This review first appeared in Booklist on March 4, 2025.
Reggie Wong is angry. Ever since his dad’s death, life has gotten difficult. His mother, consumed by sadness and despair, has withdrawn from the world to the point of being unable to leave their apartment. At school, he’s lonely and deals with bullying over his nerdy interests. So Reggie bottles up his emotions, and sometimes he lashes out. Tired of feeling somber and sullen, he resolves to change. That’s when the mysterious man with the flute shows up, promising to fulfill Reggie’s deepest desire. What follows is a strange underground journey into darkness, where Reggie—along with newfound friends Chantal and Gareth—must face not only morbid mechanical doppelgangers, bloodthirsty brainwashed adults, and magically mutated rats, but also their own ravenous sorrow. This delightfully twisted reimagining of “The Pied Piper” manages to be a thoughtful and poignant exploration of grief while never losing its sense of warped wonder and adventure. Full of fun and surprisingly nightmarish set pieces, this will appeal to fans of Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces Quartet and J. A. White’s Nightbooks (2018).
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