Malamander (An Eerie-on-Sea Mystery)

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Malamander is the first in a series of stories about the ‘Legends of Eerie-on-Sea’, in which we meet Herbert Lemon, Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, and his friend Violet Parma, who is lost and wants to be found. It’s a story about friendship and belonging, about out-of-season seaside towns and bewildering weather, about mysteries, mischief and monsters. Oh, and fish ‘n’ chips!

This delightfully spooky fantasy series opener for big kids and tweens drips with charm and chills, thanks to sprinklings of magic, humor, and mystery along with a dash of steampunk. Malamander is populated with colorful, quirky characters led by the clever and intrepid duo of 12-year-olds, Herbie and Violet. The plot moves along at a brisk pace with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Author Thomas Taylor's entertaining use of language, especially when it comes to people and place names; his sly sense of humor; and chapters with cliffhanger endings make it a great choice to read aloud. Sprinkled throughout are vivid illustrations that bring the story to life. Taylor wonderfully builds the world of Eerie-on-Sea. From the very first chapter, it is clear Eerie-on-Sea is no ordinary island. It is home to ancient legends regarding the existence of sea monsters, which Herbie and Violet discover to be more fact than fiction. The legends– and the people who tell them– are enthralling, and each person is essential to the story being told. By the end of the novel, readers will feel as if they were on the island themselves.Captain K, also known as Boat Hook Man, wished to “live forever” and the egg granted that wish. The egg responds, “But if you lose [the egg], your wish shall become your curse.” Captain K’s “wounds closed up as soon as they opened, and his injuries healed.” I tend to overcomplicate my plots and then struggle with them, but I’m learning to concentrate on the essential points. I tend to plot about 50% of the book ahead of time, and then write my way through the rest by the seat of my pants! It’s a bit of a blur, there’s a long ‘Post-it Note phase’, and a lot of pacing around on the beach, fretting. But I don’t believe it would be possible to plan everything in advance, and I do believe it’s important to allow plenty of space for surprising things to happen. Somehow, at the end of all this, a book emerges.

Eels uses the egg to transform malamander into a tentacle-ridden sea creature to restrain Boat Hook Man. “As we watch, the scaly corpse of the monster quivers and splits, and dozens of fleshy tendrils shoot up from it.” Eels then magically replaces Boat Hook Man’s hook with a crab pincer. Boat Hook Man uses it “to cut through one of the tentacles holding him by using his new claw.” In response, Eels turns Boat Hook Man “into a mass of squid and jellyfish and sea slime.” Boat Hook Man sees Violet on the beach and “grabs Violet by her collar, lifting her in the air.” She has a hard time speaking because of where he grabbed her. She is left “clutching her throat.” Sebastian Eels plans to carry a weapon to confront the malamander. He claims it “will be for protection only, to scare it away if I’m seen.” The book dispensary has an animatronic mermonkey, a monkey that “has the lower body of a fish” and dispenses the identification code for a book that it feels the reader needs. Jenny, who owns the dispensary says, “It’s the book that chooses you.” Herbie also tells Violet that many believe the machine to have “a sense of humor, too” because Herbie “met a man once who swears he belched in front of the mermonkey and got dispensed a copy of Gone with the Wind.”The legend of the malamander is central to the story. According to the townspeople’s beliefs, “It’s a monstrous creature — half man, half fish, half goodness-knows-what” with “rows of quivering spines.” The creature lays a “magical egg” once a year. The egg’s abilities are described as the “grants-you-your-dearest-wish kind.” Violet tells Herbie that “a fork bounced off the wall behind [her]” when she ran out of the hotel kitchen, where she was not supposed to be. Herbie knows that these were the actions of the head chef who “guards his kitchen like a fortress.” At the moment I want to read a lot more Middle Grade fiction, as I’ve fallen behind and there’s so much great new work out there. However, the Mermonkey wouldn’t give me what I want, he would give me what I need. And what I need right now is hard for me to say. However, if I did throw a coin in the Mermonkey’s hat right now, I suspect I’d get a book about the importance of living in the moment. Or about not eating too many biscuits. Really, it could go either way.

Many of the characters use names such as weasel, fool, stupid, and creep. For example, Herbie calls Mollusc a horrible, hideous man, though not to his face. Don’t be shy about asking someone to read your story, if you aren’t sure about something. Writing is meant to be read, so involving readers while you are still writing can really help. When you first write a story, don’t worry too much about it being good, just worry about finishing it. Then you can go through afterwards and cut/add/change things to make it good. Herbie calls an action in the story of Captain K “bonkers.” The museum owner agrees and says the captain was “drunk with power.”How are the main characters Herbert and Violet similar? How are they different? Which one are you more like? Violet discusses the legend of the malamander, including its annual move “near the town to hunt” and lay its egg, which it then “devours.”