Malamander

by Thomas Taylor

★★★★★

Review

The Malamander is a fun, twisting and engaging story about young Herbert Lemon and his adventures in the mysterious Eerie on Sea.

Thomas Taylor has a talent for writing simple but gripping stories that are set in wonderfully peculiar places with brilliant plot twists. I absolutely loved the setting of Eerie on Sea and the people who lived there. The town is overflowing with secrets which lure you in, but the small collection of main characters (a wildly eccentric old lady, a pompous museum owner, an ancient hotel owner and an incredibly spiteful hotel manager) also had me hooked and wanting to learn more about them and their own secrets.

Taylor includes lots of fun quips and harmless humour in the story which makes this book incredibly fun to read. The relationship between the two main characters, Herbie and Violet also brings a playful element to an otherwise serious and mysterious story! The sibling-like interactions between the two reminded me of my own family and brought a smile to my face throughout the book.

I would recommend this book to any confident or even developing reader. A group of children from my school thoroughly enjoyed this book as one of their book club reads and many were keen to read the rest of the series.

Key information

Author: Thomas Taylor

Illustrator: Tom Booth

Release Date: 2nd May 2019

Book type: Chapter, 320 pages, paperback

Star rating: ★★★★★

Reader level: Confident reader (8+)

Series: First of 5

Overview

Herbert Lemon, a young boy and Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, loves the challenge of returning lost things to their rightful owners. However, some things aren't always easy to return - some remain on the shelves of his cove for years without a single trace of where they came from. Things are even more tricky to return when they are not things, but people. More specifically, a girl names Violet Parma who has been lost since her birth 12 years ago.

Desperate to find her parents, Violet joins forces with Herbie and his expertise in returning lost things to follow a trail of clues through the ghostly streets of Eerie-on-Sea. Mysteries have never been absent from this spooky town, but things have become even more mysterious after Violet's arrival, and not everyone in the town is pleased to see her.

To help them on their adventure, Violet is given a rather unusual book by the Mermonkey who can be found in the town's library. It soon becomes clear that this book contains way more than words - it can lead them to the truth about her lost parents and shed light on the town's mythical monster, the Malamander. Herbie is certain that this creature does not exist, but there's only one way to find out. And they are not the only people seeking to find, or perhaps hide, the truth...