5 stars for the wonderful narration of Edward Killingback, Sarah Ovens, and Imogen Wilde! This was so fun on audio—I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it quite as much in print form, but I know I still would have liked it.

It’s written in alternating POV chapters, with the main characters —Finlay and Honey Bee—telling the story, commenting on what the other just wrote, and addressing the reader and each other directly. As a reader, you’ll have to forgive Finlay for calling you a “daft git” once in a while. He also uses “crabapple” as a substitute for “crap,” in its various expressions, as in “what a load of crabapple.”

The chapters are meant to be a kind of diary the characters are using to record an account of their adventures as soon as they happen (there’s a time travel element to why they’re doing this). I loved both these narrators and the way they depicted Finlay and Honey Bee and the other characters as Honey Bee and Finlay wrote about them. Honey Bee’s imitation of Hamish’s ditzy, chatterbox ways was so funny, and I adored the accent. Finlay’s shy friend Glim steps in for a few chapters, and the soft voice and accent the narrator used to depict her was lovely. Brontë and Alejandro from book 1 showed up too, much to my surprise and delight.

Moriarty’s frisky, inventive writing style is just my kind of thing, and the bickering narrators who gradually become friends filled my work commute with laughter. There were a few serious, dark turns that took me by surprise. I guess it shouldn’t have. It’s set during a war, so obviously it couldn’t all be tomfoolery and giggles.

I enjoyed this as much as the first, and I’m really looking forward to book 3! ( )

The writing in this book is absolutely fantastic!
The way our two protagonists argue with each other trough the chapters, or sometimes ask a third character to write a chapter is clever and hilarious.

I had the honour of meeting the author in a bookstore, and I asked if it had two points of view, or multiple.
She did not have a clear answer for me, and now I know exactly why. ( )

This companion to The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone is a story about orphans, athletics and friendship. In Spindrift, there’s a rivalry between the children from the orphanage and those from the Brathelthwaite Boarding School. But their town becomes the frontlines of the Whispering Wars; children disappear, people are struck down by a strange flu, witches attack and townsfolk mistrust their neighbours. Finlay, Honey Bee and their friends have to set their private war aside and work together.

I spent the first half of the book thinking I would enjoy it so much more if I were twelve years old, or at least if I remembered The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures in greater detail. It doesn’t help that the illustrations are not to my taste.
But I warmed to the characters more as they warmed to each other, and Moriarty has a satisfying way of making minor details turn out to be unexpectedly important. Also, there are dragons. I was glad I’d made the effort. ( )