The Poison Tentacle Sea was home to the powerful Bone Current. As they had feared, it gave a sudden surge and pulled them in.

Half-mermaid Ursula Jellyfin has always longed for adventure, and this time the stakes are higher than ever. The Collector is holding a group of children prisoner on Pirate Island, and it’s up to Ursula and her friends Jai, Max and Genie to set them free. Armed with a magical mermaid trident, and with new recruit Zara the pirate fairy on board, their mission is filled with danger. The explorers must face zombie skeletons, make a daring rescue from a whirlpool and travel through a dinosaur graveyard. But even if they do make it to Pirate Island, can they fool the Collector and get in to an impenetrable fort?

Cor, I wanted an escape from a day staring at a computer screen and I got it in spades with this book!

Catching up with Ursula and the quartet again we see them on a race to Pirate Island but as usual there are a lot of twists and turns to see them through to their final destination.

I was wondering if we’d seen the last Stella, but we had a little more interaction between the original quartet and this new quartet which was very interesting to see.

There was also a variety of new characters and creatures which made the read even more intriguing and made the journey towards the final destination seem as adventurous as the wider goal of the plot.

I find it so interesting to see characters bloom into what they are intended to do. It’s very thrilling and rewarding to see a character rise beyond what they think they are capable of.

Between the pirates and the mermaids, krakens and parrots, the read is fast paced and charged with magic and a strong sense of love and loyalty.

Alex Bell is skilled at writing both children’s books and spooky teen books. They have a way of weaving multiple characters into a single plot line and making it feel completely cohesive.

Having already met the new characters in the previous book, it was far easier to get into this book quickly without feeling jarred out of things unexpectedly. Getting a group of completely different individuals and making them work cohesively without it seeming forced is a gift and one I absolutely relish in reading.

The next book in this series is slated for release next year and I am thoroughly looking forward to it. I don’t know whether it will wrap up the series or whether it will lead into another set of books within the series that follows different explorers.

I realise this review is sort of all over the place, dipping into different parts of what I enjoyed about the book, but I feel slightly giddy post-reading it and maybe I’m a little over tired!

I give this book: ✨✨✨✨✨