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

Title: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
Author: T. Kingfisher
Series: Stand alone
Genre: MiddleGrade/Fantasy
Publisher: Red Wombat Studio
Publication Date: July 21, 2020
Edition: 320 pages, Kindle Edition
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Powell's | Thriftbooks

 

 

 

 

 

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...

 

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   When I first borrowed this book from the library I thought it was one of her Novella's. When I realized it wasn't I had to return it because I was already reading a few long books and didn't want to add another to that list, in part because I had more than one out from the library already.

 

   This was a really cute story. It's more Middle-grade than I thought it was going to be, even with some of the darker elements. Mona acted "younger" than I expected her to. But I think that's more a failing in other YA/Middle-grade books where the young MC acts a lot older than their age. But in this Mona behaved and reacted to things the way a 14 year old who had a relatively normal life should.

   The magic in this book was nicely woven in. I like her magic power, as somebody who enjoys baking I'd like to have that power. I also like that it's not explained why some people have magic and some don't, even if they're in the same family. How magic works is only briefly explained, so don't expect details. This is a kids book after all.

 

 The plot is pretty straight forward, there are a couple of lulls in the pacing. But overall, it's a fairly fast paced book. Some of the antagonists are a little underdeveloped in my opinion and the very ending felt rushed. 

 

I would like to read more books set in this world, and I think there are two more, but they aren't listed being part of a series so I'm not sure.