Scan barcode
A review by mspilesofpaper
A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J. Penner
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
The premise of A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic is basically "The Great British Bake Off as romantasy", which is an incredible premise for any cosy fantasy/romance book! I thought, when I borrowed the book from Kindle Unlimited, that I would give it easily 4 ⭐ or 5 ⭐! Unfortunately, the book fell utterly flat for me and lower in its rating with each chapter.
My main issues
1) The writing style and the world-building
The writing and the world-building are so clunky and underdeveloped that it hurts. Of course, I don't expect the fine-tuned world-building from an epic fantasy for a cosy romantasy but if you plan to write a book (especially a series): give your reader some information about your world aside from: "here's a map, humans are magicless and therefore at the bottom of the society, and the bake-off is an elven tournament that only opened to non-elves in the last years". Why are humans without magic (unless they are wizards and therefore, by that logic, not humans anymore)? Why did the bake-off only include elves for the majority of their 100 years of existence? Why did the elves create the bake-off in the first place? Why is it common that only magic users are included in the bake-off? What is common magic for each race and how would it help them in the tournament?
As for the writing: it does need another round or two of editing to make it smoother. An editor (or beta reader) should be included at one point because the author's choice of how to describe skin colour is ... questionable. Especially when the main characters are portrayed on the cover. The male character, Theo, is described as "ecru-skinned", which is an off-white with a slightly yellow undertone. It is commonly used to describe fabrics (especially leather) and not skin colour. The female character, Arleta, is described as "tawny beige", which is an orange-brown with ... well beige, which is generally a yellow-tinted white. If there wouldn't be cover art of the two, I would have pictured him as a sickly white elf and her as a ginger-coloured human when he's supposed to have a "golden tan" while she is "sun-skinned" (the latter is something that the author uses to describe Arleta too). Aside from the main characters, there's also "umber" and "alabaster" for side characters. While alabaster is relatively easy, umber is such a difficult colour because it ranges from orange/red (burnt umber) to a light grey-hued brown (the pale end for raw umber, which can also be a dark brown but can also have a greenish hue). Do you see my issue? There are tons of better ways to describe skin colours, and while I'm glad that it didn't end up with food comparison, the current way is awful as well.
Arleta, the main character
She has absolutely no confidence in her own abilities and whenever something (slightly) unfortunate/bad happens to her, she is like "woe is me, it is because I am human and have no magic". Yes, she suffers from occasional racism as humans are at the bottom of society (Why though? No one knows.) but on average, all her issues are tiny and are mostly in her head. Her lack of self-esteem and self-worth is exhausting to read and it gets to the point where she has several panic attacks about participating in the tournament because she believes that they will disqualify her for being a magic-less human. Despite, her love interest telling her multiple times that no rule forbids it. It is just uncommon for humans to participate because it used to be a purely elven tournament. Aside from her immense lack of self-esteem: she feels guilty for everything and everyone (even when it has nothing to do with her) to the point where she suffers a panic attack because her friend got kicked out of the tournament, which leads to Arleta being the centre of the attraction instead of being there for her friend. And when she doesn't feel guilty for shit, she allows people to push her around because she has no backbone and uses the "I am human and without magic and therefore worth nothing" excuse again. Whenever she isn't negative or letting someone push her around, she is just stupid. She's 100% the saying: "the lights are on but nobody is home". She only starts to find her backbone when her love interest backs her in one scene.
The love interest and the side characters
Underdeveloped and walking stereotypes. I cannot tell you anything about Theo aside from the fact that he's an elf who can talk to plants and animals. Please, don't get me started on the main side characters Doli and Jex. Or the "antagonists", which come out of nowhere and have no actual reason to dislike Arleta (aside from racism when it comes to one side character).
The entire romance is very insta-lust and insta-love but, of course, Arleta struggles with her confidence here as well despite being introduced to the fact that fated mates exist. Instead of believing her love interest, or even going to the library to read up on the concept, she believes everyone else and her own fears. I hate her so much.
The tournament
The bake-off is the plot point and the main premise of the book. For some reason, it starts at 40%, which is already bad enough, is only on-page a topic for 30%, and that's it. In the 30% where it should be the main premise, it is barely there as well. All rounds, where Arleta has to bake, are finished within two paragraphs. There are three rounds before the final round and that's it ... Aside from the tournament rounds, there is a masked ball but Arleta flees it after 5 minutes into it. Why include it if your main character doesn't use it to dance/find confidence or have some sweet moments with her love interest?
Also: WHY IS IT SUCH AN ISSUE THAT SHE IS A MAGIC-LESS HUMAN WHEN MAGIC HAS NO INFLUENCE ON THE TOURNAMENT!? There is only one moment, which is brushed off in two sentences, that Jex has scent magic and therefore, an incredible sense of smell (to the point of smelling emotions), which can give her an advantage. That's it. Otherwise, there's no mention of why magic is important in the tournament and why Arleta believes so much that she will be disqualified because she has no magic.
