages. And there are many other dangers: giant birds that carry off children, fish that eat human flesh, active volcanoes, glaciers and landslides, not to mention your everyday witches, soothsayers, and cruel power-hungry courtiers and royals. It’s suspenseful and even a bit breathtaking, but I don’t think any child will be too much traumatized by the adventures of Dido Twite and company. And everything pretty much comes out all right in the end.

Joan Aiken succeeds again in writing a crazy, disbelief-suspending, fantastical tale that will take readers to a place that never was and convince them that it really, truly could have been. I’m already looking forward to the fifth book in the series, The Cuckoo Tree.