Over Sea, Under Stone

May be unfair to review this as I'm reading it some 40 years older than the target audience. And my main complaint is it seemed simplistic and silly. Perhaps my expectations are a bit too high. But this read more like a jumped up Hardy Boys story than a compelling start to a fantasy series. I gather this book series is well loved though, so maybe I missed it. Or the later books are more compelling?

What I did really like was the sense of autonomy the kids had. How Great Uncle Merry tells them at some point that they are on their quest and he can't help, only serve as their Guardian. I also liked the menace that comes from the adults in the village, nearly all of them in the end, the idea that the kids have to defend themselves because everyone around them is the enemy. It's kind of Harry Potteresque in that way.