What do you think?
The Dylan Maples Adventures #5
Phantom of Fire
Things aren't going so well for fifteen-year-old Dylan Maples. He's sick of his own reflection, his parental units are driving him nuts, and, worst of all, he's trying to come to terms with the unexpected death of one of his best friends. Now, to top things off, he's been roped into a family trip to stay with family friends in New Brunswick. After just a few hours in Bathurst, Dylan worries this will turn out to be the most boring vacation ever, but when he meets a local girl, Antonine, and the two of them witness what looks like a burning ship on the water, he begins to think that New Brunswick might be more interesting than he thought. As Dylan and Antonine begin to research the famous ghost ship of the Bay de Chaleur, they raise more questions than they answer. Does Antonine's father hold a clue to the mystery? What's the deal with the local right-wing politician who is on everybody's minds these days? And what really happened on the water all those years ago?
- GenresMysteryYoung Adult
264 pages, Paperback
Published July 31, 2019
About the author
Shane Peacock
38 books133 followersShane Peacock was born in 1957 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, one of four brothers. He attended school in the northern town of Kapuskasing, Ontario, before attending university, where he studied History and English literature. A biographer, journalist, and screenwriter, he is also the author of eighteen novels, a picture book and three plays, and has been won and/or been nominated for numerous awards including two Arthur Ellis Awards for crime fiction, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for historical fiction, the Violet Downey Award, the Libris Award, seven times honored with Junior Library Guild of America selections, and has been on three shortlists for the Canadian Children's Literature Award, and one for the Governor-General's Award. His books have been published in 20 languages in 18 countries. He and his wife, journalist Sophie Kneisel live in Cobourg, Ontario and have two daughters and a son.
Series:
* The Dylan Maples Adventures
* The Boy Sherlock Holmes
The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim
The Seven Series
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Juvenile (2008): Eye of the Crow
The Arthur Ellis (2013)
The Violet Downey Award
The Libris Award
The Geoffrey Bilson Award
The Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Award
Anne Izard Storyteller Choice Award
Junior Library Guild of America Selection (7 times)
Governor-General's Award (shortlist)
TD Canadian Children's Literature Award (shortlist)
Series:
* The Dylan Maples Adventures
* The Boy Sherlock Holmes
The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim
The Seven Series
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Juvenile (2008): Eye of the Crow
The Arthur Ellis (2013)
The Violet Downey Award
The Libris Award
The Geoffrey Bilson Award
The Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Award
Anne Izard Storyteller Choice Award
Junior Library Guild of America Selection (7 times)
Governor-General's Award (shortlist)
TD Canadian Children's Literature Award (shortlist)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 30, 2019
I did not realize this was the fifth book in a series, however there is enough info at the beginning of the book (practically info dumping, kind of annoying, but not a deal breaker) so the reader is caught up to speed and can follow the story well enough.
The MC is a teenage male who has experienced a lot of things, including losing his best friend to a tragic car accident. He's sullen and not talking about it with his parents, who are concerned, so they take him out of school on a ten day vacation to help him work things out, open up about it, etc.
The MC is snarky and kind of rude and I wasn't fond of being in his head, but I can see a middle grade or YA boy being into it. Also, this kid is kind of a "James Bond" type of character, with a different girl/love interest in every book. Blonde, red head and two with black hair. Kid gets around, though they don't do more than hold hands, hug and one rather chaste kiss. Still, I was kind of rolling my eyes about all of the ladies he was into who were also into him. And they, of course, were all into him. But too far away to actually do the whole dating thing, but texts, etc.
Kind of Scooby Doo ending, "And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"
Also, I don't know if the MC is ACTUALLY seeing the ghost of his dead friend or if he's just imaging it from grief, so there is that. There is a SLIGHT paranormal vein that runs through this book and some things aren't explained at all, so the reader is left wondering if it was all in the minds of the characters or if it really happened.
I also didn't like how the MC lied to his parents and snuck out of the house, at first to avoid the adults and mope, but then to meet up with the love interest. Not to do "adult" things, but to get to know her better, as she was mysterious and alluring. The MC never really gets punished for doing it and it normalizes that sort of behavior for kids.
