I’m not very good with fantasy books. They leave me either confused or I think they’re just silly. This one left me confused for a long while. It was the excerpt that reeled me in: Anna and her little brother Nils find a small, odd, rude man with a nearly-invisible dog at the edge of the woods. Fine so far. Then the story flips to a boy(?) named Bengt aka Jack Broadsword and his unruly friend (?) William who rescues him from a tanglewolf attack.
And then, a quarter in, it all comes together for a while: the little old man is a Gribblebob the goblin that decided to live in the world of humans: ““So if that’s your world, why are you here?” Anna asked quickly. “Got tired of it all. Fairies are blooming boring after a while. Dragon poo all over the place. Magic this and magic that… I like it here.”
What if there were two worlds, separated by a “veil”, a magical one and a human one? And what if there was an evil person in control of nightmares, drawing her power from suffering sleepers?
But it wouldn’t be a fantasy book if there wasn’t a group of veryvery brave people to fight the evil.
My experience went from confused to amused to enjoying the poetic languge (especially Gribblebob’s fabulously wacky lingo) and back to confused. While there were some great plot ideas, it somehow felt....not quite baked.
May induce nightmares in little people!

A good humored and fun adventure featuring goblins, witches and an invisible dog. This was a funny and charming story with interesting characters. The chapters were short and the plot was pretty fast paced. This is a great book for young readers that will keep them entertained. The story has a heartfelt message about the strength of siblings.