[2] The stories follow the bizarre, exciting, and hilarious adventures of three close friends, Lily Gefelty, Katie Mulligan, and Jasper Dash.
[2] The main characters of the series are: While the books would appear to be set in the contemporary United States, the world they portray is one where the bizarre and fantastic are constantly present and nearly overpower the "normality".
Other specific themes include timelessness, the passage of time, whales, immortality, eccentricity vs. conventionality, and down-to-earth earnestness vs. fame and high society.
[4] A review in Publishers Weekly of Whales on Stilts noted that the "humor is very self-referential", such as when "awkward Harcourt writers" follow Jasper and Katy around.
[5] Another reviewer, form SF Site, calls Whales on Stilts a "tasty multilayered satire" and says that, "Anderson's humor is a step beyond that of Lemony Snicket, fearlessly poking fun at the details while never discounting our heroes' courage in the face of danger.