Maybe I'm just an old fart, but I like my fiction to be respectful of adults and children. I know that doesn't happen in real life, but I don't read to read real life, I read to escape from it for a bit.
So, while I didn't like the realism with how the MC acted re: his parents, lying, sneaking out, etc., I also don't know how true to life it was that all of the girls were hot for him, but in a chaste way. I'm not a 16 year old living in Canada, which is where this book takes place, so I have no idea how true to life it is. I did like the setting of Canada, though the MC mentioned a lot that Canadians were very polite and he stressed when he was being polite because he was Canadian.
This book would probably be good for male middle grade to YA readers, though girls would possibly like it too. The mystery was what kept me reading past the info-dump beginning and the mean thoughts of the MC, so the story was really interesting and the location of Canada, while described by the MC as "boring", sounds beautiful to me and makes me curious about going to see more than just Niagara Falls!
Not a bad book, but not quite for me. 2.5 stars, round up to 3 because I didn't hate it and it was written well. It just wasn't quite my cup.
My thanks to NetGalley and Nimbus Publishing for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.
The MC is a teenage male who has experienced a lot of things, including losing his best friend to a tragic car accident. He's sullen and not talking about it with his parents, who are concerned, so they take him out of school on a ten day vacation to help him work things out, open up about it, etc.
The MC is snarky and kind of rude and I wasn't fond of being in his head, but I can see a middle grade or YA boy being into it. Also, this kid is kind of a "James Bond" type of character, with a different girl/love interest in every book. Blonde, red head and two with black hair. Kid gets around, though they don't do more than hold hands, hug and one rather chaste kiss. Still, I was kind of rolling my eyes about all of the ladies he was into who were also into him. And they, of course, were all into him. But too far away to actually do the whole dating thing, but texts, etc.
Kind of Scooby Doo ending, "And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"
Also, I don't know if the MC is ACTUALLY seeing the ghost of his dead friend or if he's just imaging it from grief, so there is that. There is a SLIGHT paranormal vein that runs through this book and some things aren't explained at all, so the reader is left wondering if it was all in the minds of the characters or if it really happened.
I also didn't like how the MC lied to his parents and snuck out of the house, at first to avoid the adults and mope, but then to meet up with the love interest. Not to do "adult" things, but to get to know her better, as she was mysterious and alluring. The MC never really gets punished for doing it and it normalizes that sort of behavior for kids.
Maybe I'm just an old fart, but I like my fiction to be respectful of adults and children. I know that doesn't happen in real life, but I don't read to read real life, I read to escape from it for a bit.
So, while I didn't like the realism with how the MC acted re: his parents, lying, sneaking out, etc., I also don't know how true to life it was that all of the girls were hot for him, but in a chaste way. I'm not a 16 year old living in Canada, which is where this book takes place, so I have no idea how true to life it is. I did like the setting of Canada, though the MC mentioned a lot that Canadians were very polite and he stressed when he was being polite because he was Canadian.
This book would probably be good for male middle grade to YA readers, though girls would possibly like it too. The mystery was what kept me reading past the info-dump beginning and the mean thoughts of the MC, so the story was really interesting and the location of Canada, while described by the MC as "boring", sounds beautiful to me and makes me curious about going to see more than just Niagara Falls!
Not a bad book, but not quite for me. 2.5 stars, round up to 3 because I didn't hate it and it was written well. It just wasn't quite my cup.
My thanks to NetGalley and Nimbus Publishing for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2019
An excellent young readers story that recalls The Hardy Boys: young people trying to solve a mystery and exposing a local politician for who he really is in the process.
June 28, 2023
Ariela: So one of the reasons why I liked this book so much was because it was set in New Brunswick. And I live in New Brunswick. It’s set more in northern New Brunswick though, so there’s also a lot of mention of the Acadians and their culture. It all starts when Dylan’s parents decide to go to visit some family friends (I can’t remember if they were family friends or actual family). Now, Dylan is recovering from the death of one of his best friends who died in a tragic car accident, so he’s not really in the mood for visiting with family and friends and going out on a vacation, because he’s mourning. Then, he meets a girl named Antoinine on the beach, and she’s in shock. Now, this girl, Antoinine, just saw what looked like a ship burning in the distance, it was burning for a while, and then it disappeared. Like a ghost. It’s a really interesting mystery, and I really enjoyed reading about it. I got to learn a little bit about Acadian history, local myths and legends, and of course, I got to see Dylan one more time.
