"Why are we going down there, anyway; some mystery to uncover, treasure to find? Why are we here?"Far across the Western Ocean on a mist-shrouded island guarded by giant sea monsters, heroes come to explore the mysterious dungeons that lie below the surface. None have yet to reach the bottom and return to tell the tale. Each party gathers d

"What begins as a twisty fantasy adventure ends as a call to action." — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, Starred Review

"Utterly surprising in its construction and philosophical scope." — BOOKLIST, Starred Review

"Complex, challenging, and ultimately rewarding." — KIRKUS

“Why are we going down there, anyway; some mystery to uncover, treasure to find? Why are we here?”

Far across the Western Ocean on a mist-shrouded island guarded by giant sea monsters, heroes come to explore the mysterious dungeons that lie below the surface. None have yet to reach the bottom and return to tell the tale. Each party gathers daily for a new round of potion-making, sword-sharpening, armor-buying, and dungeon-crawling, and after hours of leveling up in dangerous battles with monstrous creatures from the depths, they rest and try again the next day when everything repeats. That is, until one adventurer stops to ask why. Is it endlessly exciting, or simply endless?

In a witty, genre-defying tale of magic, mystery, and philosophy, brave warriors must learn the difference between diversion and escape as they try to break the cycle of a penultimate quest in which the final fantasy never arrives.