[In A Game of Dark Mayne] again illustrates his technical mastery of plot and his skill in manipulating the elements of time-fantasy…. The whole story alternates between the reality of the unhappy events in the life of Donald living in an English town and the fantasy of a world in which he can slay a monster—ultimately a world which he can choose to enter or to reject. The two elements—denoting outer and inner experience, objective and subjective perceptiveness—are uncannily combined in the dual awareness of Donald Jackson, who by the end of the narrative has solved his problem and can go "to sleep, consolate." Actually, the author has permitted himself to present more genuine human involvement in this story than in some of his earlier ones, but—despite the power of his narrative—his characters remain stand-offish. (p. 59)

Paul Heins, in The Horn Book Magazine...