Danica Davidson felt the first volume was "tightly written and clever", and found the protagonist very sympathetic.
Our Caleb is not at all suited to this, precisely because in other respects he is such a convincingly sympathetic protagonist.
I can't think of any other series aimed at young readers with a less sympathetic protagonist.
And it has a sympathetic protagonist of intellect, wit and fatal hubris.
In his novel, Bloch used an uncommon plot structure: he repeatedly introduced sympathetic protagonists, then killed them off.
Although the book is somewhat didactically programmed, Bobby remains a sympathetic protagonist, realistic in his imperfections.
James Dyer is hardly a sympathetic protagonist, but he is never dull.
In this day and age, a holiday story is less likely to encompass the death of a sympathetic juvenile protagonist.
Or it may be because the innocent Lionel is the more obviously sympathetic protagonist.