This graphic novel starts out with a well-handled but rather predictable twist: the creepy haunted house where Dr. Baer keeps his cursed object collection is a thoroughly pleasant home for the spirits of the curses and Dr. Baer himself is both gentlemanly and adorable. This itself could have been an excellent set-up for a slice-of life series. Flaming rats having tea, ghosts dusting, new spirits getting settled, all with the bumbling sorcerer and his verbally abused sidekick providing comic relief. When the plot turned towards a standard fantasy fetch quest, I became worried, but was heartened by the interesting vulnerability of Dr. Baer outside his home environment, something you don’t often see from the lore-master character in standard fantasy fetch quests. As the narrative unfolded, I found myself pulled in with growing amazement as I saw each of the character’s growth arcs weaving around each other and along the central slowly-revealed truth about why this standard fantasy fetch quest is anything but standard. What we have at the end is a masterful tale weaving strong themes of friendship and trauma with a remarkably deep deconstruction of the colonial assumptions behind the fantasy trope of the “powerful magic object from a faraway land”.

It also features some of the most consistently skillful fight plotting I’ve ever seen, with each of the four fights each taking full advantage of not only their unique environments and extra interested parties, but also serving to show the growth and evolution of the characters’ teamwork, fighting styles, and understanding of their opponents. Each is made highly dynamic by the differing goals of the parties involved and each includes several twists in the circumstances and goals along the way.

The only possible weakness might be some minor quibbles with the art. Occasionally, panels with things and people flying all over the place (and the book has many scenes with things and people flying all over the place) fail to clearly convey what’s going on. The bright, luminous tones used to show magic at work are rather dulled by the watercolor medium, which works quite well for the rest of the world. Dr. Baer’s permanently static face can occasionally make him hard to read, though his body language is usually clear. Several characters (Baer included) are utterly adorable, but Drozd never gives them the kind of panels where their cuteness can truly shine. But all these minor quibbles are minor indeed compared to the monumental achievements of this work.

Oh, and despite having a pig character with large floppy ears and a yellow teddy bear character, this is very much not a rewriting of the now-public-domain Pooh and Piglet. I am left to vaguely wonder if it might have been at some early stage.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free eARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.  This was well-written, and the story had a really interesting premise.  I liked the art style and the way that the characters were shown throughout the book.  The premise of the story was really fun and had some great Dungeons and Dragons style vibes.

The art is cute and enjoyable and the adventure is fun to tag along on. I really njoyed this one! Thank you to the publisher and author and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Adorable Dungeons & Dragons style adventure, for fans of teddy bear stories, quests, fairy tales, and well-meaning, novice adventurers who must rise to the occasion of saving the world and their friends. This book appears to be standalone, but I’d love to see more stories set in this world!

The art and character designs are great and the story is engaging for adult as well as the intended middle grade audience. I’m hoping we get too see more of Dr Baer in the future!

The art was great and the characters were very likable. The plot was a bit uneven at times and I found the dream world scenes a bit hard to understand. I would read another entry in this series if it came out though.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this graphic novel

This book was a fun engaging read that took you on quite an adventure that I think had an adorable art style, the adventure they go on and the friendship made was lovely to read

3.75 stars