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Fun book. Horrible couple of days, so I don't feel like giving it a proper review. But it was a nice little escape from a lot of grimness and strain. ( )

Hmmph. I said the previous book, The Cuckoo Tree, rounded off Simon and Dido's adventures nicely. This one extends from there quite elegantly - Twite shows, far more than before, just what a nasty, vicious fellow he is, despite his wonderful songs. He always looked weak (and addicted to drink) and easily led, but here we see what he comes up with himself and it's nastier - if pettier - than any of the grand Hanoveran schemes he gets caught up in. Dido goes along rather too easily. And I cannot figure out how old she is - well, she says she doesn't know, but it could be calculated from all her various adventures. Sometimes she's quite childish, trusting (or at least unquestioningly obeying) her father; sometimes she's quite adult and capable. And Simon's offer at the end is a little creepy if she's 10 or 12, quite reasonable if she's 16 or 18...and I have no idea. I do like the Birthday League, and the bad guys get very appropriate endings. By the way, I think this is the first time I've read this book - oddly enough, since I've read Is Underground at least a couple times before and this is the book that introduces Is. ( )

One of the darkest entries in Aiken's Wolves Chronicles, and by far my favorite of the lot, Dido and Pa picks up exactly where The Cuckoo Tree left off, with the long-awaited reunion of Dido and Simon. But the friends' joys is cut short when Dido finds herself kidnapped by her father, Abednego Twite, and once again embroiled in a convoluted Hanoverian conspiracy. With a royal doppelganger, the discovery of a previously-unknown sister, and a reunion with a long-lost one; a horde of vicious wolves (*sigh*), a secret society of street children, and a suspenseful final escape sequence, Aiken once again offers a dizzying selection of narrative delights.

This novel, by far the most powerful and emotionally stirring work in the series, is dominated by the figure of Abednego Twite, who as Dido's negligent and sometimes menacing father-figure, is emblematic of Aiken's take on adults in the child's world. Simultaneously tragic and comical, brilliant, tawdry, completely unreliable, and wholly amoral, Twite is still somehow strangely appealing, perhaps because we see him through the veil of Dido's longing. Undoubtedly one of Aiken's masterpieces, Twite's demise is both richly deserved and deeply lamentable, and it is precisely this emotional ambiguity that speaks to the reader in a way not seen in precious titles.

As an aside, it is interesting to note that although Edward Gorey covers are now all but synonymous with Aiken's series, this was actually only the second novel (after The Wolves of Willoughby Chase) that originally had Gorey cover illustrations. ( )

This story follows immediately after the end of The Cuckoo Tree, and, as the title suggests, has the relationship between Dido and her good-for-nothing father at its heart. There is a lot of darkness and unhappiness in the tale. Dido is no sooner re-united with a long-lost good friend than she is kidnapped and plunged into the murky world of dastardly plots against the newly-crowned king (in Aiken's alternate history, the Stuarts are on the throne and the attempted usurpers are the Hanoverians), while ever-bolder wolves are encroaching on London. Her father is, as usual, in the thick of the plots as well as some unsavoury relationships, and Dido has difficulty reconciling being a good daughter to him with what her conscience, common sense and loyalty to her friends tells her is right.

Did's Pa's one redeeming feature is his gift for composing and playing music, which has almost magical healing and life-affirming powers; we are left with the mystery, which Dido herself wrestles with, of how something so good can come from such an irresponsible and selfish person. Despite its dark themes, the story has its fair share of resourceful children, unexpected allies, and a newly discovered half-sister.

Highly recommended. Could be read as a stand-alone but best read as part of the series. ( )