The Great Brain Robbery

Name: The Great Brain Robbery
Author: P. G. Bell

by P. G. Bell

Ages 8–11 Reading age 9 Novel Set in somewhere magical funnyadventurous

Suzy rejoins the troll train to find a sorceress stealing memories, and the crew's own recollections are going missing.

A story about children and magical creatures, funny and adventurous in tone. We would put it with children of 8–11, and at a reading age of about 9 for reading alone.

Worth knowing before you buy

Mild peril

None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.

Part of a series

This is book 2 of the The Train to Impossible Places series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.

Our take on this book

In this instalment of the Train to Impossible Places series, Suzy — deliverer of parcels on a magical troll-built train that runs through impossible worlds — faces a plot that threatens the whole network, and must outwit villains across a universe of gloriously bonkers invention. P. G. Bell writes wildly imaginative, very funny fantasy adventure, stuffed with clever ideas, daft magic and a resourceful heroine, all aboard one of the most delightful settings in recent children's books. It is fast, warm and packed with peril of the exciting, comic sort rather than anything frightening. For a nine- to twelve-year-old who likes their fantasy inventive and their adventures funny, it is a thoroughly entertaining read; it works best after the first book, whose world and characters it builds on, and it keeps readers happily aboard a series that never runs short of marvellous new impossible places to visit. A treat for a child who loves invention and momentum in equal measure.