I just finished reading A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher.

I found this book while attempting to organize my thoughts to begin writing a novel. My hope would be to find inspiration to write a story with little to no violence, so I searched the internet for “cozy” fantasy. It’s not something I’ve heard of, but that word seems to describe the vibe people are looking for to reject negativity in entertainment and life in general. The resulting list did nothing to speak to my initial goals, but I bought this book and began reading it.

Overall, this was a fun story. If you’ve read many fantasy novels, it should feel totally familiar. The addition of a silly premise, a wizard of baking, gives you permission to enjoy the common fantasy tropes all over again. My highest praise is that once the first act was complete and the plot & stakes fully established, the book could have easily become a tedious slog to the finish, but the author did a good job of sidestepping pitfalls and competently brought the book to the conclusion.