Up to her rather pointy noise in griffon toenails, gnoll spittle, and troll meat (to give to them, not made of them), Thisby Thestoop keeps track of the creatures of Black Mountain dungeon the only way she knows how-by taking super-careful notes. So when her black-toothed, three-foot-tall Dunkeldwarf boss, Roquat, informs her that the prince and princess of Nth are arriving for a Royal Inspection, Thisby knows she has hours of painstaking planning ahead of her to ensure everything goes according to plan.

Only it doesn’t. When Roquat stupidly rouses a deep-slumbering tarasque, Princess Iphigenia winds up lost in the dark tunnels of the Black Mountain dungeon without her guards, her staff, or her younger twin brother (by two minutes) to help get her home. With all the easy paths home blocked and seemingly no way out, it’s up to Thisby to guide the princess safely past the hordes of minotaurs, wyverns, ghouls, and who-knows-what-else that would love nothing more than to nosh the royal highness for dinner.

With no one to trust but each other, Thisby and Princess Iphigenia go on a rollicking adventure through the world’s darkest dungeon to save a prince, stop a war, and keep all creatures awful and ugly safe. The Black Mountain is the first book in a lively new fantasy-adventure series from debut author Zac Gorman, filled with intricate black and white illustrations.