Transparency Note: I was provided an advance reader’s copy of this book via the publisher.
Gather ’round, my friends, and listen to a story.
What if… the world’s most famous tabletop role-playing game was in fact based on real monsters, magic, and stories from another world that spilled over into ours?
What if… you moved during those tricky middle school years to the idyllic resort town where it all started (and where that same famous fantasy RPG was created and first published), stumbled upon the secret, and were soon wrapped up in an adventure to save not only your new hometown but also your world?
Well, wonder no more, because that’s exactly what happens to Vivian Van Tassel, our young hero in Vivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake.
This book is a fun and exciting adventure story that pulls you along in an almost breezy, friendly manner while dealing with difficult subjects (the death of a parent and related grief, bullying at a new school) and often reminding you the stakes are high for Vivian and her circle of family and friends.
It has very satisfying rising action as the mystery unfolds and an enjoyable conclusion with seeds for a sequel (and maybe, just maybe a prequel?) sown in.
If I were still in middle school, this book would be right in my sweet spot. It’s also what these books so often are (and which can be important for middle school readers): a story about making hard choices, confronting ourselves, and growing as we transition from childhood into young adulthood.
As an adult and longtime RPG player, where it equally shines for me is its obvious love for the history and lore of fantasy role-playing games. Deftly walking the line of being respectful and not a cheap rip-off with the book’s fictional Beasts & Battlements fantasy RPG, the author loves all over THE game, one of its creators, the town where it all began, and its monsters and lore established over the past 50 years.
There are plenty of fun nods and easter eggs throughout the book, so much so one can almost recommend it to avid RPG players just on that level… the joy of finding them and enjoying how the author has “hidden” them.
Speaking of the author, Michael Witwer has an established history of researching and writing Dungeons & Dragons-related books, including Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana, Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons, and Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt Visual Dictionary.
While Empire of the Imagination is a biography written in the style of a fiction novel, Vivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake is his first purely fiction book, as well as being his debut middle-grade fiction novel.
Yet it doesn’t read like a debut fiction novel. One of my benchmarks for scoring it highly is that even though I have spoken with the author on several occasions and we have a friendly social media connection, I forgot at many points I “know” the author and just enjoyed Vivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake on its own merits. When I’m dealing with something created by someone I know, that’s often not the case and I instead filter it through my knowledge of the creator.
So take it from me: do yourself a favor… buckle on your sword, grab a flashlight, don’t forget your lovingly worn copy of the B&B Book of Beasts, and start exploring Midnight Lake.
Just keep a sharp lookout for hungry vulturebears, nasty leer spheres, and ferocious canimen!
