YMMV / Rick Brant

• Broken Base: For some people lucky enough to find an affordable copy of the limited edition last book, The Magic Talisman, it is a suspenseful adventure that also lets the main cast mature and develop in realistic and interesting ways. For other fans, it's a waste of money and a weird Out-of-Genre Experience, with writing that shows signs of the long Sequel Gap.
• Cult Classic:The series has been out of print for years and only a few books have been released on Kindle, but it has a strong fan base that feels the interesting characters, suspenseful action scenes, and realistic science make it better than the Tom Swift series.
• Magnificent Bastard: The Phantom Shark: Kenwood and van der Klaffens are longtime South Pacific residents who have spent years seeding a bed of cultivated pearls, which they harvest with a submarine made from a World War II plane, and decide to sell them on the blackmarket. They assume the Collective Identity of the eponymous Phantom Shark, a supposedly Ambiguously Human murderer who robs rich pearl beds. Said murders only exist in the stories that Kenwood and van der Klaffens spread to explain the origins of their pearls, inflate their prices, and ease any qualms of conscience they have about cheating people who buy their pearls despite their supposed origins. They sometimes use their submarine, now outfitted with a shark fin, to pick up their payments. The two also have a henchman commit minor sabotage to keep a boat from finding their pearl bed but are appalled when he starts robbing their customers and help Rick chase and capture him. After being exposed, they compliment Rick and Barby's cleverness and agree to refund their latest customer before taking their leave.
• Values Dissonance: How well foreign cultures and characters are portrayed varies from book to book, but, as the first books were written and are set soon after the end of World War II, the word "Jap" is used in a derisive fashion and the first major Japanese character is an Inscrutable Oriental and sadistic antagonist, albeit also a highly competent one.