I enjoyed the trouble Max had and felt a connection in his catastrophes with electrical items. The creep castle, interesting neighbours, new friends and a terrible challenge keeps you gripped.

Fun, quirky and captivating. This Middle Grade read was everything I did not expect it to be. With colorful characters, great plot and loads of intrigue, this is a definite must read for fantasy lovers of all ages.

The pace is just quick enough to pull you in, but not overwhelming. Easy to follow narrative, fantastic vocabulary builder for younger audiences and truly imaginative.

Cat Grey has written a brilliant middle grade adventure novel that has a pacy story set in a seaside town.
Max is such a great main character, he’s inquisitive and adventurous. His life is odd with him having to wear washing up gloves nearly all and using a wooden spoon to use the toaster and lights, then killing his mum’s new electric car just by touching it….Everything becomes clear to him when he goes to live with his Grandad Bram where he is taught the trade of Spellstopping.

Kit and Max are a great duo, they have similar goals and aspirations and bounce off each other really well.
You have the comedic duo of Captain and Tom, the moody villagers, a crazy powerful being, creepy castle and eery flying owls. The kettle that walked off really made me chuckle.

For children is has magic, happy parts, sad parts, parts that will get you on the edge of your seat, parts where you will be yelling at the characters to run or hide…and also parts where you’ll be hungry for lots and lots of ice cream.

I would 100% read a sequel to this.

dnf on page 43

Five years ago, Max developed a condition that baffles everyone: He touches something electric, it will shock him and stop working, the insides being totally fried.
This can't go on, so he has to spend summer with grandpa.

The novel is introduced like you would a story about a chronic illness. We know when it began, we know the symptoms, we get shown what they do to counteract it. Namely, giving him a spoon so he won't touch things, and bundle him up in rubber gloves.

I tried to get in because the premise sounds fun, but my thoughts kept circling back to that and I realised that suspension of disbelief was not working for me.
You see, I was a child with a chronic illness, and I am not buying it that the mother took it for five years without contacting her father, despite the accidents getting worse and worse and Max destroying more and more stuff up to a point at which he is isolated from his peers.

I don't buy that Max has to do his own breakfast, avoiding touching the toaster with a spoon and having to juggle stuff out of the fridge when either his mom could put the things out in the morning or he could have cereal.
It's clearly meant to inforce how bad it is, but ... no.

So, the problem is that Max's grandfather has the same condition. Max's mother has had no contact with her father for years, but how would she wait five effing years, or not even tell Max that there might be hope?

This could have been handled differently. Instead of adding to the story, the details annoyed me so much I had to call it quits.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would love to visit Yowling and meet the characters there (especially Omer's Ice cream truck and Pearl's cake shop). Although I don't think I would want to visit while the keepers were in charge of the castle. The theme that power should be used for good rather than evil is a strong theme throughout the story, along with acceptance of people's differences and being brave and embracing who you are. I also think the message that sometimes you can get in your own way, but calming techniques can help stop you overthinking things.