When Brian and Gregory receive an invitation to stay at a distant relative's strange manse . . . well, they should know better than to go, since this is a middle-grade adventure novel. But they go anyway. Why not? Once there, they stumble upon The Game of Sunken Places, a board game that mirrors a greater game in which they have suddenly become players. Soon the boys are dealing with attitudinal trolls, warring kingdoms, and some very starchy britches. Luckily, they have wit, deadpan observation, and a keen sense of adventure on their side.

From bestselling and National Book Award-winning author M.T. Anderson, a return to the world of THE GAME OF SUNKEN PLACES Something very strange is happening in Vermont. It's not The Game of Sunken Places - Brian and Gregory have been through that before, and there's not supposed to be another Game until they say there's a Game. But still . . . when they go to visit a relative in the Vermont woods, they find many things are . . . off. Like, people aren't where they're supposed to be. And houses are everywhere. In fact, the houses seem to be taking over.

Murder! Mystery! Rebellion! From bestselling and National Book Award-winning author M.T. Anderson, a third visit to the world of THE GAME OF SUNKEN PLACES. The land of New Norumbega is an unusual one—an empire of gut and bone, a kingdom of blood and mucus. At its dark, dry heart is a ruling class that doesn't care about much besides itself . . . and a ruler who is (literally) a one-eyed stump of flesh. Brian and Gregory have come to New Norumbega for a reason—to get the Norumbegans to help them thwart an alien attack back home on earth. But instead, the two boys find themselves caught up in both a robot rebellion and a murder mystery after one of the Norumbegan leaders is sent to sleep . . . permanently. In New Norumbega, it's very hard to know who to trust. There are assassins around every corner, and secrets pave every conversation. Brian and Gregory will be lucky to make it out alive, never sure if they are meant to catch the murderer . . . or be the killer's next victim.

From National Book Award and Printz Honor winner M.T. Anderson comes the amazing conclusion to his Norumbegan Quartet! Brian and Gregory have seen it all. They've played a strange, twisty game and won, and then created their own...sort of. They've gone to investigate intergalactic suburban sprawl that was infringing on the Vermont forests, and landed in the empire of New Norumbega inside the huge body of an alien. They've escaped certain death, walked right into it, and wreaked small amounts of havoc of their own. And finally, they're going to make sense of all their travels and adventures...if they possibly can! Part fantasy, part mystery, part quest, part Monty Python, the Game of Sunken Places #4 brings to a close the incredible, strange, funny journey of Brian and Gregory, as only the masterful M. T. Anderson could.