Clayton Zane Comber and Conor McCammon, The Marvellous Submarine (The Marvellous Submarine #1), HarperCollins AU, April 2025, 208 pp., RRP. $17.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781460766804
The Marvellous Submarine is an entertaining adventure story, filled with mayhem and humour. It’s about twins, Polly and Billy, who go on a daring mission to rescue their kidnapped mother and foil the evil plans of her captors.
Their Mum, an eccentric inventor, has created some fantastical—though seemingly impractical or even dangerous —inventions. Among them is the Marvellous Submarine which has a giant slide, trampoline, jungle room, cinema, skate ramp, disco, and even a room full of bananas—but oddly, NO engine. Despite its obvious limitations, the submarine is the twins’ only means of transport to Volcano Island, where their mother is being held captive.
It takes a mix of creative problem solving, collaboration with a crew of resourceful anthropomorphised animal characters and lucky co-incidences, to work out how to propel the submarine, get out of dangerous encounters and actually find Volcano Island.
Authors Comber and McCammon have created a quirky adventure, blending suspense with absurdity in original ways. The plot develops with a series of outrageous encounters—from a fake pirate attack to the entire submarine being swallowed by a gigantic whale—keeping readers engaged with unexpected twists and increasing plot tension.
I enjoyed the story’s playful tone. The highlight for me was the comical bickering between the hammerhead shark and the swordfish. I also appreciated the tongue-in-cheek references to 1960s musical hits—an entertaining touch for adult readers, though likely to go over the heads of most kids.
Humorous black and white cartoon style images, which fill the pages, promote the tone of silliness whilst also adding meaning to the story by depicting characters and setting (including a double page spread illustration of the submarine’s interior).
Although the submarine, with its various amusing rooms, reminded me of the Storey Treehouse series, in other ways this story is quite different.
The Marvellous Submarine is a lively and entertaining read for 6–9-year-olds. It is also accessible for beginner readers with few words per page, novelty font and illustrations throughout that break up the text.
Reviewed by Barbara Swartz
