Perfectly Fine

"Fine? You said it was fine?...Well, yeah. You put that in front of 'wine' or 'dining' and you really have something." (quoting Big Bang Theory). And this book is just fine.

You have an engaging group of adventurers, a resourceful twelve year old hero, and a deadpan, grumpy dragon. You have decent supporting characters and a reasonably well-imagined alternate universe. There's a quest wrapped up in a mystery and lots of plot twists and turns that add interest without making the tale too complex. Villains are fun and sufficiently villainous. There are battles.

I like books like this when the dialogue is reasonably snappy, the characters are generally appealing and mostly age appropriate, and there's enough action, trekking, and messing about to hold interest and to keep the narrative driving forward. This book is fine on all of those scores.

This isn't "high fantasy" and I doubt it's intended to be. It's a fun friendship adventure with some clever set pieces and occasional sly throwaway humor that isn't forced or too manic. The tone wobbles a bit, sometimes more kid friendly and then sometimes a bit more grownup. So, you have a hero who's afraid of a bully back home, but also crosses swords with trolls during battles on Myrth. That lack of a consistent tone is fine for a new young reader - it may actually be helpful in a way. I suspect this skews toward a younger demo.

This is the second book in the three volume "Journals of Myrth" series. It picks up a few weeks after the first book's conclusion, but between an intro preface and the recaps scattered through the first few chapters it's very easy to get up to speed on the series even if you start here.

So, a pleasant find and a quick, fun read for an early reader looking for dragons, trolls, witches and a bit of adventure. Fine. (Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)