About the Book

Meet Alex Neptune, the boy with the power of the ocean in his hands – a brand-new hero for fans of Percy Jackson and Dragon Realm!

For as long as Alex Neptune can remember, the ocean has been trying to kill him. So he’s not too happy when a bunch of sea creatures drag him to the abandoned aquarium on the hill, where an imprisoned water dragon needs his help. But how can he say no to a magical creature?

Recruiting his tech-genius best friend Zoe, legend-lover Anil, a sharp-shooting octopus, three acrobatic otters and a thieving seagull, Alex plots a heist to break the dragon out. And suddenly discovers the power of the ocean at his fingertips…

About the Author

Having worked as a freelance games journalist and taught on a BA Creative Writing course for three years, David Owen’s debut novel, Panther, was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and was followed by three further highly acclaimed YA novels. Alex Neptune is his first series for younger readers, born of his love for nail-biting heists, fantastical monsters and heartfelt friendships.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidowenauthor
Instagram: http://instagram.com/davidowenauthor

What I Thought

First of all I have been following David’s work for years and I am so happy that he has tried his hand at children’s/MG as well as YA – and that this book looks to be blowing up in a good way!

My pitch would be Percy Jackson x Free Willy x Demelza and the Spectre Detectors x Encanto x Arthur Christmas x Oceans 11 x Moana because if the vibes I got while reading.

This was such a fun aquatic adventure with a cast of eccentric and memorable characters. Although the story does have eco themes it isn’t at all heavy handed and the heist takes centre stage. And Owen’s trademark Twitter wit comes to play in this book too – David I hope you narrate the audiobook version!

I loved the subtle chosen one vibes and how Alex’s fear had kept him from realising his potential and how he takes steps to manage this, all whilst doing some very scary things like facing the villainous Raze Callis (excellent villain name btw).

I liked how the burgeoning friendship developed with new boy Anil and the dynamic between him and Alex’s best friend Zoey. She definitely gave me Demelza vibes (or Data in Goonies) and it was interesting to see the art vs technology disagreement with her father.

In fact I loved that there was focus on the family dynamics with all three of young characters when parents, grandparents are so often absent in order to let them have adventures. Here they take part too.

Alex’s big sister Bridget was giving Luisa from Encanto vibes and I think might have been my fave character – super determined.

And then we were spoilt with the animal characters – otters, octopus, seagulls and not forgetting the main attraction of the water dragon itself.

The connection between Alex and the water dragon was precious and because we know there’s going to be a sequel I hope to see that develop and it would be awesome if they got a name.

Alex Neptune: Dragon Thief officially releases tomorrow and is Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month for August. Their exclusive edition has a wonderful greeny sprayed and stencilled edge with octopus arms on it (they aren’t tentacles – right David?). There’s also purple foiling on the cover of all editions 💜 and the both the internal illustrations and cover were by George Ermos – and I can’t believe I missed the map until I was looking for the illustrator name!

Thanks to Blue at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the publisher for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Check out the rest of the tour stops too and see what everyone else thought.