Dreadful

 Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis, 347 pages. 

It's hard to imagine a much worse way to wake up than recently exploded, with no memory, in a dark wizard's lair. And yet Gav's day gets worse, because it turns out he himself is the dark wizard, and he has a whole lot of enemies who would LOVE to hear that he was vulnerable. The Dread Lord Gavrax had a whole lot of (inadvisable and evil) plates spinning, and now he has a kidnapped princess to manage, a garlic festival to oversee, a whole mess of goblins, and an evil wizard conspiracy he absolutely DOES NOT remember. In the mess of all of this he will have to understand if keeping Gavrax's life running is even a goal worth pursuing, or if Gav might be able to forge a new path that is all his own.

This book is extremely funny. T. Kingfisher is listed as a readalike, but I would also propose John Scalzi. The situations are absurd, and the characters are delightful. This is not a book that takes itself too seriously; however, it is a book that takes itself seriously enough to give it moments of startling sincerity and insight. Although this is a funny novel about characters that should be caricatures, this very point about perception and self is a major theme. This is a surprisingly serious meditation on correcting harm and building identity wrapped in a a silly package, and I would definitely recommend it to others.