
Key to the Indian
28th June 2025
I hadn't realised there was a fifth book in the Indian in the Cupboard series until I found my 90s copy of the original novel, and started to re-read them. So unlike the first four books, this one is entirely new to me as an adult.
Set very shortly after the fourth book, Omri puts together a plan to use the magic in reverse, but as always there are lots of unforeseen complications.
I have mixed feelings. I'd always felt that the series ended well with the previous book, and this felt a weaker end. I found it surprisingly tense to read - there were a lot of dangers, and some that I thought were being foreshadowed which didn't come to pass, and so I was ready for more, worse things to happen.
It feels like the author had picked up by this point on some of the problematic aspects of writing about native american characters, and that this book was trying to reverse some of that and call out problematic aspects in Britain's historical treatment of other cultures. Which while a positive change, felt quite forced and slightly out of keeping.
I kind of wish that I hadn't learnt about this book, and could have left the series ending where I remembered.




