I saw Petrik Leo's glowing review for this book that argued that it was one of the best cozy fantasies since Legends & Lattes. As someone who wasn't a huge fan of L&L, I was really looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, as I got further and further into the book, I found myself getting more and more disappointed, hoping for some sort of late reversal that never arrives. For a cozy fantasy, this book is trying to do a lot. The main character is joined by a cast of side characters, though her journey is linked more to a side character's quest than her own. Initially, I thought this book was going to focus a lot on the concept of determinism and the way fortunes can feel deterministic. Indeed, there is a part of the backstory linked to this theme which is why the protagonist only tells small fortunes instead of big ones, and there is even a troll who bemoans life as being too deterministic. Unfortunately, these moments are not given enough focus. Instead, the book also tries to focus on the feelings of being an immigrant, tries to include some more fantasy adventures, has portions of cozy fantasy staples such as baking, and even tries to build up some sort of geopolitical conflict. There is simply not enough of a pagecount to do justice to all of these elements, and so the book ends up underbaked in almost all of the aspects. The worldbuilding and geopolitical conflict is incredibly barebones and the resolution to it is almost laughable. I actually liked the fantasy adventures, but they don't make up a large portion of the book. The bakery stuff just feels cliched now with how many books in the genre now focus on it, and I do not understand why authors feel the need to include some sort of item from our world as a large invention in these stories, almost as if it is like an eye-winking twist or reveal. This book does it and has a whole arc surrounding it that felt very anachronistic and made me roll my eyes. Since the main quest isn't actually linked to our main character, we don't get a ton of character depth or growth for her, and I really wish the author tried to tie in a lot of different elements into that aforementioned theme of determinism. The side characters are mostly surface level, and they are given arcs for character growth that felt more like the author going through a checklist. The book is trying to do so much that it just can't give them enough attention. The side character whose quest drives this story ends up again having a resolution that feels too simplistic, undercutting some real potential.

I am sorry to rant so much for this book. I think the concept is fantastic, but by the end, I felt like I had not gotten much out of this book. Cozy fantasy is never going to be able to match the plot or worldbuilding of epic fantasy, so it really needs to land loveable characters with depth, strong atmosphere, and interesting themes. I do not think this book achieves those goals, though if the author  had just focused in on one or two elements, I think she could have. The determinism angle is honestly something that could have been so insightful while also linking into the character arc really well. And to be clear, it is certainly something touched upon both in terms of backstory and in the character's growth, but other elements distract too much from it. It really should have been constantly reinforced throughout.