"The Spellshop" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

A few questions to get us started:


1. What did you think of the world?
2. What did you think of the characters?
3. What worked or didn't for you?
4. Overall thoughts?

First Impressions thread

[Violetta]

I enjoyed the initial description of the setting (the island, magical creatures, magical bears, etc) but I feel it engulfed the book, where the plot was secondary. It would make great imagery for a Studio Gibli movie though.
The characters were flat (I guess typical for fairytales) and a bit excessive when not (I felt that her being drawn to being alone was presented throughout the book, a bit much). The exception is Cas, he's a round character for me, more realistic? Down to earth, somewhat sarcastic and a bit silly.
I enjoyed the magical part - potions, making mistakes with potions, meep, stopping storms with magic... And the positivity of it all - choosing to go against one's habits (Kiela wants to be alone but she summons her courage to go out there and talk to people), helping others even it if means breaking the law, and just generally being kind. All wonderful messages for a younger teen audience. I would recommend this to my pupils.

Overall, I would have enjoyed this book more had I been in the Xmas period, but right now it didn't completely manage to make me believe in it.

TIP: nice to read for Xmas.
TOP: great for younger readers.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I'm mostly in line with you, Violetta!

It was a nice soft read, and with all the holiday and other things going on, it was nice to have a book that I could just shut my brain down and find perfectly pleasant.

That said, I don't think it was terribly well crafted on any front, and I still really don't enjoy romance-forward books, even if they're not romances and very cozy. I think Travis Baldree writes a better balance of cutesy and plotty things and this feels so similar that it suffers in comparison.

One of my main gripes? Why sell jam in her home that she doesn't want people in instead of from a display at the bakery?? That drove me crazy.

I was interested in the magic and liked the experimentation parts best.

[Sarah]

Allison wrote: "One of my main gripes? Why sell jam in her home that she doesn't want people in instead of from a display at the bakery?? That drove me crazy."

I wondered this too!

I loved the sentient spider plant angle that worried about her more than she worried about herself :D

[Keith]

I wish we had got to know more about the revolution and the handling of magic.

How could the new government realistically manage the use of magic? You can't just have everyone run around flinging spells, especially when the misuse of magic causes an imbalance.

[Netanella]

I loved the sentient plant, but I saw him more as a pothos and less as a spider plant. :)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

LOL! Can you say more? What was pothos-y about him, and what would you have expected from a spider plant?

Keith, those are great questions! I do like the idea that librarians yet again both protect us and help us free ourselves!

[Netanella]

Allison wrote: "LOL! Can you say more? What was pothos-y about him, and what would you have expected from a spider plant?

Keith, those are great questions! I do like the idea that librarians yet again both protec..."

What was pothos-y about our dear plant? I suppose because I have never been able to keep a spider plant alive and my pothos tendrils tend to take over the bookshelves, they grow so much! :() I suppose that was a personal statement.

- Sorry for the delayed response - my notifications have been on and off for reliability.

[Eric]

Lovely book

Positive outlook

[Deyara]

I enjoyed the world and what we got to see of the characters, felt like Caz was the most fleshed-out character, which is a bit odd for a plant!

The romance felt pretty unnecessary to the story and sort of tacked on and was probably my least favourite thing about the book. I enjoyed the librarian and research parts the best, and experimenting with the spells.

Overall I did like it as a cosy fantasy read with magical creatures, and setting up a new life in a small village.

[Kinematic]

I liked that the book alluded to a ton of magic and creatures and political issues without feeling the need to dwell on them a ton. If this was a multi-book series, I would expect more depth on all of those subjects but in this book, they did a perfect job of framing the story and aiding in the cozy feeling this story tried to build.

Felt like I was playing Stardew Valley again, what a great experience!

[Olga]

I'm definitely in my Grinch mode these days. All the cozy-jammy-kissy parts were extremely off-putting to me. And constant repetitions didn't make it any better.

I agree that the researching and experimenting parts were nice and I definitely respect Kiela for saving half a dozen crates of books, but the fact how she got them up the stairs the first time - come on, has the author never moved house with a few shelves worth of books at least?

Also, the world was full of magical creatures, but for most of them we got barely a description, if author didn't repeat things like "horse torso" or "four hands", I could have forgotten that they are not human. Kiela herself is all blue - why? I feel like it's a missed opportunity at worldbiulding. If there were fewer species/creatures, but with more depth, it could have been more interesting, I think. Instead we have a kaleidoscope of all possible fairy creatures, almost as if the author threw them all together in hopes to please everyone.

And don't even get me started on romance. Ugh.