This book is the first in a group of Dana Girls stories that I strongly dislike. This book marks the beginning of the Dana Girls series morphing into one big travelogue designed to be as educational as possible. The books are so extremely boring.
It is great that the Danas finally take a trip on the Balaska. If only they had stayed on the ship and not entered Europe. The book is actually interesting while the girls are on the ship. It becomes boring as soon as they leave the ship.
As the Balaska prepares to depart from New York, the girls see a man on the dock signaling to a passenger on board. This reminds me of the beginning of the revised text of Nancy Drew #17, Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk.
On page 96, the girls see the Queen of England. I thought about how Queen Elizabeth II was Queen in 1957, 62 years ago when this book was first published, and is still Queen in 2019. Wow.
On page 98, the detective from the Balaska correctly guesses where the Danas are in all of London. That is crazy.
This book is the first Dana Girls book to have just 20 chapters. I realized as I skimmed and skipped my way through this book that it is quite fortunate that Harriet Adams wrote books with 20 chapters. The shorter length of her books means less torture for the reader. This is a very good thing.
I enjoyed this book at first while the girls are on the Balaska, and I gradually became more and more bored as I continued reading. The girls find the ruby in just one page, which is too easy.
I do not like this book.
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