The kids are growing up. Hazel, separated from her parents but safely hidden (for now) in a prison-like POW camp with her grandmother, is now in elementary school. Meanwhile, Prince Robot and his son eke out a living on the moors. This book contains all of the splashy shocks of the earlier series but some of the tension is beginning to defuse, simply because the cast is growing so large. There were a few characters that never appeared in this volume at all- I missed Sophie and the Lying Cat especially.