A new, swashbuckling adventure in the Time Keys series!

Sim is desperate to find his father in Tudor London and warn him of the coming plague. But thanks to his uncle Emmett, they end up on Sir Francis Drake's ship heading to Cádiz to fight against the Spanish. Sim, his cousin Jeopardy, and his friend Nelson must survive a sea battle and find a way back to England, before it's too late.

"Attack of the Seadogs" by MG Leonard, the new installment in the middle-grade historical "Time Keys" adventure series is another hugely enjoyable read, filled with lots of exciting adventure and action (this time on a ship and in Tudor London!). MG Leonard really knows how to bring each time period to life, cleverly and unobtrusively including real historical events and figures.

I love that you can read each book as a standalone, but there is a subtle overarching storyline too that makes you want to pick up the next one.
I'm excited to see where Sim, Jeopardy, and Nelson end up next!

Attack of the Sea Dogs
Author: M. G. Leonard
Illustrator: Manuel Šumberac
Series: Time Keys
Publication Date: 17 September 2026
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Genre: Children's Fiction
Rating: 5/5

Attack of the Sea Dogs is a fantastic addition to the Time Keys series and an absolutely brilliant adventure for young readers. M. G. Leonard has such a wonderful way of bringing history to life while keeping the story exciting, accessible and incredibly entertaining.

This time, Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson find themselves in Tudor times, but things haven't exactly gone according to plan. Instead of arriving in London, they end up aboard the ship of Sir Francis Drake as he prepares to raid Cádiz. What follows is a wonderfully chaotic adventure filled with danger, sea battles, mystery and plenty of moments that kept me wanting to turn the pages.

I particularly loved the combination of time travel and real historical events. There's plenty for children to learn along the way, but it never feels like they're being given a history lesson. The historical details are woven naturally into the adventure, making it a great choice for curious young readers and a particularly good companion to Key Stage 2 history.

Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson make a brilliant team, and their friendship continues to be one of the highlights of the series. The mysterious masked mercenary adds another layer of intrigue, while the ongoing mission to save Sim's father gives the story a more emotional thread alongside all the swashbuckling action.

Manuel Šumberac's black-and-white illustrations complement the story beautifully and help bring the characters, ships and historical setting to life.

Fast-paced, adventurous, educational and packed with excitement, Attack of the Sea Dogs is children's historical fiction at its best. It's the sort of book that can spark an interest in history while delivering a genuinely thrilling adventure at the same time. Although it's part of a series, it can also be enjoyed as a standalone, making it a great introduction to the Time Keys books.

A thoroughly enjoyable read and an easy 5/5 from me.

#MGLeonard #MacmillanChildrensBooks #AttackOfTheSeaDogs #TimeKeys #ChildrensFiction

A Thrilling New Addition To The Time Keys Series. Attack Of The Sea Dogs Is A Fast Paced Adventure Into The Elizabethan Era For Sim, Jeopardy And Nelson, Where They Encounter Uncle Emmett's Friend, Francis Drake And The Spanish Armada I Enjoyed The Scenes With Callidora And Kabir A Lot. The Historical Settings & Events Are Always Very Well Researched & Full Of Fun New Facts To Discover. The Very Descriptive Writing Brings The Time Setting To Life And Feels Very Atmospheric. The Historical Fashion/Clothes Is A Lovely Aspect To Read. The Illustrations In The Story Are Incredible And Very Detailed. I Devoured The Whole Story In A Few Hours And Can't Wait To Discover The Next Book In The Series. Perfect For Kids 9 & Up But Just As Rich An Experience For Adults As Well.

Thank You To NetGalley And The Publisher For The ARC.

Attack of the Sea Dogs is the fourth outing in the Time Keys series and when I say these books continue to grow and heighten the stakes so brilliantly with every novel, I mean it. M.G. Leonard knows how to give us that crescendo (musical pun a must in this context) in what Sim, Nelson, and Jeopardy are dealing with that I’m genuinely always in anticipation to know where the story’s going to go next.

With that in mind, the arcs for all of the characters, not only Sim but Jeopardy, Nelson, Kabir, Kane and pretty much everyone are getting a lot deeper with Attack of the Sea Dogs. Across the first couple books in the series, the foundations were laid so exquisitely that now M.G. Leonard truly gets to play and set the stage for the future of this marvellous series. And trust me, with the ending of this book, there NEEDS to be a long long future for Time Keys because I have SOOOO many questions.