TL;DR: It could have been a sweet and cozy romantasy with The Great British Bake Off vibes but it turns sour rather quickly as the main character has pick me energy but lacks the self-esteem to pull it off while everything else is underdeveloped and cringy. Incorporates several tropes (fated mates, one bed, found family) in the attempt to carry the plot.
My main issues
1) The writing style and the world-building
The writing and the world-building are so clunky and underdeveloped that it hurts. Of course, I don't expect the fine-tuned world-building from an epic fantasy for a cosy romantasy but if you plan to write a book (especially a series): give your reader some information about your world aside from: "here's a map, humans are magicless and therefore at the bottom of the society, and the bake-off is an elven tournament that only opened to non-elves in the last years". Why are humans without magic (unless they are wizards and therefore, by that logic, not humans anymore)? Why did the bake-off only include elves for the majority of their 100 years of existence? Why did the elves create the bake-off in the first place? Why is it common that only magic users are included in the bake-off? What is common magic for each race and how would it help them in the tournament?
As for the writing: it does need another round or two of editing to make it smoother. An editor (or beta reader) should be included at one point because the author's choice of how to describe skin colour is ... questionable. Especially when the main characters are portrayed on the cover. The male character, Theo, is described as "ecru-skinned", which is an off-white with a slightly yellow undertone. It is commonly used to describe fabrics (especially leather) and not skin colour. The female character, Arleta, is described as "tawny beige", which is an orange-brown with ... well beige, which is generally a yellow-tinted white. If there wouldn't be cover art of the two, I would have pictured him as a sickly white elf and her as a ginger-coloured human when he's supposed to have a "golden tan" while she is "sun-skinned" (the latter is something that the author uses to describe Arleta too). Aside from the main characters, there's also "umber" and "alabaster" for side characters. While alabaster is relatively easy, umber is such a difficult colour because it ranges from orange/red (burnt umber) to a light grey-hued brown (the pale end for raw umber, which can also be a dark brown but can also have a greenish hue). Do you see my issue? There are tons of better ways to describe skin colours, and while I'm glad that it didn't end up with food comparison, the current way is awful as well.
Arleta, the main character
She has absolutely no confidence in her own abilities and whenever something (slightly) unfortunate/bad happens to her, she is like "woe is me, it is because I am human and have no magic". Yes, she suffers from occasional racism as humans are at the bottom of society (Why though? No one knows.) but on average, all her issues are tiny and are mostly in her head. Her lack of self-esteem and self-worth is exhausting to read and it gets to the point where she has several panic attacks about participating in the tournament because she believes that they will disqualify her for being a magic-less human. Despite, her love interest telling her multiple times that no rule forbids it. It is just uncommon for humans to participate because it used to be a purely elven tournament. Aside from her immense lack of self-esteem: she feels guilty for everything and everyone (even when it has nothing to do with her) to the point where she suffers a panic attack because her friend got kicked out of the tournament, which leads to Arleta being the centre of the attraction instead of being there for her friend. And when she doesn't feel guilty for shit, she allows people to push her around because she has no backbone and uses the "I am human and without magic and therefore worth nothing" excuse again. Whenever she isn't negative or letting someone push her around, she is just stupid. She's 100% the saying: "the lights are on but nobody is home". She only starts to find her backbone when her love interest backs her in one scene.
The love interest and the side characters
Underdeveloped and walking stereotypes. I cannot tell you anything about Theo aside from the fact that he's an elf who can talk to plants and animals. Please, don't get me started on the main side characters Doli and Jex. Or the "antagonists", which come out of nowhere and have no actual reason to dislike Arleta (aside from racism when it comes to one side character).
The entire romance is very insta-lust and insta-love but, of course, Arleta struggles with her confidence here as well despite being introduced to the fact that fated mates exist. Instead of believing her love interest, or even going to the library to read up on the concept, she believes everyone else and her own fears. I hate her so much.
The tournament
The bake-off is the plot point and the main premise of the book. For some reason, it starts at 40%, which is already bad enough, is only on-page a topic for 30%, and that's it. In the 30% where it should be the main premise, it is barely there as well. All rounds, where Arleta has to bake, are finished within two paragraphs. There are three rounds before the final round and that's it ... Aside from the tournament rounds, there is a masked ball but Arleta flees it after 5 minutes into it. Why include it if your main character doesn't use it to dance/find confidence or have some sweet moments with her love interest?
Also: WHY IS IT SUCH AN ISSUE THAT SHE IS A MAGIC-LESS HUMAN WHEN MAGIC HAS NO INFLUENCE ON THE TOURNAMENT!? There is only one moment, which is brushed off in two sentences, that Jex has scent magic and therefore, an incredible sense of smell (to the point of smelling emotions), which can give her an advantage. That's it. Otherwise, there's no mention of why magic is important in the tournament and why Arleta believes so much that she will be disqualified because she has no magic.
TL;DR: It could have been a sweet and cozy romantasy with The Great British Bake Off vibes but it turns sour rather quickly as the main character has pick me energy but lacks the self-esteem to pull it off while everything else is underdeveloped and cringy. Incorporates several tropes (fated mates, one bed, found family) in the attempt to carry the plot.