The Labyrinth of Doom: Once Upon a Tim, Book 2

Stereotype-busting is big in the Once Upon a Tim series, where the protagonists have escaped their extremely limited peasant origins to become knights in training. Belinda, Tim's best friend, appears to be Black and seems to have decided early on not to settle for the life she's expected to follow, and is now the most skilled of the knights in training. Of course she has to pretend to be a boy, but still. Meanwhile, their pal Ferkle continues to follow the profession of Village Idiot, as it's been the family business for generations -- but once again proves to be brilliant. The friends are astonished when the monstrous Minotaur who inhabits the labyrinth proves to be not a cruel beast with the body of a man and the head of a bull, but a charming fellow named Chad, with the head of a man and the body of a bull, and a whole family of half-human, half-some-animal relatives, adopted and otherwise.

Lots of swordplay, bashing with clubs, and fighting with weapons, all of it lively and cartoonish. A knight has lost a lot of body parts over the years and sports a tin nose, among other things. Magic gone awry is common, as a witch's spell has turned Tim's faithful dog into a frog. Perils include poisoned apples, a squad of enchanted harps, and some seriously mean squirrels. Both heroes and villains in turn find themselves trapped in the Labyrinth of Doom, which has quite a long list of perils from monsters to pits, Cave Shark to Giant Scissors of Doom. "Disembowel" is one of the vocabulary-boosting words, "and the fact that we even have a word for it tells you that it was a disturbingly common occurrence back in my day."

Occasional references to screwing up. And dragon poop.