It is about a widowed Victorian era professor, Algernon Aisling, his two daughters, Miranda and Cassandra, and their adventure on a ship called the Basset.

A number of mythical creatures join the crew and meet others, including a unicorn and trolls and visit a Wonderfull College of Magical Knowledge.

Aisling still wishes to prove the existence of mythical creatueres to Bilegewallow, and to this end, gets in trouble with trolls after he steals the skull of a dragon.

Concerned by one painting which she regarded as suggestive, a resident of Bountiful, Utah, finding demanded that the book be removed from circulation from the young adult section of the Davis County Library in nearby Farmington.

The other books are The Raven Queen by Ellen Steiber and Terri Windling (October 1999), Journey To Otherwhere by Sherwood Smith (August 2000), Thor's Hammer by Will Shetterly (December 2000), and Fire Bird by Mary Frances Zambreno (June 2001).