Welcome to TopSea, beware the tides, the rubberduckies (especially those with rubbed-out eyes), and oh hey is that a seaweed on your shoulder that is winking at me?

I had the happy opportunity to participate in the Blog Tour for book 2, and that is what led to me wanting to read this series. So here I am, just finished book 1 and loving it to bits. It was weird, it was magical, it was confusing, it was fun. It reminded me, the writing style that is, a lot of Lemony Snicket’s stories. It was just as weird/strange, but then on the other hand so serious. I loved it.

I first thought that we would only see the weird town from the new boy’s POV, but instead we see all his friends. Which made me happy, it gave us a chance to see the other characters who don’t find Topsea weird, but instead find it fabulous and who find the things Davy find normal weird. Yep.

I wasn’t sure how I felt on how Davy was treated by his new friends. Why why did they get his name wrong? And not just his new friends, but EVERYONE. I thought we would get some reason why, but nothing. Plus, I was very confused, because at one point, near the end, they do get his name right, and then he is confused because that is not his name? Um? Did I miss something?
While I did love that his locker was at the bottom of the sea, um pool, I do wonder why that was done by the school? I get the whole Davy Jones locker thing but it seemed weird. For a long moment I thought there was something going on with Davy, but I guess not. It would have been fun if there was a big twist about him, but it seems he is just normal, not Topsea normal, but normal normal. 😛

I am happy that Davy eventually got more and more into Topsea and while he still found it strange, he learned to go with the flow. Just be open to new things. That is also what we see with the surveys, they change each time and I was happy to see that change.
Plus, I am happy that he was able to find friends, and that he was finally opening up more to them.

It was fun to get to know Quincy, Runa, Finn, Jules, Nia. See what made them tick. From pigs to writing down all the questions to tall tales. I was even getting excited to see who would be the MC for the next chapter. Was it Davy? Was it Quincy? Was it someone else? Oh my! And what kind of things would they do, what adventures would they have. It was also fun to see their interactions and friendships and how they lived their lives in this weird and unique town.

I loved the inbetween parts with posters, information on the town, newspapers, PTA stuff, what tide was happening (yep, this town has tons of different tides!). I got to know the town more and more through those parts and I was eager to find out what other tidbits we would find out over the course of the book.

Oh man, I just want to live in Topsea now. It seems weird and strange, but I love the uniqueness of it all, and I want to find out all the secrets and stories.

I also need to discuss the art, it was just great, I so love the style and how well it fits with this unique stories. There was one illustration that didn’t seem to match with the description. Namely, on page 167 we see Quincy and his sister floating around, however on page 169 we read that the highchair, which is floating on that illustration, is actually bolted down.

All in all, I so so need the second book in this series. Let’s see if I can wait until the paperback comes out or if I give in and buy the hardcover. I would highly recommend this unique and weird and funny book to everyone.