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A review by halschrieve
Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain by Zac Gorman
5.0
This fast-paced, action-packed fantasy novel for ages 8-12 follows in the footsteps of many a tongue-in-cheek precedent. Set in a gruesome dungeon filled with monsters and starring a practical, mousy girl raised by goblins, Thisby Thestoop is a fresh and well-written take on the genre that comes bearing an enormous backpack, lots of notes, a sentient blob of slime, and plenty of horse meat to spare.
Thisby Thestoop takes her name from a note left with her when she is abandoned near the opening to the Black Mountain’s dungeon. Originally reading “found this by the stoop, keep for later”, the note is left by a Minotaur intending to eat the baby as a snack. The goblins who live in the black mountain interpret the note as a request to keep the baby safe, and so Thisby grows up a gamekeeper and janitor in the vast prison that contains a range of terrifying beasts.
The Black Mountain is not only a vast mountain with plenty of teeth. It is also a part of a larger kingdom. As a regular ritual, the king inspects the dungeon to affirm that it is both terrifying and also not a military threat to his power. This year, though, the king sends his twin children to do the inspection: teenage Crown Princess Iphigenia and Prince Ingo. In the course of the inspection, a poorly managed monster goes on rampage and Ingo disappears. Iphigenia requests that Thisby help her find him—but in the course of searching, both get lost in the deep caves below the dungeon.
At the same time, a wicked plot is brewing at the bottom of the mountain to unleash the worst terrors imaginable upon the kingdom and the world at large. Only Thisby, her slime friend Mingus, a giant cat named Catface, and Iphigenia can stop it.
Readers of The Graveyard Book, The Wee Free Men, Dealing With Dragons, The Princess Bride or The Dark Lord of Derkholm will appreciate this witty, self-aware book.
Thisby Thestoop takes her name from a note left with her when she is abandoned near the opening to the Black Mountain’s dungeon. Originally reading “found this by the stoop, keep for later”, the note is left by a Minotaur intending to eat the baby as a snack. The goblins who live in the black mountain interpret the note as a request to keep the baby safe, and so Thisby grows up a gamekeeper and janitor in the vast prison that contains a range of terrifying beasts.
The Black Mountain is not only a vast mountain with plenty of teeth. It is also a part of a larger kingdom. As a regular ritual, the king inspects the dungeon to affirm that it is both terrifying and also not a military threat to his power. This year, though, the king sends his twin children to do the inspection: teenage Crown Princess Iphigenia and Prince Ingo. In the course of the inspection, a poorly managed monster goes on rampage and Ingo disappears. Iphigenia requests that Thisby help her find him—but in the course of searching, both get lost in the deep caves below the dungeon.
At the same time, a wicked plot is brewing at the bottom of the mountain to unleash the worst terrors imaginable upon the kingdom and the world at large. Only Thisby, her slime friend Mingus, a giant cat named Catface, and Iphigenia can stop it.
Readers of The Graveyard Book, The Wee Free Men, Dealing With Dragons, The Princess Bride or The Dark Lord of Derkholm will appreciate this witty, self-aware book.