In the fourth book of Wright’s middle-grade series, its teen protagonist journeys to a fantasy realm to save his crush from trolls.

Seventh grader Toby Baxter is on an end-of-school trip to Minnehaha Falls when he bumps into Rainie, his crush. Though they’ve never actually spoken, and Toby hasn’t seen her for a year, it seems that Rainie likes him, too. She gives him her phone number. Toby swoons! Then calamity strikes. A portal opens up to RiverHome, the magical world visited by Toby in previous adventures. Rainie is abducted by trolls. Toby runs to help, pursued by Derrick, the school bully. Both pass through the portal, though they end up in different parts of RiverHome, and Toby reunites with his river elf friends (a lengthy cast list is provided). Derrick joins Plythar, the troll leader, in his plan to destroy Toby once and for all. Rainie, meanwhile, finds herself locked up in a troll dungeon alongside the gnome Roxie, whose wedding (to Phoenix the elf) Toby is due to attend. Can Toby, Phoenix, and friends rescue their beloveds, or will Plythar and Derrick prevail in their villainy? Readers of previous Toby Baxter books will be familiar with Wright’s droll style, which layers frequent, italicized asides from Author (both a character in the story and the writer of books about Toby’s adventures) onto an omniscient third-person narrative told from various characters’ perspectives. These interjections often riff on notions of language and vocabulary. For example: “Deciding to remind Toby of who was the boss, he and his friends sauntered…sauntered? Is that like walking?…over to do a bit of friendly harassing of Toby.” Toby once again emerges as a typical teen boy, his reactions to kissing and romance a realistic blend of affected disgust and secret, burgeoning interest. As in previous volumes, the story contains a large number of superfluous characters. These may confound new readers, but they do provide a sense of familiarity when events stray into darker territory. Fans of the series will be well satisfied.

Lively and self-aware. A fantasy escapade for readers of all ages!

This middle-grade sequel sees a young teen return to a fantasy world and battle a troll who has plunged the land into despair.

Christmas is fast approaching in Minneapolis. Thirteen-year-old Toby Baxter, never much of a reader, is trying to engage with his mom’s favorite holiday book: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Unsurprisingly, the boy is more interested in having his new friend Sid sleep over—and in returning to RiverHome, the magical land that Toby can access by way of a magical portal in his closet. For Toby, only a few months have passed since his first heroic undertakings in RiverHome. But time being tricky, several years have gone by there. The magical barrier that Toby set in place has shattered, and the land has sickened, mostly due to the hope-bringing Christmas Giant having surrendered to the Scrooge-like troll war leader Clygon. Toby is reunited with his elvish and gnome friends yet is soon captured and taken to the stronghold where troll mercenaries are holding the Christmas Giant. Toby’s dad and Sid pass through the wardrobe and are faced with the same miserable situation. Can the trio save RiverHome and thwart Clygon’s schemes? Wright employs a straightforward narrative in the third person, past tense, writing primarily from Toby’s or Sid’s perspective but with italicized metatextual asides that break the fourth wall (or its literary equivalent). For example: “The plan was for Toby to—lie on the sled?...lay on the sled? Why can’t he ever figure that one out?—and slide down the roof onto the ground below.” Most of these interjections relate to grammar and thus serve not only to jab playfully at language pedants, but also to sneakily foreground and complement themes of literary awareness. As with the previous book, Toby’s heroism takes a nontraditional form. He tries to defeat Clygon not through physical means, but rather by deploying a kind of weaponized empathy. The story moves quickly, though it is rendered a little befuddling due to its large cast of characters, many of whom play little part in the outcome. Yet even this superfluity adds to the holiday atmosphere, as if Wright had invited a vast extended family for dinner. Fans of Toby’s first outing will enjoy this get-together.

Serious, jolly, and instructive—an entertaining Christmas adventure in the best spirit of the season.

In this middle-grade novel, a teenager journeys to a Tolkien-inspired fantasy land to act as its hero.

On the day before his 13th birthday, Toby Baxter looks out the classroom window and sees what appears to be a hobbit. Toby is into comic books and Marvel movies, not literary fantasies like Tolkien’s The Hobbit and C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Still, when he wakes at night to find a middle-aged man named Author in his room, he can’t help following him through the closet and into his own adventure. Toby is transported to a world where his coming is foretold and he is known as a hero. There is a magic sword encased in rock, inscribed “I.C.E. Call Toby Baxter.” The hobbit Toby saw turns out to be an elf wearing hairy boots. The elves are at war with the trolls, and though they try to live normal lives (eating large meals and playing Australian rules football), another crisis has arisen in this long conflict. Can Toby lead his new friends to victory or will Clygon, Tribal Chief of the trolls, steal his power? Through his actions, what sort of hero does Toby aspire to be? Wright employs a jocose narrative style, telling the story from Toby’s perspective (third person, past tense) but with sporadic authorial asides: “Every sound startled him. Every birdcall caused him to duck—did he just step into a pun?—until he finally relaxed.” Toby is a typical middle-class American teen who carries much of his real-world personality into the fantasy setting. He is quick to suspend disbelief yet never entirely unaware of reality. Though fired by determination and assailed by doubts, he remains happy-go-lucky and too easily distracted by food. Wright reimagines stock fantasy characters (elves, trolls, gnomes) to be more everyday in their outlooks, less a product of quest narrative requirements. While there are perhaps too many elven characters with too little to distinguish them, their society as a whole has more personality than most. The story moves at a good pace, albeit with plenty of asides, and offers a laudable twist (a Star Wars–esque “don’t give in to the dark side”). Young fantasists will enjoy having their eyes opened.

Lighthearted and conspiratorially didactic; an agreeable romp toward adulthood.