The Mushroom Knight

Bly’s riotously imaginative dark fairy tale debut plunges readers into a “wide green world” of adventure beneath the feet of oblivious humans. Gowlitrot the Gardener, a humanoid mushroom who rides a frog named Hopalong, sets out on a quest to retrieve an artifact called the Candle Fly. To Gowlitrot and his fellow faeries, their forest is an expansive realm of massive trees, treacherous grass jungles, and complex magical societies. Seen from human scale, it’s a wooded lot in Philadelphia. The two worlds intersect when Gowlitrot has a run-in with Lemuelle, a young Black girl looking for her lost dog. It sounds like the premise of a whimsical children’s book, but Bly executes the concept as wickedly smart high fantasy for mature readers, evoking classic folklore that portrays the faerie world as ruthless, dangerous, and alien. In lush clear-line art, he renders a magical realm filled with mysterious villages, colorful characters, local dialects, and endless tantalizing worldbuilding details, all tucked away amid naturalistic forests, fields, and streams. “The entire world is a joke writ by clowns for the amusement of devils,” a character warns Gowlitrot. Fantasy lovers will relish this gorgeously wrought escapade. (Mar.)