Happy Thursday, friends! I’m here today as part of the blog tour hosted by Toppling Stacks Tours for Dungeons & Dimwits by James Mascia and illustrated by Xoana Kodaris, and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on this new debut graphic novel.

Thanks to Dren Productions for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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Dungeons & Dimwits was a highly entertaining MG graphic novel! Here we have a group of friends who magically get sucked into their TTRPG and they wind up assuming their character roles in a fantastical game world facing monsters, baddies, and other dangers of their creation. It gave Stranger Things x Jumanji x Delicious in Dungeon (the battles specifically) x Dungeon Crawler Carl (but for a younger audience). If you like the sound of all of the above, then I would recommend checking it out. Much like the group in Stranger Things, this group of friends will bicker constantly over how to do every little thing, but there’s never any doubt about them always being in each other’s corner, no matter what happens.

There is swearing (censored), so depending on how you feel about that, I’d recommend it to older MG & YA readers (and anyone else who’d be interested). But I can see many audiences enjoying this, especially if they play TTRPG! 🤭

The comic art fantastic! It’s what you’d expect from a story full of fantasy and magic—it’s playful and full of colour. I also love how expressive all the characters are. Some of them have really signature looks or expressions that I quickly came to associate with them, especially the crabby/grumpy elf-nightcrawler-type fella. It’s a little chibi at times and it’s honestly, pretty freaking cute!

I was bummed when I got to the end of the first issue because I just wanted to keep reading! Even in their first quest, there was a lot that happened, and I loved getting the glimpses into this world, and seeing our characters overcome their first major quest line. I can picture myself easily bingeing a series of these stories because it’s action-packed, fast-paced, entertaining, and the perfect palate cleanser between longer books, or if you’re just looking for something light-hearted and fun.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next issue because I want to know where their adventures take them to next (especially how they’ll defeat their ultimate baddie and how they got magically sucked into their favourite game)!

Is Dungeons & Dimwits on your TBR or does it sound like something you’d enjoy reading?

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