I’m surprised with this series. I assumed they would slowly start to tank and I wouldn’t enjoy them as much, but this book was a wonderful installment! I feel like John and Philippa are growing up and you can witness that as the reader. Loved the character arcs, the building of the plot, and how the twists resolved. I’m looking forward to reading the conclusion to the series.

This fifth installation in the Children of the Lamp series really impressed me. This was a substantial book. First of all, I love the title, The Five Fakirs of Faizabad, wonderful alliteration!

Second, this book was very well written. It used a large vocabulary, and although it flowed wonderfully, it certainly wasn't an easy read. Matter of fact, I would say that it was a fairly difficult read and a mature book for something written in this century for children. I really feel that the author is maturing into this series. Some series start to get watered down or feel like they are stretched out or that the author is bored. Not this one. This one has lots of development and growth, especially with this particular book.

There are some deep issues explored in this book. There is the theme of guilt (which is a constant factor in my own life so I really relate to it.) There is an exploration of how to deal with criminals. The book repeatedly dips into a myriad of ideas surrounding death. All this while also being infused with wit and humor.

My one problem with this book and the series as a whole is that the author uses a lot of different locations and quasi historical events in his stories. Many of these are humorous takes on reality, but some are purely made up, and it is hard to discern which is which. I think that children especially could be likely to assume more points of both geography and history are based on fact than is actually the case. Comparing the Children of the Lamp books to other similar series such as The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series this one comes up lacking in the amount of research that went into the reality behind the fiction. Of course, it is fiction, and the author is under no obligation to make any part of the story consistent with reality, but perhaps because so many other contemporary children's authors have, I do feel that the Children of the Lamp books come up lacking in this respect.

Scattered and not interesting enough to keep my attention. I've loved all the others in this series, but this one is worth skipping.

Very good. But the end was a bit confuzing

Truly a deja vu moment all within itself.

More of the outlandish and forced plot, as well as clunky appositives in dialogue to describe something mentioned in a previous book. Secret histories popping up at just the right moment and people flying literally as someone falls. Still for some reason I want to read them.

It was a very good book, but the author made them go back in time, remembering nothing of what they had done, and none of the events in the book ever happened! That is what made me rate it lower. Good book, but I hated the end.