A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking

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The story is about a murder mystery, there are dark echoes of totalitarianism and ethnic cleansing (all wizards either have to leave town or are murdered), and finally there's an army threatening the city while its usual defenders are away. And our heroine has only bread magic and sourdough. Can you defend a city with that? Let’s see, what else? The story is abominably fluffy at times, but it is quite marvellously darkly dark for the most part. And what do we say to that? Why, YUM, of course. The villains are magnificently villainous, too. So YUM again. Talking about appetizing stuff, second-hand breakfasts are regularly on the menu in this book. (And no, you don’t want to know that they’re made of.) There are also super savory and most delectable garderobe expeditions. (No, you don’t want to know about these either.) That’s it for the appetite-stimulating side of this story, I think. Unless you consider people who “ look like the ass end of a seagull” as being particularly mouthwatering, that is.

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.A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking is, like Minor Mage and Summer in Orcus, somewhat darker than may be the norm for middle grade fantasies. While people (even good ones!) die and those adults who should be in charge are fallible, this is still ultimately an uplifting and empowering tale. It’s about people who don’t really want to be heroes — who shouldn’t even have to be heroes — but still rise to the occasion when others have failed, because they’re needed. Extremely sweet. I'd likely have been more impressed if I hadn't read Minor Mage first, but if you liked that, this is a similar concept and I think often funnier.

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… A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher – eBook DetailsI don’t even care about pastries, but think I may sell my soul for a freshly baked sweet bun right now. In this case, fourteen-year-old Mona’s magic only works on bread or pastries. There are other wizards in the city of Riverbraid but they are similar to Mona with specific abilities or not that powerful at all. If you would pardon the analogy though, our main character began as raw and unformed as a lump of raw dough, ready however to be shaped with a precise touch. Admittedly she had few ambitions at the start of this story, but then grew into her own by the end, dispelled of her naivete while also being hardened by the harshness of reality. Those who enjoy coming of age plots will eat this one right up, I think, especially the book’s target audience, but in truth, Mona’s journey is one that is universally relatable.