So, I've now completed my first book for the brand new year of 2025 and it was The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. This is one of those hyped up, flavour of the month books of 2024, so I was curious to see how it would go.
Kiela is one of many librarians who work in the massive library that is The Great Library of Alyssium. She's not a mixer or a joiner, and her job, where she also lives as well as works, gives her the opportunity to hide away from people and be solitary amongst the books. But revolution is in the air, The Emporer is unpopular and is about to be deposed. The city is burning and that includes the library. Kiela knows she has to leave but she can't allow the books to burn. Taking what she can rescue, her and Caz, her assistant who is actually a spider-plant, escape the city, by boat, carrying several crates of precious spell books.
Where is she to go? Well, home of course, to the island of Caltrey, the place her parents left many years ago in order to get a better life in the city for themselves and Kiela. She can barely remember it but recalls enough to know her way there by sea and to know that the family cottage should still be standing and waiting for her. And it is but it's a little dilapidated and the garden is overgrown.
Enter, Larran, naturally a hunk, who turns up with free food and help but Kiela, being a recluse and worried about the spell books to boot, is not exactly welcoming. She thinks she can go it alone and repel all boarders until it dawns on her she now has to feed herself and that requires an income. Can she use magic to facilitate that? It's illegal, but perhaps she can cover up the fact that she's using it...
So I think the correct subgenre for this would be cosy romantasy. If you want epic fantasy, conflict, angst, death, intricate world-building, this is probably not the book for you. Although there 'is' world-building. There is magic but ordinary people are not supposed to use it. I fancy it's a bit of an evil empire but it's not entirely clear. There's an amazing library apparently but we hear hardly anything about it
It's peopled by all kinds of individuals: Kiela is blue for instance, Caz is a spider plant. There are people with antlers, a healer who can fly, a centaur, mer-horses that Larran looks after and so on. Oh... and flying cats. So it's interesting all right, but all a little bit surface. I can't help feeling there is an amazing book here waiting to get out. 'More' would've been nice.
I liked the found family aspect of it, but then that's a favourite trope of mine. There is some conflict in the second half of the book, that did pep things up a bit. You might be thinking that I didn't like this book but that would be wrong. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads because it was gentle, with interesting characters, the island was gorgeous and, you know... 'raspberry jam'! If 3.5 was available that's what it would've got, Kiela needed a good talking to in my opinion, to the point of being annoying. The spider plant had the measure of her in my opinion! I should also add that there is no explicitness in this book so it's safe for anyone to read if that's not your bag.
I hope your first book of 2025 lives up to your expectations. Mine was 'not bad' so I'm happy. I've moved on to a historical novel now, book one of the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard.
I know a lot of people adore this series and already I can see why, beautiful writing and interesting people... I love the occasional narrating voices of the children in it. I think I might be in for a bit of a treat.
12 comments:
Hmm...sounds a bit of a mixed bag, Cath. On the one hand, it does sound like an interesting fantasy world (although I'd have loved to know more about that library). And I like the 'found family' aspect, too. On the other, I agree with you about a book perhaps just needing some depth, if that's the best word. Still, it does sound like a solid read in a lot of ways.
A 4* start to the year isn't bad, that's the same rating as I gave my first book too!
As you might have guessed 'The Spellshop' probably isn't going to make it to my reading list, simply because of its genre. However, am I allowed to be really boring and say that I absolutely love that cover art?
I feel sure that back in the day, I read one or two of EJH stand alone novels and I do believe that I might have one or two more stashed away on my shelves somewhere. Talking of cover art though - have you visited FF lately and seen what they have done to the cover art of EJH books. To me, they are classic books of the time in which they were written and the new modern covers are probably just not right or the style of writing! It would be interesting to know what you think when you have finished reading 'The Light Years' xx
Spellshop is one I do want to read, though it's good to know it leans more towards cozy than in-depth fantasy. I've started reading The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion and am really enjoying it. These books are unexpectedly humorous and fun. :D
Is the Spellshop meant to be the beginning of a series? Sounds like it. I think you will be much more excited about the Cazalet Chronicles! I remember loving the first two and then maybe there was a wait for the rest of the series or my library didn't have them - I think I got distracted and did not finish, which was a mistake. I might have to go back and finish, keep you company!
Interesting fact about Howard which I only learned a few years ago is that she was married to Robert Falcon Scott's son, then left him to have affairs with more glamorous people.
The Spellshop would not be my preferred type of fantasy, but it sounds like it has many good points. And the cover is gorgeous.
I would be happy if I got back to the Farseer Trilogy that you introduced me to. It is the nearly 700 pages for book 2 that stops me but I do hope to do it this year.
I read The Light Years a few years ago, and then read the second book, Making Time. I enjoyed both of them, although there were some elements I was uncomfortable with. I have all the books in the series and I should read book 3 sometime soon.
The Spellshop sounds interesting because a cozy fantasy book is what I would prefer rather than epic fantasy. It sounds more character driven with a down to earth plot so I will be putting it on my TBR list.
Margot: Overall, it was not a bad first read for 2025, I've had worse but also I've had better. I remember reading Northern Lights in 2022, my first Nora Roberts book, not expecting much, but it turned out to be an excellent first read for that year. Books can surprise you. I thought The Spellshop would've benefitted from a bit more depth and yes, more about the library.
Yvonne: You're absolutely right, a four star read is a good start to a new year. The cover is certainly very nice too and spot-on for the plot.
I didn't know what they'd done to the EJH Cazalet covers so I went to FF to check them out. I don't care for those at all. I will say this though, I thought the Cazalet series was written in the 1930s because they're set then, well the first ones are. But no, when I checked, I saw that they were first published in the 1980s and 90s. That really surprised me as the writing feels very mid-20th. century, not late. Very odd. I will certainly do a review of The Light Years when I've finished, but I will take my time reading it as I think it's worth savouring.
Lark: Yes, The Spellshop is very definitely on the cosy end of the fantasy genre, on the same wavelength as Legends and Lattes which, for my money, has the edge on The Spellshop. But YMMV, as they say. :-) I've looked for the book you're reading on Amazon and can't see it, I'm assuming it's not out in the UK yet.
Constance: Well, I did wonder whether The Spellshop is the beginning of a series but there's no mention of it being so anywhere. It does stand alone but I had one big question at the end - what happened to the library? No one said. It doesn't look like I'm going to find out though.
Oh yes, I'm a lot more excited by The Cazalet books. I've only just started the first one but am caught up already. Good idea for you get back to them as company would be very nice. I think I'll be reading book 2 in Feb. or March. How interesting that EJH was married to Scott's son and then divorced him. I think her and her writing could become an interest of mine this year.
Tracy: If I'm honest, The Spellshop is not my preffered type of fantasy either, I like something a bit grittier with more depth. I only read this sort of thing in small doses. LOL!
I hear you about The Farseer trilogy. I need to read book 2 of her Ship of Magic series but the size of it puts me off too. It's silly because actually, once you start, they're pageturners and it doesn't take that long to get through them.
I feel like everyone's read the Cazalet books except me! Most people seem to have loved them and I can see why, even though I'm only 20 or so pages in. Sometimes you just know.
Kathy: The Spellshop has been hugely popular all over Goodreads, YT and so on. I don't usually go much for the popular books but I was intrigued. I hope you enjoy it if you do read it.
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