Picked up “Hilda and the Ghost Ship” on the basis of its Netflix affiliation. A small part of me wants to be connected to pop culture in spite of the demands on my time. The cover also beckoned me with a whimsical vibe, which is something I found appealing in life.

Didn’t like this book as much as I had expected. I think the main reason is that the main characters, Hilda, Frida and David, were doing different things in different chapters, so I found that the lack of shared experiences hindered me from resonating with them. Also, although Stephen Davies wrote short and snappy sentences for the most part, my ignorance in regard to various specific verbs distracted me from enjoying the story. Yes, I’m not too proud to admit that I didn’t know words like gambolled, doleful, flounced, among others.

Things picked up for me when I read that a Kraken was featured — I was familiar with this mythical creature thanks to previous days of dabbling with crypto. Used to have a Kraken account myself. The action-packed description of this Kraken feeding its baby Krakens wooden boats was quite exciting to read.

Am still intrigued enough to want to check out the anime on Netflix. I have since learnt that this book is a composite of several episodes, which explains the disjointedness I felt acutely while reading the book. Maybe I would appreciate the antics of Hilda and her friends better after watching the anime.