Milo leads a lonely childhood marked by the absence of his mother, aboutwhom he knows next to nothing. His father has gone to work in the city, leavinghim in the care of his three elderly aunts, who give him his freedom to distracthimself by the lake where he lives. In this lake, Milo discovers a fish egg ofunusual size, and when it hatches, a magnificent golden fish is born. Milo isonly half surprised when strange creatures, including a toad man, becomeinterested in his secret discovery. He soon meets and frees a fiery younggirl named Valia, who was held prisoner by the toad man, and the two are forcedto flee, guided by the golden fish, to “the other side” of the lake. . . the flip side underneath, one of many parallel worlds that areconnected through the lakes, rivers, and oceans. In this parallel universe, anevil wizard wields power, driven by blind vengeance, with the toad mandoes his bidding. Milo finds himself the subject offascination, fear, and excitement by the elf-like population, who aren’tsure what to do with him, until he sets out on an adventure to protect them fromthe evil wizard. Along the way, he finally encounters his mother, who turnsout to be a sorceress from this world, and the polar opposite power of the evilwizard. He’s the lost scion of a new generation and wizards, and he neverknew it (even though his three aunts and the golden fish did). Milo is the keyin this battle; if the wizard manages to capture him, there will be no moreopponents in the world on this side of the lake, meaning he could extend hisdomination and carry it even further, leading the conquest of the multipleparallel universes . . . A beautifully illustrated,family-friendly, magical adventure in the vein of Amulet and The Wizard ofOz. The first of three self-contained story volumes.