Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 03/01/2023 Lonely 12-year-old gamer Ben thinks he’s been recruited for a particularly good RPG, right up until he looks into a mirror in an old mansion and finds himself in the two-sun realm of Lux, where knights on flying narwhals swoop with lightning lances and the spells he records in his tattered notebook (sometimes!) actually work. Or, as he puts it with mingled terror and excitement: “Real. It was all real.” Actually, Lux is not quite what it seems, but on the way to discovering that and having adventures in promising locales, like a Forbidden Library (with a “tiny graphic novel section”), Ben acquires a squad of new friends, including shape-changing nonbinary thief Merv and scary, purple-haired teen assassin Niara—not to mention a new attitude toward life with his divorced, loving mother on the (or, at least, this) Earthly plane. Threat ratings, chapter titles like “Battle Noob,” and breakdowns of various “boss level” challenges add further gloss to the scenario, as do Weber’s map and sheaf of character cards. To use the local parlance, a “ridonkulously” entertaining kickoff. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.