"We begin by following the trail of what appears to be an ordinary summer afternoon's treasure hunt, though the mention of a 'classical beast of great antiquity' and the fanciful names of some of the children should have prepared us for the flight into the world of fantasy which soon follows. Each child has to follow a clue which leads to the intangible treasures of his own heart and mind, and in each case the search is imperilled by the appearance of an army of robot-like monsters, who, lacking imagination themselves, want to seize it from those so gifted. The contrast betweent the glories of the days of King Arthur, Elizabeth I or Kubla Khan, and the Wellsian atmosphere created by the robots is too sharp ... the characters of romance are not always true to their periods either; no one minds the delightful hippogriff lapsing into Cockney, but to find Queen Morgan le Fay speaking of people "barging about" or Sir Walter Ralegh mixing himself up with Edward Lear's Jumblies is a bit odd." -- Junior Bookshelf Review
"We begin by following the trail of what appears to be an ordinary summer afternoon's treasure hunt, though the mention of a 'classical beast of great antiquity' and the fanciful names of some of the children should have prepared us for the flight into the world of fantasy which soon follows. Each child has to follow a clue which leads to the intangible treasures of his own heart and mind, and in each case the search is imperilled by the appearance of an army of robot-like monsters, who, lacking imagination themselves, want to seize it from those so gifted. The contrast betweent the glories of the days of King Arthur, Elizabeth I or Kubla Khan, and the Wellsian atmosphere created by the robots is too sharp ... the characters of romance are not always true to their periods either; no one minds the delightful hippogriff lapsing into Cockney, but to find Queen Morgan le Fay speaking of people "barging about" or Sir Walter Ralegh mixing himself up with Edward Lear's Jumblies is a bit odd." -- Junior Bookshelf Review