As always, Manuel Šumberac NEVER misses with his illustrations! Seriously, I’m going to put it out there, Manuel is easily one of my top 5 illustrators of all time. If you need a fun activity or something visual to do, his instagram is such a thing of beauty to scroll through. The illustrations within Attack of the Sea Dogs sit on that sweet spot where there’s the detail you need to power the imagination, but the ambiguity for the reader to still shape the world in their head too. I LOVE them!

M.G. Leonard has this wonderful way of writing, and I say this with every Time Keys book that comes, that has you learning without realising you’re learning. I studied the Tudors to A-Level and in this novel, I was still learning things I had no clue about without feeling like I was learning. And this is one of the reasons I adore Middle Grade fiction so much, because it does that so brilliantly when handled by an exceptional author such as M.G. Leonard! A dream of a back to school read, this is certainly one you don’t want to miss out on and, in the mean time, the other three books in the series are there waiting for you to enter your first time door…

I LOVE this series. The installments already include:

Hunt For the Golden Scarab (my favourite so far)
The Legend of Viking Thunder
The Impossible Gladiator

They can be read perfectly fine as standalone novels but personally I think you get a bit more enjoyment out of reading it as a series.

This was such a riot. Like the others, this is a mixture of entertainment and history. I don't know much about Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada (I've realised through reading this series that I know very little about anything) so I don't know how correct it is but it feels so rooted in truth and it was fascinating.

The characters really get a chance to shine here, particularly Nelson, Sim's friend. His role has been increasing with each instalment and it's here he really stands out and I loved him. Uncle Emmett is as haphazard and chaotic and useless as usual and yet I can't find it in myself to hate him.

It's paced well. It's closer to fast-paced than slow, but it never feels rushed and I read it in a few hours - I am aware I have a faster reading speed than most children but even so I think it'll still be a quick read for anyone. It may be aimed at 9-11 year olds, but this 33 year old loves it and would recommend it to children and adults alike. I can see the series being really helpful in schools, particularly in history lessons.

The character are fascinating - adults and kids, goodies and baddies - and some of the side characters get to be explored a bit more in this one. The travelling and historical element feels so real and rooted in research, the adventures are tense and exciting, the emotions felt just right. I can't say a negative thing about it, just a lot of synonyms for 'awesome'.

It was so enjoyable and so much fun, just as I expected. This series can only go on so long but I for one would read it forever.

ATTACK OF THE SEA DOGS takes us back in time to the Tudors!

A lot of Tudor books (for kids and adults!) focus on the same things (Henry VIII and his wives, William Shakespeare, Elizabeth the virgin queen). While some of that is in the background by the very nature of it being a book set in Elizabethan England, I really appreciated that they were not the focus of the tale at all. Instead, this is a book about a much lesser known part of the Spanish Armada - the attack on Cádiz. There is always so much more to history than what is popularly known (the "memeable" bits) and I love it when books focus on these aspects.

As ever, it's an immersive experience, full of details that point to the historical research (like submerging wood in water before they're turned into masts). We get to see the Tower of London, which I loved being brought to life without all the tourists there. This series has been a really nice way of marrying history that links to the curriculum with a fantasy adventure.

I really liked the way Kabir was brought into the book, firmly on Sim and co's side. He's in prison for helping them in the last book, and Sim's mum breaks him out. Having followed him for a few books as a glimpse into the villains' plans, he now is someone getting to step into his own - if he can trust that he is being given the freedom to act as he wants. I look forward to seeing how he develops over the coming books.

The ambitious scope of the tale continues. We get a few more clues but mostly the sense of the vast conspiracy stretching even further. It has something to do with Sim's dad. It's now involving more historical monarchs. Previous series I've read by M. G. Leonard very much had a standalone feel to the instalment - they might have been sold as a series, but each could really stand on its own as there wasn't an overarching tale between them. That is not the case here - there is very much a mystery being built up. I think we might be coming toward the end now (unless more books have been sold since the first six!) and I do want to know what the council of keys are up to!