Review: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love.
Join Kiela the librarian and her assistant, Caz the sentient spider plant, as they navigate the low stakes market of illegal spellmaking and the high risk business of starting over.
“Sarah Beth Durst is the hidden gem of the fantasy world.” —Book Riot
Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to.
She and her assistant, Caz, a magically sentient spider plant, have spent the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. But when a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz save as many books as they can carry and flee to a faraway island Kiela was sure she’d never return to: her childhood home. Kiela hopes to lay low in the overgrown and rundown cottage her late parents left her and figure out a way to survive without drawing the attention of either the empire or the revolutionaries. Much to her dismay, in addition to a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor, she finds the town neglected and in a state of disrepair.
The empire, for all its magic and power, has been neglecting for years the people who depend on magical intervention to maintain healthy livestock and crops. Not only that, but the very magic that should be helping them has been creating destructive storms that have taken a toll on the island. Due to her past role at the library, Kiela feels partially responsible for this, and now she’s determined to find a way to make things right: by opening the island’s first-ever secret spellshop.
Her plan comes with risks—the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela comes to make a place for herself among the kind and quirky townspeople of her former home, she realizes that in order to make a life for herself, she must learn to break down the walls she has built up so high.
Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.
I GOT THE BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY.
Review:
Dear Sarah Beth Durst,
I found your book on NY Times Bestseller List and figured it could be my cup of tea, but I only pay that much for a book when I really, really want it and I was fine with waiting till my library hold came in.
The blurb is very detailed – the main character Kiela runs away from the revolution in the big city where she worked as a librarian together with her assistant Caz (who is a sentient plant and who talks a lot). They also managed to save some books from the library from burning and brought the books with them to the island where Kiela used to live with her parents when she was a child.
Initially the book attracted me because of Caz. He was such a matter of fact part of the book (while being a talking plant) that more than anything I wanted to know how he fits in this world. Of course we eventually learn his backstory, but initially he made me blink because he appears on the first pages of the book and gets down to business of helping Kiela (as much as he could) to run away from the burning library.
And fantasy setting really did not disappoint me. I mean it was very *cozy* and the fantasy creatures that appear on the pages made me go awww more than once and wanting to see them in real world, but it was cozy in a good way. I thought it was also interesting that the society upheaval that happened in the city was a potential big problem for her desire to help the citizens of the Caltry, but the book managed to stay “cute”.
I also have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that author showed the bloodiness of the revolutionaries while showing that the emperor and his servants really abandoned helping people for quite some time.
I did see some reviews that talk about Kiela as an unlikeable lead. Eh, I don’t know, I think she had the best intentions and I think she achieved a lot of what she wanted to do although of course she did not do it alone. Was she hopelessly naïve? Sure, I would like to think that she became less naïve by the end of the book. Also, I am sorry but presumably she lived by herself after she left her parents’ house. Could she do nothing for herself whatsoever? Seemed like she had to learn how to do every single household chore from scratch.
This book was billed on Amazon as a romantic fantasy. I did like the romantic element quite a lot, but I wish the romantic interest would have been drawn with more depth.
Grade : B
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I also borrowed this book from the library and enjoyed it a lot, may perhaps be one of my favorites this year. Caz was a delight for sure, as was pretty much everything else. Kiela, while initially so unprepared for the real world and not particularly likable, learned to trust people, to do things on her own. Highly recommended.
@Darlynne: I am so glad the book worked for you. I may have mentioned before that I am not a very visual reader and more often than not I am not *seeing* the pictures the author draws with words, at least not right away, but man I could not get rid of Kaz walking and talking in my mind for quite some time. Him, and winged kittens of course.
This does sound intriguing, Sirius, so thank you for sharing your thoughts. (I have to admit that when I see the name Caz, I immediately think of The Curse of Chalion.)