Book Review: “A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking” by T. Kingfisher

“A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking” by T. Kingfisher (2020)

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Fiction

Page Length: 308 paperback (paperback edition)

Synopsis:

Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance.

But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…

Review:

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking is the book if you enjoy:

• Baked goods
• Feisty gingerbread men that are excellent dancers
• Magic
• An underdog story

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book when I first decided to pick up this TBR read, but it definitely didn’t disappoint me. Following the story of Mona, who is a wizard with notable and magical baking skills her life is turned upside down when a murder occurs at her Aunt’s bakery. Scared but determined she sets out to figure out who is trying to eliminate the people with magical talents in her town.

This novel reads equally like YA Fantasy fiction and a cozy mystery. It’s action-packed, filled with fun fantasy elements, lots of tongue-in-cheek humor, and characters that you can root for. The story is told through Mona’s eyes as she tries to unravel the mystery as well as keep a low profile to keep her loved ones safe.

She’s very vulnerable about the daunting task faced before her and candid about how overwhelmed she is that child must do the work of the adult. And throughout the course of the story, we get to see how this weighs on her mind but it also pushes her forward from her narrow-minded thinking surrounding her magical baking skills. She is such a fun protagonist and her quick banter made me laugh out loud many times during the book.

The novel is immersive and allows the reader to get immersed in the story. It’s a world full of wizards of varying skills, an historical setting, and all the coziness a fresh baked good brings. My favorite character (aside from Mona) would have to be her cheeky gingerbread sidekick. I never knew a gingerbread man could be so entertaining and have so much personality.

This was a delightful fantasy novel and I highly recommend it!

Final Verdict: