A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

Delightful! Loved the narrative voice and the magical world and the stakes. I cracked up laughing out loud a fair number of times, and became quite attached to the characters (especially the little gingerbread man). And it really goes to show that every book has its right time and place: Kingfisher’s had this idea bouncing around since 2007, and it finally got published during COVID, when everyone was baking sourdough. What a great moment.

What a lovely read, had me laughing out loud and on the verge of tears, but good tears. I love Mona, and Aunt Tabitha, and the gentle uncle, and Spindle, and Knackering Molly, and the gingerbread man, and Bob, and Joshua, and well, everyone but the Bad Guys who shall go unnamed because spoilers.

Much excitement! Usually I'm not a fan of series, but in this case I would have welcomed a sequel or two, and Bob could have a spin-off! Also, very big plus was that there was NO obsessive YA romance, thank the gods.

Anyway, would recommend, will reread, I'm off to read every single thing ever written by T. Kingfisher because my goodness.

One of the genre of story where Our Heroine, formerly going about her day like a regular 14-year-old, finds herself embroiled in murder, treason, and siege warfare, and we get to watch how she (with the 10-year-old street urchin sidekick she acquires) manages to pull through the odds stacked against her. How she pulls through in this case is by making sourdough and baking a tremendous amount of (magic-infused) bread. In parts this is delightfully absurd. Other parts are faintly horrific, or downright heartwrenching. An easy and deeply satisfying read.

I USED MY LIBRARY TO PROCURE THIS BOOK...THEN I WENT OUT AND BOUGHT ONE. A YA NOVEL ABOUT A TEEN. AND IT ***just*** WON A LOCUS AWARD!!

My Review: First, read this:

Nobody said anything to me, and they didn’t exactly stare, but they knew I was there, and I knew that they knew, and they knew that I knew that they knew, all in a creepy, crackling tangle of mutual awareness.
–and–
“You didn’t fail,” I said. “They wouldn’t let you succeed. It’s different.”
–and–
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.

What I'd like you to know is that I cherry-picked those lines for their content, not their felicity of show more construction or their stand-out euphony. That should give you an idea of the quality of Author Ursula Vernon's (pseudonymously known as Kingfisher) prose overall.

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.

Simple enough, surely. show less

This is well nigh perfect! Mona is a 14 yr old baker, working at her aunt Tabitha's bakery. Mona's quite a good baker, partly because she's got a magic ability to control bread and other baked goods. This presents itself in a couple of ways, Bob the sourdough starter and the dancing Gingerbread man are just two. The book starts with Mona discovering a dead body (that's not a spoiler, it is literally line 1) and so her problems start - being a suspect of murder, then a prospective victim, then having the weight of the world on her shoulders before finally being forced into the role of hero - it's a lot for a 14 year old to take on board.
I loved so much about this. It's snigger-inducingly funny at times, the asides to the reader being show more full of teenage sass. Mona herself is a star. narrated in the first person, you get to hear what's going on in her head, and it is exactly as mixed up, self doubting, assertive, scared, dependent, wistful, angry, independent and generally teen-age as I remember being at that age - and why I'd not wish myself back there for anything! The inventiveness of the magic ability being limited to a specific thing or task was just superb. Mona can magic bread, she meets someone who can magic water. Then there is Knackering Molly who's magic is most esoteric, she can cause a dead horse to raise itself and walk to the knackers yard - for six pence. Just how random and inventive is that! And feels far more real than being able to magic everything - we all have certain skills, why should that not also exist in the magical world?
Then there is the supporting cast. Mona has a sidekick in Spindle, who is a street urchin who gets her into and out of all sorts of scrapes. He is classic little brother type and you both want to hug him and cuff him around the ear all at once. The Duchess, who rules - well sort of - and hasn't known what has been going on in her city. There's an array of people here, and while some of them a a bit cookie-cutter, there are enough characters that feel real for this to work.
When it comes the denouement is horribly tense and you feel the weight of expectation on Mona as she feels obliged to do what she can. It is not above piling on the emotional pressure either.
I also like the slightly subversive element of Mona stepping up to the plate while feeling that it really shouldn't have been her that was put in this situation and that someone should have done something long before it fell to her to save the day. the chat with Uncle Albert about being a hero was particularly stark.
Possibly it's reaction against my previous dire read, but this was fan-bloody-tastic and I will be rushing a copy in the hands of every tweenie I know. show less

Excellent book. It was very funny and touching and I like how it felt real. Like, the children are children, not weird adults in small bodies and the adults are adults, with their faults and their worries and their virtues.
Loved Mona, that girl is a mood for sure, and I loved Spindle and the gingerbread man, and, oh my, I swear Bob is my hero. I see myself rereading this one.
I haven't found one book I didn't like from this author and this one was another hit, I hope to read more from her soon.

The last thing Mona expected when she went to the bakery to open that morning was a dead body. But then she's accused of the murder herself, and she decides to get to the bottom of things, uncovering a much more involved plot. What can she do as only a 14-year-old, a magic wielder but one who can only work with baked goods and has a carnivorous sourdough starter and odd gingerbread man as familiars?

This fantasy, though often dark, had me laughing out loud and reminded me a bit of Diana Wynne Jones. Mona was great, and I loved her creativity and discovering what she could do with her magic. She doesn't want to be a hero, and in fact criticizes the adults for not stepping up, but she does what she needs to do for herself, her family, and show more her city. show less