Dreadful, by Caitlin Rozakis

Gav is in an awkward and dangerous position at the beginning of Caitlin Rozakis’s highly entertaining novel, Dreadful. The lack of eyebrows and the magical detritus around him are the only clues to explain why Gav has no idea who he is or what he was doing. He only learns his name, the Dread Lord Gavrax, when one of his goblin servants says it. What is a dark wizard supposed to do with no memory, a kidnapped princess in his dungeon, heroes bearing down on his castle, and servants who believe he might immolate them at any moment?

Gav bluffs his way through every interaction to keep others from figuring out that he’s not really the volatile dark wizard he was at breakfast that day he blew himself up. It’s a hard act to keep up because, while he’s trying to work out who he is and what’s going on from context clues, Gav also has to work out ways to get out of doing dark wizard-y things like setting his servants on fire. Without his memories, Gav finds that he is no longer motivated to be evil anymore. In fact, he’s horrified at the things his previous self did. (Fair warning: this book is not shy about sudden violence.) I love a plot where the protagonist is flying by the seat of their pants. Every time Gav thinks he has something figured out, a new complication crashes into his life. Plans go awry and Gav and his few allies have to improvise.

Dreadful is the kind of fantasy novel that delights in playing with the tropes of the genre. I laughed more than once at Gav’s conversations with the very annoyed Princess Eliasha, the goblins, and his still-very-evil confederates. The things he uncovers turn so many things on their fictional heads. I don’t want to give too much away but I will say that the goblins and the nearby villages are a lot more savvy about life with dark wizards than Gav is. They have contingency plans.

I inhaled this book over the course of an evening and can’t recommend Dreadful highly enough. This book is perfect for fantasy fans who miss Terry Pratchett; it offers beautiful and memorable character development as much as it goofs on fantasy tropes. I sincerely hope to see more books like Dreadful from Rozakis.