Frank Rufolo Reviews: The Secret of Platform 13

The Telegraph described Eva as having the best understanding of child appeal since Roald Dahl, and to quite some extent I agree. The writing has charm, the world is really imaginative, it's fun, it's funny, but it knows when to be serious.
The characters' emotions were sometimes quite interesting and speaking of characters, they were pretty good too. There were a LOT of characters for a children's book, but I rarely got them confused, they were all pretty memorable.

I also admire Ibbotson for dealing with the death of an elderly character very maturely, but discussing it on just the right level for children.
I was a little disappointed with where the book's focus went with it's premise. It's basically an alternative Britain fantasy story where Dudley Dursley is the chosen one. I was interested to see how this horrible boy would become a better person, but the book focuses more on the characters sent to take him back to the fantasy world.
But overall it's still a fun children's book, something to read after Roald Dahl, before Harry Potter.