Malamander and Gargantis by Thomas Taylor Book Reviews

The Legends of Eerie-on-Sea is a fantastic eerie and mysterious middle grade book series by Thomas Taylor. Both Malamander and Gargantis are impossible to put down, and the reader is immersed cover to cover in the descriptive writing. 

The main characters Herbie, Violet, and Erwin.  Herbie Lemon is more of a wall flower, and he is extremely honest. Because of his candor, he is put in charge of returning lost items to their people. Violet is the female lead and she is a brain who figures out clues, even I failed to catch onto. Lastly, there is Erwin the cat who comes in clutch throughout the series. All the characters have fun names that are all seaworthy. 

Malamander is the first book in the series. I found this book to be pretty straight forward with a few twists and turns, and it was spookier. This story gave a great foundation for all the characters to really get absorbed into the readers brain. 

Gargantis starts off with the way every great ocean adventure begins with a bottle and a message. It was the more mysterious of the two books. This story was filled with twists and turns it seemed in every other chapter. This book did not go in any way that I expected, which made for an epic adventure. There was much more world building in Gargantis with a few new characters. The authour gave enough basic info on each of the characters that if you were reading the books out of order, you would learn everything you needed to know. 

Both books are filled with vocab and trivia facts, that I learned a lot from as an adult. The books are filled with gorgeous illustrations that really bring the characters and some scenes to life. My favourite place/item from the book is the Eerie Book Dispensary. Characters have the Meremonkey pick out a book for them. It is a book that is need by the character. I think that is such a cool magical concept. I wish they exsited in real life. 

These are two FABULOUS middle grade novels for any age to enjoy! I would reread these in a heartbeat. They were educational and epic! 

I bought my own copy of Malamander. I received an electronic Advanced Reader Copy of Gargantis from Candlewick Press through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.