Overall thoughts on the series:
I really enjoyed reading this series overall, I thought it was really fun and I liked getting to see what Dylan got himself into. However, I didn’t like how some of the themes in this book were a little too… mature? And I don’t mean that it wasn’t a kid-friendly book, just that there were some themes that I didn’t care for, and I feel that a younger kid wouldn’t care for either. Like in this book, (book 5) the synopsis at the back says “What’s the deal with the local right-wing politician who is on everybody’s minds these days?”. See, that’s where you’ve lost me. Like, currently this book is going to be targeted towards 8-12 year olds, I’m 14 and I literally just learned the difference between the left and the right. That’s because I have just now started to care about these things. I get that Dylan is older now, and that might mean that the readers are older too, but that doesn’t mean a middle grade series can just switch over to YA. And it’s not exactly YA, it’s middle grade, but it’s also… weird. In book 2 there’s a lot of talk about lawyers and stealing rights, and copyright claims, and I mean-sure, it works for the story, but no kid is going to care about that. I also felt like each book was insanely short, when they could have been longer.
Now that I’ve had time to think about this series more, I’d honestly give this series 3.5 stars. Giving this series 4 stars would mean that it’s slightly above average, but I didn’t quite feel that. Nothing in this was overly well-done, it all kind of fell flat? When there’s something cool happening, like Dylan getting chased by bad guys, at the end the book will do a complete 180 and make it so that the bad guys were actually just doing a routine drill and playing tag or something—like no—have someone get shot, have someone get a life threatening injury. I feel like there should have been higher stakes—if there were any to begin with—and just… more. Remember how I said that this series was believable? I feel like it could’ve been less believable because every time with this series that you think something could be true, that ghosts might exist, that sasquatches are real, it’s taken away and the book meets a disappointing end.
Yeah, I bet you didn’t expect this to be my final thoughts for this series… I’ll tell you that I didn’t expect this either. When I say that I favor books 4 and 5 more than the others, it’s because the bar is already set kinda low.
_________
Savannah:
So here we are, at the end of an era. My adventure of reading the Dylan Maples series has come to and end. I had so so much fun reading them. Overall this is a 5 start series for me and I highly recommend. Make sure to keep an eye out for my YouTube video on this books series where I vlog my experience reading this fantastic series. Now onto the review for « Phantom of Fire »
The final instalment in the Dylan Maple Adventure series did not disappoint. In this book they travel to New Brunswick (where I live) on a little family vacation at their family friends house. He meets Antonine at the beach one night and they see something mysterious on the water. They find out it’s a ghost ship on fire!
In this book Dylan has grown up a lot and is the epitome of « angsty teen » his commentary is so funny and I loved the way he was written. One of my favourite part about these books are always the people that Dylan meets on his adventures and I loved Antonine’s character.
The plot twist of this book was so crazy and unpredictable! It was the perfect way to wrap up this series. I wish these books were longer but they are the perfect short read for everyone! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall thoughts on the series:
I really enjoyed reading this series overall, I thought it was really fun and I liked getting to see what Dylan got himself into. However, I didn’t like how some of the themes in this book were a little too… mature? And I don’t mean that it wasn’t a kid-friendly book, just that there were some themes that I didn’t care for, and I feel that a younger kid wouldn’t care for either. Like in this book, (book 5) the synopsis at the back says “What’s the deal with the local right-wing politician who is on everybody’s minds these days?”. See, that’s where you’ve lost me. Like, currently this book is going to be targeted towards 8-12 year olds, I’m 14 and I literally just learned the difference between the left and the right. That’s because I have just now started to care about these things. I get that Dylan is older now, and that might mean that the readers are older too, but that doesn’t mean a middle grade series can just switch over to YA. And it’s not exactly YA, it’s middle grade, but it’s also… weird. In book 2 there’s a lot of talk about lawyers and stealing rights, and copyright claims, and I mean-sure, it works for the story, but no kid is going to care about that. I also felt like each book was insanely short, when they could have been longer.
