Maisie vs Antarctica is an enjoyable contemporary action-comedy with a light fantasy twist and laugh-aloud moments.

What looks like another quiet winter holiday at home turns into a heart-stopping adventure for eleven-year-old Maisie Macleod after she talks herself onto her father’s research trip to Antarctica. Suddenly the fantastical creatures in the book she’s writing are rivalled by the extraordinary sights around her.

Blizzards, crevasses, hungry wildlife, ambitious scientists: simply surviving on the world’s deadliest continent is tricky enough, but Maisie soon realises she’s facing an entirely new kind of mystery - and her dad seems to be at the heart of it.

Is he not the boring guy he appears? Is there more to Maisie than meets the eye? Can she keep a secret?

I quickly warmed to Maisie’s self-deprecating sense of humour. She’s a chirpy narrator: imaginative, practical, and charmingly hysterical. I loved how she discusses her own story-writing in the narrative as her experiences in Antarctica prompt her to rethink her decisions on character, plot, and genre.

Short, zippy chapters make Maisie vs Antarctica fun to read aloud, and the relationship between Maisie and her dad gives the adventure a heart-warming dimension.

And while the ending is neatly tied up, Maisie’s growing awareness of her abilities make it clear that there’s a lot more trouble and adventure ahead.

A highly-enjoyable midde-grade adventure, ideal for readers who’ve finished Jennifer Bell’s Agents of the Wild series and Katie & Kevin Tsang’s Space Blasters and are looking to level up.

Many thanks to Jack Jackman, Nosy Crow, and NetGalley for my advanced reading copy. l really warmed to Maisie’s sense of humour and look forward to seeing where in the world her adventures take her next.