Apparently a girl walking through the Elbow was unusual, but a girl with a madwoman riding a dead horse was perfectly acceptable. There was probably a moral lesson in there somewhere, but I had given up on moral lessons for today.” But I did love that at fourteen, Mona is still basically a kid, with young (and snarky) voice and zero contamination with romance that seems to plague so many books aimed at the youngsters. We have our kids grow up too fast in stories, and although Mona does a fair bit of this given the responsibilities thrust upon her, I love that in the end she’s still a kid at heart. It all starts when Mona discovers a dead body in their bakery. Mona is a wizard that works with bread. Yep, bread. That's it - just bread. And although this is considered minor magic, she still gets accused of the murder solely because she is a wizard. It doesn't take long before she learns there is a growing threat that magicas like her are facing in the city-state and while most magical individuals leave (or are killed), Mona soon finds herself in the unenviable position of having to stand-up and fight against the enemy. Fortunately, the proof is in the baking, and the baking, indeed, was really good. YA, light magical effects (at first), and a real love of baking and making her gingerbread men. So far, so good, but with the evil wizard hunting down ALL the mages, no matter how quirky, it becomes a matter of survival. Ironically I am publishing this in the midst of COVID-19, when we all started making sourdough at home and then started protesting police brutality. Suddenly a twelve year old book was actually relevant. Go figure.”

Why would a grouchy old fuffertut like me buy a (Kindlesale, to be fair) copy of a library book he's already read? Because he plans to re-read it. Yep...I want to have it so that I won't need to fuss my drawers procuring it when I am most in need of a laughing, weeping, cheering-my-fool-lungs-out read that doesn't have the effrontery to wink at me or let me know it's clever-clever. Story gets told, ideas get presented, world gets saved, and just keep the sourdough starter firmly in place or it'll get weird ideas. Such a delightful book! There’s not a whole lot to say about the book itself. It seemed to end with about a quarter of the book yet to come and then something happened. I would say though, that 2nd ending was definitely worth it. I loved the MC Mona and and her bread making abilities, Spindle and his thieving abilities. Aunt Tabitha and her bakery. Let’s just say there are great characters, awesome creatures and stuff, so read it 😉Then one morning she finds a dead body downstairs. Before the end of the day she’s been hauled before a tribunal for murder and becomes the target of a campaign against magic-users. Before the end of the month she finds herself the Head Wizard of Riverbraid, responsible for defending the town against an invading army. The obvious is the whole 14-year-old saves the city thing that makes it YA. Mona is young. She’s still, to some extent, figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up, although her magic has driven her further down that path than most. But she’s also at an age where she’s unsure of herself and her future in so many different ways. She sees herself as young, and small, and weak. She sees her magic as not powerful at all or even all that useful. It’s handy in her aunt’s bakery, where she works, but it’s not otherwise big or showy. And neither, honestly, is she. Well... I have this... thing". Saying I have a homicidal sourdough starter sounded much too bizarre.”

Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): not all YA stories are created equal. Most Some are crappy as fish, while a few others are bloody shrimping NOT. And that, my Little Barnacles, is a scientifically proven fact. Mona is a very reluctant hero, wanting “to make really good sourdough and muffins and not get messed up with assassins and politics” — and she would much rather not have to do anything heroic because really, that’s something required of adults. Kids should not be saving the world and fixing mistakes of careless adults, and yet sometimes life does not care what you think, and adults make stupid choices and let you down — even if you are young and careful and try your best to be sensible and follow the rules. Sometimes you have to rise up to a challenge when those in charge have failed in their responsibilities, and hope that you are not alone. You expect heroes to survive terrible things. If you give them a medal, then you don't ever have to ask why the terrible thing happened in the first place. Or try to fix it.” You expect heroes to survive terrible things. If you give them a medal, then you don’t ever have to ask why the terrible thing happened in the first place. Or try to fix it.

except that if things go wrong in a siege you’ll all die horribly, and in formal weddings, the stakes are much higher.” If you have ever prepared for a siege in two days, then you know what the next few days were like. If you haven't, then you probably don't. Well...a big formal wedding is about the same (and because we do cakes, I've been on the periphery of a few), except that if things go wrong in a siege you'll all die horribly, and in formal weddings, the stakes are much higher.” See what I mean? Such utter disrespect for my brave little ferocious warriors is quite unacceptable, if you ask me. Where the fish is PETA when you need them, anyway? When you're different, even just a little different, even in a way that people can't see, you like to know that people in power won't judge you for it.

A dead body is an awful thing to find on the floor of a bakery, especially when you’re a fourteen-year-old baker’s assistant with just a minor talent in magic, enough to make gingerbread men dance and biscuit dough turn fluffy on command. It’s worse when the city inquisitor decides to accuse you of the murder, for no particularly good reason. It’s even worse when you realize that there’s a mysterious assassin on the loose, targeting people who have magical powers, no matter how insignificant. Oh, there are skeletal zombie horses that double as magpie nests, too (pretty cool, that). And inquisitors who look like constipated vultures (scary, that). And red stuff that isn’t necessarily raspberry filling (a shame, that). Death by sourdough starter. Not a good way to go.”Disclaimer: I don’t bake (unless burning something to a crisp can be considered baking), and apparently neither does T. Kingfisher — but she “bought a Kitchenaid mixer and began grimly following recipes” for the research purpose — and that’s some respectable admiration-worthy dedication. All to write a kids book about a young wizard who can magic bread — featuring carnivorous sourdough starter and feisty militarized gingerbread man cookie. but hey, once a baker, always a baker. If I was going to get thrown in the dungeon, at least I was going to leave a trail of quality pastries behind me.”Pure unadulterated fun seemingly aimed at middle school aged children who like some darkness in their reading or adults who still enjoy some magic in their lives. Currently in Riverb If this sounds like the plot of every other YA fantasy novel, it isn’t. Firstly, the way Mona uses her supposedly small gift to protect herself and her allies is both unique and unnerving; the author’s experience writing horror stories really shows through, as does her attention to detail. Anyone who owns a sourdough starter knows how uncanny it can be to hear this faceless living mass bubbling in a jar. Now imagine if it could ooze around on its own, and eat other things the way it eats flour and water, like your enemy’s face, for example. This creature exists in the novel as Mona’s familiar. She calls it Bob. The second challenge--perhaps like much in baking--was one of scale. Had Kingfisher been content to keep it a smaller story like in Minor Mage, it would have worked better for me. But I found myself puzzled, supremely, by dual ideas (spoilery) of a large enough city that children can escape multiple guards on a canal and through smugglers' pathways, but that same young baker can make seven golems and twenty gingerbread men can hold off an advancing army in a way that a populace can't. Like, how effing incompetent is this city and the advancing army?