The Girl from Teacup Village

by Michael Kanuckel, Kati Drinkwine (Illustrator)

Tessa Gardener thought that the course of her life was something as clear as the water of the Eggshell River that ran through her village. She would continue to work the kilns, crafting the fine pottery that nobles across the empire sought out, and gave her village its name. One day she would accept a young man's attempts at courtship and eventually marry, and have children. But then the empire chose her to be part of a group that would rebuild a destroyed town just down the road, and everything she thought she knew would change. With her companions- her best friend Licci, the bookish Layne Fixx, a giant named Brarik, and two gentlemen of the road- at her side, Tessa will undertake a journey of adventures that begins in Teacup Village and leads to an unknown destiny- one that involves the mystical order known as the Knights of Floraeon, and reveals the true nature of the girl herself, and the empire she has always served faithfully...

216 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 2, 2020

Reviews

[Amanda M. Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tessa Gardner is our reluctant hero, a young teen from a village where everything seems to be all too certain- that is until she speaks up during a special visit from the Seed Koga, the man who defines so much of what sets the expectations and outcomes for the people of Tea Cup Village (so named for its famed blue green pottery). Soon she and her best friend Licci, Layne Fixx, the giant Brarik and a handful of other skilled youths will be leaving all that they know behind with a host of skilled men, all of them on their way to do the impossible- their quest to rebuild and restore Turuffle Village, a neighboring town destroyed for failing to provide the healthy crops the Kogas commanded of them, and they must manage it in only a year’s time. Can it be done? And why does Tessa feel like there's something more going on than it at first appears? The journey before Tessa and her friends is far more strange and perilous than she knows, and there is everything to lose.
This book takes us into a whole new fantasy setting with its own world, villains, magics, heroes, spirituality, complex intrigues, and conflicts. As always there are a host of endearing and complex characters too, I was particularly taken with Brarik, a giant who holds so much more in his large and brutal frame than anyone might expect from him. It’s a great first book of what I’m sure will be a wonderful series appropriate for fantasy fans teen to adult. I'm so happy that book two is coming soon because I really want to see where Tessa Gardner and her friends will find themselves next!
I've been a fan of Kanuckel's books for ages now, and I've loved everything he's written, this is absolutely one of the best of a healthy stack of fantastic fiction from this author. If you like this one you should also enjoy Seven Cuts, another wonderful story about a young hero seeking a fate far beyond anything set before them in a world long beyond hope.