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The Inkberg Enigma by Jonathan King   {Reviewed by STELLA} Miro lives with his Dad in Aurora — a small fishing town — and it’s the school holidays. He loves adventures — the ones in books — and spends his days happily lying on the sofa hidden in fantastic and amazing worlds. But he's a bookworm and needs to feed his book stack. Luckily, the house they have recently moved to has an attic of treasures — and some of these treasures are sought after. Miro is a regular at the antique shop and is a dab hand at bartering. His trade done, it’s off to get a stack of books at the second-hand bookshop. While in the village, he’s keeping an eye out for Dad — he doesn’t want to run into him (Miro’s book collection is growing — some may think too large) — and for the town bullies. Yet buried in anticipation of reading his new stash, he doesn’t notice the bullies, but someone else does: Zia, equipped with her camera and an eye for trouble, easily frightens them off. Miro and Zia make the perfect duo — one smart and thoughtful, the other curious and fearless, and they both love adventures — Miro’s in books and Zia’s in real life. And something fishy is happening in their small town. Jonathan King has created a brilliant world. It’s Aotearoa, but could be a fishing town along the American coast or Canadian isles, loosely based on Lyttelton and Diamond Harbour, complete with the ferry and the fish works. There are recognisable buildings — the mysterious mansion is Larnach Castle and the ship stuck in the ice is a classic Antarctic explorer territory, and the sea, as in many New Zealand stories is never far from the action. When Zia pulls Miro into a real-life adventure, the weird underbelly of the town comes to the surface in more ways than expected. Yes, as you would expect, there is a creature from the depths, but how and why it is surfacing in little Aurora is a mystery from the past, with strange rituals, shady characters, and an unusual book. Why is the mayor so keen on keeping a secret? What’s really happening at the fish works? And why are Miro and Zia being warned to keep their noses out of it? With the help of the museum’s archives, a marine biologist (Miro’s Dad’s girlfriend), and Zia’s insatiable curiosity, the duo will find the key to the mysterious happenings in the harbour and unlock the secrets of the Inkberg — while just keeping their heads above water!  A brilliant graphic novel illustrated in the style of 'Tintin 'for 7 to 12-year-olds, Jonathan King’s The Inkberg Enigma is a wonderful adventure with plenty of twists and just enough scares to please. Here’s hoping for more adventures with this excellent duo from the pen of this comic artist.