Stevie’s parents are kidnapped by the evil Sea Witches. To rescue them he sets off on a journey that leads him to met dog pirates, mermaids and merman, a talking cat, and into the hands of the Sea Witches themselves. But that’s where the danger starts, for Sea Witches eat little boys…

This book has some excellent ideas, is wonderfully creative and has some of the worst grammar I have seen recently. To focus on the good, it has a strong story, strong enough that I finished it despite its errors. Mer-cats, dog pirates and sea witches are original and well thought out, and the world building is well done, including a developed history and defined, unique, cultures. The characters are likeable, the villains are ones you want to hiss, and the plot is intriguing and consistent with many twists and turns. The presentation and formatting are professional, and well done. Judged only on these it would be a book great for children of any age, or even this rather older reviewer.

That said, it has many great ideas but sadly the punctuation is dreadful, particularly around speech: “Get off “shouted Steve. There are occasional missing words and bad grammar, e.g. more marine appeared before him or There was slugs. Errors like this  can be found throughout and do detract from the story.

Beautifully imaginative but dreadfully punctuated, the lack of proofing is a real shame in a story this good. It would get a four for plot, creativity and characters, but this is undermined by spelling errors, grammar issues, and a lack of editing. Reluctantly, I have to lower it to a two, but if the book is re-edited to correct the glitches this will increase.