Coop Cooperson is the only human kid at the Dungeoneer Academy, a school for the future explorers of the Land of Eem, a place full of monsters, mazes, danger. Together he and his teammates (Oggie the bugbear, Daz, a boggart, and Mindy, an imp), are having their survival skills and understanding of the Dungeoneer's Code tested in a treacherous obstacle course--but many more challenges lie ahead, and so far Coop is failing miserably (as everyone points out), just like a previous human student, Dorian Ryder.