The Amulet of Kings — Will MacMillan-Jones

Jazz meets Magic with The Amulet of Kings The first volume in The Banned Underground collection of stories that can be read in any order, or disorder. Perhaps disorder, for when two suburban teenagers arrive for an enforced holiday at their aunt's cottage, they find a lot more going on than they expected. Most of the local Wizards and Witches are all on holiday â€" sorry, that's the Annual Joint Professional Conference of course â€" in the South of France. It's a perfect opportunity for the local Dark Lord (who has been left behind) to summon up some goblins and try to invade the underground Mansion of the Dwarves. Can the teenagers help their new friend the King of the Dwarves save his kingdom? The Dark Lord has his goblins and his minions; the teenagers have a luminous green, jazz-loving bog troll and his rhythm-and-blues band â€" and an amazing collection of jokes, one-liners, and awfully bad puns, as this new fantasy series gets off to a crackling start.