GO SADDLE THE SEA

In which orphaned young Felix Brooke runs away from his aristocratic grandfather's Spanish estate; is in turn thrown into jail, nearly sacrificed by a pagan community, and kidnapped at sea; encounters many true friends and kindly helpers; and arrives at last at the home of his long-lost, equally aristocratic English grandfather—only to conclude that he belongs back in Spain. Aiken plays it straight in this picaresque period piece, which imitates the genre well but gives it neither new life nor a new perspective. Readers addicted to long, undemanding adventures might sail through it, and right on to the next.