Amos Daragon #1 by Bryan Perro

My name is Amos, and I am a mask wearer. I didn't even know what that meant until recently. A dying mermaid gave me her trident and told me to give this small stone to  a queen of the fairies. I helped my parents flee the control of a cruel king only to find ourselves in the kingdom of another. I guess I'm a pretty clever boy, but Yaune the Purifier didn't appreciate being tricked out of executing Beorf, the humanimal. Most of the humanimals had been slaughtered, but I admired Beorf's ability to become a bear and accepted him as friend. Karmakas, and his army of gorgons, has now taken over the castle, and he's trying to find a pendant stolen by Yaune. He will use the pendant to destroy all humans. I don't know what a boy and a humanimal can do, but Beorf and I are willing to forfeit our lives to stop him.

I seem to be finding some hidden gems recently. Another young savior is nothing new, but I found Amos's honor, loyalty, and cunningness very admirable and entertaining. He managed to trick two kings without being killed, and he was willing to give up his life to save Beorf. The plot contains a good amount of action and adventure, as Amos traveled to different villages and faced dangerous enemies. The gorgons easily turned all of the soldiers to stone, so how was one boy supposed to stop them? Beorf's character was admirable too, as he joined Amos in his quest. Humanimals had no reason to trust humans, but Beorf was willing to put his faith in Amos. He understood Amos's strength was his ability to think and resolve problems without fighting. He knew Amos had a good heart. This book is the first in a series, but I haven't been able to figure out how many are in it. Everything I've seen on Goodreads has been written in French, and I haven't found more than the first two books in the Central Ohio library system.