Now that I’ve had time to think about this series more, I’d honestly give this series 3.5 stars. Giving this series 4 stars would mean that it’s slightly above average, but I didn’t quite feel that. Nothing in this was overly well-done, it all kind of fell flat? When there’s something cool happening, like Dylan getting chased by bad guys, at the end the book will do a complete 180 and make it so that the bad guys were actually just doing a routine drill and playing tag or something—like no—have someone get shot, have someone get a life threatening injury. I feel like there should have been higher stakes—if there were any to begin with—and just… more. Remember how I said that this series was believable? I feel like it could’ve been less believable because every time with this series that you think something could be true, that ghosts might exist, that sasquatches are real, it’s taken away and the book meets a disappointing end.
Yeah, I bet you didn’t expect this to be my final thoughts for this series… I’ll tell you that I didn’t expect this either. When I say that I favor books 4 and 5 more than the others, it’s because the bar is already set kinda low.
_________
Savannah:
So here we are, at the end of an era. My adventure of reading the Dylan Maples series has come to and end. I had so so much fun reading them. Overall this is a 5 start series for me and I highly recommend. Make sure to keep an eye out for my YouTube video on this books series where I vlog my experience reading this fantastic series. Now onto the review for « Phantom of Fire »
The final instalment in the Dylan Maple Adventure series did not disappoint. In this book they travel to New Brunswick (where I live) on a little family vacation at their family friends house. He meets Antonine at the beach one night and they see something mysterious on the water. They find out it’s a ghost ship on fire!
In this book Dylan has grown up a lot and is the epitome of « angsty teen » his commentary is so funny and I loved the way he was written. One of my favourite part about these books are always the people that Dylan meets on his adventures and I loved Antonine’s character.
The plot twist of this book was so crazy and unpredictable! It was the perfect way to wrap up this series. I wish these books were longer but they are the perfect short read for everyone! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 26, 2019
Maybe it's because I haven't read any other Dylan Maples Adventures, but this book was pretty meh for me. Also, I felt that the way he talked about female characters was kind of objectifying.
July 22, 2020
Wonderful read with phantom ships and a summer romance. Love how Shane takes you all over Canada while enticing you in the story. Highly recommended for ages 12 to 92. Good one!
September 17, 2020
Just finished book #4 and got this in the mail 2 days ago. This is already a 5 star I am guessing.
August 13, 2024
I really enjoyed reading this as it's super close to home, it's a very quick and easy read and I remember meeting the author back in middle school. Love the style!
Did Not Finish
April 30, 2019I'm officially calling this one for a couple reasons:
a) Hardware failure. My kobo officially hit the dust earlier this year when it stopped accepting that it was properly authorized and refused to allow me to add any DRM protected books to it, aka library books or netgalley books - the latter of which this one is. And then my iPad followed suit when we finally tried to fix the smashed screen ourselves to resounding failure. I will not read on my phone. I will not read on my computer. Just can't do it. It's time for me to give up on reading technology for now, I guess. Print books is where I'm at.
b) I was really really not enjoying this book. There was a nice bit of intrigue involved in the mysterious flames on the water, but the main character was driving me a little batty with his girl crazy sullenness. Maybe it would appeal to pre-teen or teen boys? But I found the character to be just a little over the top and the plot didn't move fast enough to make up for it.
Because I didn't finish it (and likely won't) I'm not going to give it a rating, but at 100 pages in, it was sitting at about a 2/5 stars.
a) Hardware failure. My kobo officially hit the dust earlier this year when it stopped accepting that it was properly authorized and refused to allow me to add any DRM protected books to it, aka library books or netgalley books - the latter of which this one is. And then my iPad followed suit when we finally tried to fix the smashed screen ourselves to resounding failure. I will not read on my phone. I will not read on my computer. Just can't do it. It's time for me to give up on reading technology for now, I guess. Print books is where I'm at.
b) I was really really not enjoying this book. There was a nice bit of intrigue involved in the mysterious flames on the water, but the main character was driving me a little batty with his girl crazy sullenness. Maybe it would appeal to pre-teen or teen boys? But I found the character to be just a little over the top and the plot didn't move fast enough to make up for it.
Because I didn't finish it (and likely won't) I'm not going to give it a rating, but at 100 pages in, it was sitting at about a 2/5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews