I specifically requested this book because I couldn’t walk away from that title. And it did not disappoint.

Greg Belmont has the worst luck. I’m not talking “dropping your ice cream” luck, or “slamming your hand in the car door” luck. I’m talking “getting attacked by a polar bear at the zoo and then the teacher getting mad at you for it” luck. Which totally happens to Greg. It runs in the family, he’s told by his dad, who’s always out looking for new ingredients for organic soaps and teas.

And Greg’s just different somehow from the other kids at his fancy private school. So far, he’s only managed one friend. Life, especially on Thursdays, kind of sucks for Greg.

…until one day he drinks his dad’s new tea and makes lettuce grow from the floor of the cafeteria. And then a Bro-Troll randomly attacks his dad’s shop and kidnaps his dad and now the only other employee at the store turns out to be some Mysterious Old Guy With Magic who takes Greg to the Underground. And he’s like, “Surprise! You’re a dwarf! And here’s a magical underground world that’s like Hogwarts but with 93% more blacksmithing! Also Elves suck and you should hate them.”

It’s gonna take some new Dwarf friends, a talking axe, and some spectacular failures to save his dad. And prepare for the end of the modern world. Did I mention all this secret magic is leaking out of the world and will soon plunge all of humanity into a pre-tech existence? Because that’s kind of important.

It’s hard to do whimsy in storytelling, because there’s a fine line between “whimsical” and “annoying”, and it’s difficult to find that balance, but I think Rylander does it well. It helps that in addition to being genuinely funny, this book is also surprisingly…well, truthful. Greg has to come to terms with a lot of big changes, and even has to decide whether or not he can still trust Edwin, his best and only friend for years, anymore. He’s got a lot of conflicting emotions about his father, and doesn’t even know if he’ll get the chance to apologize or even get an explanation of why his dad kept so many things a secret.

I’m going to leave it at that so I don’t get into spoiler territory, but this is the first in a new series and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next for Greg.