I don't know why I liked this so much more than the first volume, but I did! Maybe it's due to the fact that nearly the entire book takes place in 1940 or so, as the peculiar children try to navigate London during the Blitz. Maybe it's because this book is a whole lot grimmer than the last... not that I like grimmer books best, but the litany of disaster here leads to a shocking conclusion that, for once, I didn't see coming, so that was great. 

I think, though, that my favourite thing about this is that we get to spend more time with the children, which gives them more of a sense of personality than we got in the last book, where so much was being introduced. Bronwyn, I think, has rocketed up to top spot for me - what a thoroughly decent person she is! If they were all like her, that horrible - and horribly illuminating - incident with the ambulance might have gone another way entirely. On the less interesting side, I'm afraid that our protagonist Jacob is the least compelling of the bunch. He's not unlikeable, and I suppose he suffers somewhat from being the straight-man narrator in this bunch of very unusual kids, but I'm mostly interested in his relationships with his parents and with Emma. The latter, unfortunately, seems as if it may be doomed...