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A review by theresidentbookworm
A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J. Penner
2.0
Book club books are often give and take. In my book club, what that means is about two of us love the book and two of us are not as into it. This happens because all of us, while deeply bookish people and dedicated readers, have vastly different tastes. I like romance and contemporary fiction, Nadine loves mystery/thrillers, Marwah likes fantasy and historical fiction, and Sarah is our resident fantasy girlie. Since it was Sarah's pick this month, I knew I would end up reading a fantasy. What I didn't know was how much I wouldn't like this one.
A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic falls under the "cozy fantasy" subgenre. What that means is that there is low tension and absolutely no stakes. For some, that's fantastic. Sarah and Marwah were really into that. But for me, it made this book absolutely drag even though it's only 300 pages. I kept waiting for something to happen or matter. I longed for consequences, tension. I hate to say it, but it made me long for the days we read Shadow and Bones, a series I hated but in which at least things happen. Sarah described it as a Great British Bake Off AU, and honestly, she's not wrong. It reads like fanfiction. It hits all the tropes: fated mates, found family, one bed... I like tropes, but I don't need all of them at once.
Our main character Arleta drove me crazy. I kept writing, "Girl, c'mon..." in my notes on my Kindle. I do understand she's a protagonist with low self-esteem/worth and probably an anxiety disorder, but she had such blinders on when it came to Theo being for her it made me crazy. The side characters, particularly her orc dads, are great, but Arleta is a little underdeveloped for me. The writing choices here lean so much into the cozy fantasy element of it all that tension, when presented, is almost immediately eliminated. We're never allowed to worry about anything for more than a page or two before it's resolved, and as a reader I found that a little annoying.
Fantasy is never my genre, and cozy fantasy is definitely not for me. I will read another book in this series if it's picked again for book club, but otherwise I'm out. Also, while I did not enjoy this book, I did give it two stars instead of one because a) book club discussion made me like it a smidge more and b) Sarah made the lemon bars with cardamom from the recipe at the back of the book, and they were excellent.
A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic falls under the "cozy fantasy" subgenre. What that means is that there is low tension and absolutely no stakes. For some, that's fantastic. Sarah and Marwah were really into that. But for me, it made this book absolutely drag even though it's only 300 pages. I kept waiting for something to happen or matter. I longed for consequences, tension. I hate to say it, but it made me long for the days we read Shadow and Bones, a series I hated but in which at least things happen. Sarah described it as a Great British Bake Off AU, and honestly, she's not wrong. It reads like fanfiction. It hits all the tropes: fated mates, found family, one bed... I like tropes, but I don't need all of them at once.
Our main character Arleta drove me crazy. I kept writing, "Girl, c'mon..." in my notes on my Kindle. I do understand she's a protagonist with low self-esteem/worth and probably an anxiety disorder, but she had such blinders on when it came to Theo being for her it made me crazy. The side characters, particularly her orc dads, are great, but Arleta is a little underdeveloped for me. The writing choices here lean so much into the cozy fantasy element of it all that tension, when presented, is almost immediately eliminated. We're never allowed to worry about anything for more than a page or two before it's resolved, and as a reader I found that a little annoying.
Fantasy is never my genre, and cozy fantasy is definitely not for me. I will read another book in this series if it's picked again for book club, but otherwise I'm out. Also, while I did not enjoy this book, I did give it two stars instead of one because a) book club discussion made me like it a smidge more and b) Sarah made the lemon bars with cardamom from the recipe at the back of the book, and they were excellent.