Bounded in a Nutshell

So I've been asked to review a paper for a journal. This is not, in and of itself, a first; in fact, it's the fifth such request of me in the past two years.

The journal making this request of me, however, enjoys a very good reputation in my field: if not one of the top two or three prestige-wise, then certainly in the top ten. Further, this is the first time that I know any of the authors (I know three, out of six); they, too, all enjoy very good reputations in the discipline.

I can't help but think of this as a catastrophic reversal of the natural order of things.