I received an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general.

The title is inaccurate. This book is closer to delightful than it is to dreadful. I mean, there’s a garlic festival in it.

In Dreadful, Gav wakes up in what appears to be a magical laboratory of some kind, with no idea how he got there. Or who he is. Or why he’s being referred to as the Dread Lord Gavrax. Not wanting to admit he somehow has amnesia, he plays along with it, hoping that in doing so, he’ll get answers. Apparently, to make matters worse, he has a princess locked in the dungeon and a more sinister dark wizard breathing down his neck about some kind of impending ritual to be performed. But Gav isn’t sure he even wants to be evil… but how can he possibly be good, in a place like this?

This book is as if you took aspects of Megamind and The Good Place and shoved them into a fantasy setting. In other words, a winning formula for me.

There’s a lot of humor in this book, plenty of witty banter and dry sarcasm. You can tell that Rozakis loves dialogue, and it makes for easy, entertaining reading. But the more serious moments, the introspective scenes, are also excellent. They’re thoughtful without being preachy, delving into the complexities of how to make morally good decisions. All in all, there’s a great balance of funny scenes and serious scenes.

I also really liked the characters. Gav is quite a moron a lot of the time, but he’s never too annoying, and his development is well-paced and realistic (well, so to speak; we are in a magical castle, after all). The princess Eliasha is awesome, taking no crap from anyone and always holding Gav accountable for his mistakes. She’s probably the best character. But I also liked the goblins Orla and Grribeetle, the steward Siraco, and the mayor Terwyn. A super fun cast. Even the weird wizard Xaxus is entertaining, and the antagonist Zarconar is a formidable enough bad guy. The only one I didn’t love was Valevna, who’s kind of the basic femme fatale, Irene Adler in BBC Sherlock type, whose main personality trait is “seduction.” I really didn’t care about her, and Gav’s flustered attraction to her was very tedious.

That aside, though, I liked that romance wasn’t really a focus. There were a couple of moments where it was implied that Gav found Eliasha attractive, but where the story ends up is way better, in my opinion (even if you overlook the age gap, the two of them getting together is a bizarre idea. He kidnapped her, after all). Instead, the story is more about how people can encourage one another to become better.

And in the end, I had a really good time with Dreadful. The way Rozakis plays with the usual tropes of the genre to create a charming story about self-improvement and learning to manage anger and selfish behavior is wonderful. Most of the characters are fantastic, the plot moves at a reasonable pace, the magical antics are funny, and the themes are present without being oppressive. I’m ready for another novel by this author!

Dreadful is available now!