For me, this was fine. It definitely brought to mind the kind of...pragmatic whimsy of a Roald Dahl (but without the antisemitism and fatshaming). It ended up also feeling a little didactic about environmentalism but like, you know, he's not wrong, and also that kind of story appeals to a lottt of elementary school-age readers who I think will really dig this.

But if you're coming to this looking for the kind of gritty complexity of [b:The Magicians|6101718|The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)|Lev Grossman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1313772941l/6101718._SY75_.jpg|6278977], I mean, it's definitely not here because this is not that kind of book. This is a book for young children. And that's fine. I personally probably wouldn't have picked this up if it were by an author who I wasn't already a fan of, but the story will sell itself to kids who aren't familiar with Grossman's work for adults.