Reviews with content warning for Genocide - Baker Thief

I really liked this! After getting into it I sped through most of the book in one day. I was super engaged with the characters, their relationships, all the mystery/problems of the plot, everything. I would definitely read more by this author. And I loved all the queer representation! (I'm genderfluid and experience that way differently than Claire/Claude does in this book, but I still really loved having a genderfluid main character.)

Content Warnings

mpbookreviews's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

3.25

Content Warnings

ohmage_resistance's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This was an incredibly wholesome story (somehow, despite the entire genocide/discrimination of witches subplot.) The plot elements of the story were the weakest (no one seems to have any sort of long term plan, and things get resolved annoyingly easily). The more slice-of-life parts were excellent though.

I loved how queer this book was in general, and especially how Arseneault took the time to include especially underrepresented identities. One of our main characters is bigender/genderfluid and an allosexual aromantic, the other is a biromantic demisexual woman. Beyond that, there are multiple more nonbinary, aro-spec, gay, trans, etc. characters. The (almost) only form of discrimination in the world was against witches, so it felt relaxing to see so many queer identities be normalized and accepted. Also, there was representation with disabilities and all sorts of other characteristics included as well. This book did a great job exploring aromanticism in particular from multiple angles, especially from perspectives that we don’t see as often (ie. allo aros, older aros, etc). I also really enjoyed the way it took some romance tropes and twisting it into something platonic and a lot more queer.

Content Warnings

amynbell's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-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

4.5

I don't know how I stumbled upon this or why I bought it. After all, witchy magical fiction isn't my usual genre. I think someone had labeled it as cozy fantasy, but I definitely wouldn't call it that despite one of the main settings being in a French-Canadian bakery. There was too much shooting and tension for it to feel remotely cozy.

By night, Claire is a masked thief. But she steals exocores for ethical reasons. By day, s/he's a baker named Claude. On one of Adele's first nights in the city, a masked Claire brazenly steals an exocore from her and the next morning serves her croissants at the local bakery. Their lives become even more intertwined as Adele is tasked with solving the exocore thefts across the city as her first assignment in her new police role. Eventually, Adele and Claire end up working together toward the same goal.

Wrapped up in this story is a history of a world where witches have been exploited for powers. So, there's an element of otherness-prejudice that exists to overcome. As the relationship between Claire and Adele develops into one of mutual caring, Claire seeks for Adele to understand her specific identity needs as a gender-fluid, aromantic witch. She likes people in her life, but she likes to have her own separate life so that she doesn't feel stifled. So, having Adele accept all of her differences without overstepping boundaries is important.

While I have several friends who self-identify in various ways, I really don't see it in the books I read, which is odd. It's interesting to read the inner dialogue of an aromantic who is interested in having a relationship but needing it to not be confining or overwhelming. I've known people like this, but they didn't have a label for themselves. They just always lived apart from their significant others if they had one. They've been dating for 20 years or their husband live 1000 miles away or whatever.

Anyhow, I vacillate between being completely enamored with this book and finding it a chore to read toward the end. There is definitely a depth of ideas to explore here. I think I was more interested in the dynamics between the characters than the action story that was unfolding with a race to save siblings and exocores. My 4 stars is really 4.5 stars. I can think of people to whom I would highly recommend this, but it's not for everyone. (less)

Content Warnings