Reviews - The Spellshop | The StoryGraph

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

16k reviews for:

The Spellshop

Sarah Beth Durst

4.12 AVERAGE

jillmadison's review against another edition

2.75

lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

mrswhiteinthelibrary's review against another edition

4.0

A cozy fantasy in the tradition of Legends and Lattes, The Spellshop is a delightful, big hearted story, with a timely undercurrent. People have been quick to jump on this genre in recent years, and it's not hard to see why: people want escapism in a world that seems increasingly dark. The Spellshop manages to work its magic by engaging directly with some of these real world themes; our heroine, Keila, and her nervous sentient spiderplant, Caz, flee their home in the capital city after a coup that leaves the city in flames and the leaders dead. From there they return to Keila's childhood home on an isolated island, far from the politics of the capital, but not from feeling the effects of the empire's harsh rules against magic usage. Which is a problem for Keila, as she has in her possession a pile of rescued--some would say stolen-- spell books, and the knowhow to use them to help the people on the island with the problems the empire's negligence left them alone to cope with. The parallels to current events, are obvious, but Keila's solution; to use her compassion and hide her magical aid in plain sight--posing as a serviceable jam shop on the sadly jamless island--feels like nothing short of wish fulfillment to a generation of readers who long both for simplicity and salvation from the problems our own corrupt government and negligence on issues like climate change have caused us. This book is pure escapism in the best way--because it made me have hope that there are more people like Keila out there, even if our cottages and jam jars are in short supply.

My sole complaints were I felt the romance was a bit rushed, and I didn't understand how the protagonist had seemingly no memories from being NINE YEARS OLD. That's a pretty advanced age to not remember anything clearly from. But I can chalk some of that up to authorial oversight, and the world and characters were so charming, I'll give it a pass, and look forward to visiting this world again in the follow up!

estelleidekreads's review

DID NOT FINISH: 20%

this was recommended to me because i love legends and latte so was expecting it to be sapphic

i was enjoying the story and writing but im really not in the mood to read about straight people rn so when the romance started to become more prevalent i fully checked out

might revisit in future

mkl079's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

farronk's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful inspiring relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst is billed as cozy fantasy, but its main story, about a naive refugee librarian who learns the value of building community after fleeing a revolution, strikes me as being quite political. The island of Caltrey is clearly a safe harbor in a rather dark and unjust world, and the story occasionally shocks with its off-hand stories of violence. This is a story in a world with a lot of violent conflict, and one can imagine a company of revolutionaries or heroes stopping by a jam shop on the outskirts of the empire to take a breather. I won’t criticize the book for prioritizing an idealized story of ordinary folks as that is clearly the story it’s set out to tell, and the decisions of these ordinary people can still be understood to be important. It’s a rather rose-tinted story for those who are seeking that, a rather classic “city girl returns to her hometown and finds herself and finds love” narrative. I found the descriptions of the island life and the magic of the world to be enjoyable. Personally I’m find with a POV character who doesn’t know everything, or even actively resists knowledge of the world at the beginning, like Kiela. Early in the book Kiela’s apparent naivety coupled with her antisocial paranoia can feel quite self-sabotaging, and genre-savvy readers (myself included) may find themselves asking why she's made some of the calls she has. But not every protagonist is a high fantasy hero.

One thing that remained on my mind as I read was that it seems the story wants to exist outside of the racial bigotry of our real world, with Kiela, the POV character, being blue, and others being magical creatures with various colors of fur and skin and this going relatively uncommented-upon. It felt a little strange in a world where there such clear social stratification regarding who has access to magic, and it seems there is at least some social expectation around heterosexual marriage that negatively effects a few characters. Considering that the residents of Caltrey all live in the wake of such social injustice, it just felt noticeable to me. I understand fantasy racism and the handling of such can be its own issue, and readers have a variety of reactions to how it’s handled, but it stood out enough to me to mention. Perhaps the society of The Spellshop is truly meant to be more egalitarian aside from the imperial limits on magic, or there will be more insight into this in further books.

One thing I want to praise and highlight at first is the fact that Kiela is clearly traumatized by what she’s gone through at the beginning of the book, and her behavior is not always rational. I felt this was a pretty believable portrayal, especially when she becomes quite overwhelmed by her fears at one point. I also can appreciate that Kiela has strong boundaries that she enforces and isn’t particularly likeable at times, and this is a good and bad thing at times. Some readers may find her to be bratty and foolish at first, but I believe she experiences believable growth.

I very much enjoyed the “fairy tale” aspects of this fantasy world, ie, adorable creatures, ranging from talking plants, mermaids, mer-horses, and cats with wings. I liked the descriptiveness of the book and felt quite immersed in the setting, although occasionally it felt like it retread some things (like Kiela’s appearance) while not focusing much on others (like Larran’s).

I wouldn’t exactly call this book low stakes as some rather intense elements get introduced midway through the book – at times I felt like problems were solved almost as quickly as they were introduced, which I found a little frustrating. However, I appreciate this book for the story it is, where it starts and where it ends, and the comfort and hope it’s clearly trying to impart. If you’re not in the mood to hear a story about learning to open up, trust, and build community – that seems to believe despite the cruelty of the world that most people you meet are basically good – it won’t be for you.

Content Warnings