THE LAZY DRAGON AND THE BUMBLESPELLS WIZARD

This debut novel features a lazy dragon (called a “Dr’gon”) and a fugitive wannabe wizard in a comic fantasy.

Cl’rnce is a Dr’gon, basically a teenager at somewhere around 400 years old, whose only goals in life are naps, food, and pranks. He’s a student at the Dr’gon and Wizard Technological School and Knights Academy but pays as little attention to his classes as possible. His sister Hazel informs him that he has an important mission: he must go on the Journey to take the Whispering Stone to the Dr’gon Council Chamber at Ghost Mountain to prove his worth as the next Primus, or Dr’gon leader. He also needs a companion wizard. Enter Moire Ain, a white girl enslaved by an evil Hedge-Witch. She believes she can do magick and has found a book that might teach her. She escapes, meets Cl’rnce, and joins him. High jinks ensue, along with some serious tension as the characters near Ghost Mountain. Marsh keeps her focus on light situational and character comedy even as she reveals that Cl’nce isn’t as complete a buffoon as she originally paints him to be. Neither he nor Moire Ain wants to kill anyone, and their goodness stands out. A bit too much explanation sometimes interferes with the flow of the story—and those missing vowels are never explained—but the story remains amusing throughout.

A charmer.