Reviews with content warning for Blood - A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

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A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

22 reviews

flaminggecko's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bookcheshirecat's review

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emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

4.0

“But I shouldn’t have had to do any of it. There should have been so many grown-ups who should have fixed things before it got down to me and Spindle. It doesn’t make you a hero just because everybody else didn’t do their job.”

➽ A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking caught my eye because of the hilarious premise! The story follows 14-year-old Mona who works in her aunt's bakery. She's a magician ... but can only work with bread, which is useful in a bakery, but not anywhere else. The fact that she can animate dough and her familiar is a Sourdough starter had me so intrigued! I loved Mona, her humor was hilarious and her character voice really came through when she was narrating the story. It was interesting seeing her relationship to her magic and the comfort she found in it, despite it not being 'flashy'.

➽ Generally, she felt very grounded as a character and I appreciate that she actually sounded like a young teen! Mona is forced to be brave because a murder happens in her aunt's bakery and wizards around her city keep disappearing. She has caught the eye of dangerous people and has no choice but to go against them, despite not being a fighter. Still, she wishes that the adults would solve her problems and look out for her when she needs to. Mona has complicated feelings towards the adults who were supposed to protect her but failed because they are only human as well. It was easy to connect to her, as she feels so genuine and gets thrust into a position she doesn't want!

➽ I loved the themes of this story and how it combined cozy with darker elements. The bakery and Mona's bread magic have a cozy feel to them. She's often funny and her banter with her new friend Spindle was nice to watch. At the same time, Mona's paranoid as magicians like her are being targeted and she's the one who's supposed to save them. I loved the discussion of what it means to be a hero and if it's fair to expect people to fill the role. In general, the magic system was very intriguing. Most magicians have small, specific talents like Mona's ability to work with dough. I loved that the powerful magical talents you usually imagine are rare. I loved the unique magical talents we got to see!

➽ The biggest weakness of the book is the plot and slow pacing! I was considering lowering my rating because of how disappointing the plot was, but fortunately, I'm more of a character-focused reader. I felt like the story didn't know what it wanted to be. It was a murder mystery at first and I loved that, so I wish we'd stuck with the original premise. The second half of the book turned into a political intrigue/war story and while it had interesting themes, it was underdeveloped and didn't connect to the beginning. I also struggled to understand the antagonists' motives, I still don't get them even after finishing this book. They didn't have much personality, so I wasn't impressed. Some plot points in the second half felt a bit too easy.

Such as Spindle and Mona infiltrating the palace and convincing the Duchess that something is amiss in the city. It was too easy to convince her, given that they hadn't met her before and she had every right to be suspicious. Sadly, she barely had any personality and the scenes in the palace lacked any excitement for me.

“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.”

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maryellen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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philososquid's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

What a joyful concept -- a young wizard who can enchant bread, cookies, and all sorts of baked goods. The concept was just so sweet and magical.

However, I felt disappointed with the plot. I thought this was going to be a murder mystery, and it turned out differently. Which wouldn't matter so much, if the plot was done well. But I felt it was lacking. I don't feel the story deserved the ending battle, nor did some of the characters.

Most of all, I felt the author did a lot of telling, instead of showing. The main character explicitly stated a lot of her thoughts -- instead of the author showing the reader how she felt in different situations. Overall, I wasn't able to envision the events in this book so well. When an author is able to show, not tell, I can always envision the story better.

Overall, there are some loveable characters and a cool idea. A great ending battle, even if it felt a little undeserved.

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macliffe's review

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Such a charming book! I loved every minute reading it. Just go in knowing it reads much more like middle grade than YA. I think even young children would enjoy it, as well as adults who want a cozy fantasy.

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