“The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst
Main Index / Reviews Index / Fiction Reviews Index / 2024 Reviews Index
Rating: 4/5 Stars
An interesting addition to the ‘cosy fantasy’ category where the stakes are not very high (but high enough for the protagonists), with a dose of romance. It helps that the main character is a librarian who gets to show off her librarian indexing skills.
At the start of the story, she is happy taking care of her corner of the Empire’s library full of spell books with the help of a magical sentient plant. But it all comes crashing down when a revolution gets out of hand and the library is put to the torch. Saving whatever spell books they can, the duo escape in a boat before heading to the only place she can think of: her childhood home on an outer island.
Before she has a chance to settle in her old home, her nosy (and rather handsome) neighbour intrudes, to try to help renovate the place. Now lacking an income, she decides to start selling jam, with the help of her mother’s old recipe book that she discovers. But finding fruits to make jam is hard on the island, especially since the Empire’s sorcerers have stopped visiting the outer islands, casting spells to help make living easier. She decides to use the spell books she saved to help her grow the required fruits, as well as revive the plants on the island. This has to be done surreptitiously, as using magic is forbidden, except by approved people, which she isn’t.
As first, it goes well, as her jams are a hit with the island folk, who she starts to get to know, including her nosy, handsome neighbour. But then an outsider intrudes, claiming to be an Inspector, out investigating the improper use of magic. And now she has to somehow hide that fact that she used magic for her jams. But the Inspector would turn out to be the least of her problems when other visitors appears, and this one may use military force to bring back what they believe is hidden on the island.
In this book, magic takes place in the form of incantations in a language with the proper ingredients. So anybody could do it, if they knew what they were doing. And at first, the librarian has to experiment to get things right, as the writers of the book may sometimes be vague about how a spell actually works; and that is assuming the handwriting can be correctly read. The island itself is full of magical creatures that the librarian gets to know when they sense her using magic and come to her for magical aid.
The tone of the book is light-hearted and full of humour. Even the ‘bad guys’ in the story turn out not to be so bad after all, and she learns to deal with them, with the help of the islanders who are mostly friendly and willing to help out one another. For life on the island is already hard enough, so having helpful neighbours is a good thing. And in the end, the librarian gets to come out and help the islanders with her use of magic to make their lives easier.
Book read from 2024/09/01 to 2024/09/04