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A review by sproutedpages
Homegrown Magic by Rebecca Podos, Jamie Pacton
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.0
Thank you so much to authors Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos, DelRey, and NetGalley for providing me with an uncorrected proof of this novel! All opinions within this review are voluntarily given and entirely my own. Homegrown Magic publishes 11 March 2025!
This was very sweet — like reading a novelization of a queer TTRPG or RPG. I was pleased to learn from the dedication and the acknowledgements that this story did indeed begin in a virtual D&D group populated by authors. The world of this book doesn’t seem to be inhabited by as wide a variety of monsters and sapient species as might be expected from RPGs/TTRPGs — but the story is really just focused on what is relevant to the narratives of protagonists Yael and Margot, so there are only hints of the world and the magic beyond them (giant spiders, bags of holding, mechanical steeds, for example). Because of that focus, I would have loved to see more of the minutiae of their lives as they begin to grow back together. There are semi-frequent time jumps that often seem to skip over this type of development between the two, but more of that minutiae could have really bolstered the 'coziness' of this story (which I think did have quite high stakes for a cozy fantasy).
Thrilled to learn thatthere will be a sequel novel in 2026 — though I will say I’m a bit sad that my uncorrected proof did not have the preview (but did have a placeholder page for it) . Not actually an issue at all, to be clear, I just wanted to read it , lol. This is also, presumably, the reason for several (non-major) narrative threads being left unresolved, so I look forward to seeing what the next novel entails !
Also — PERPETUAL STEW MENTION!!! And more than once! I love soup so much and thought this was such a silly, fun inclusion.
This was very sweet — like reading a novelization of a queer TTRPG or RPG. I was pleased to learn from the dedication and the acknowledgements that this story did indeed begin in a virtual D&D group populated by authors. The world of this book doesn’t seem to be inhabited by as wide a variety of monsters and sapient species as might be expected from RPGs/TTRPGs — but the story is really just focused on what is relevant to the narratives of protagonists Yael and Margot, so there are only hints of the world and the magic beyond them (giant spiders, bags of holding, mechanical steeds, for example). Because of that focus, I would have loved to see more of the minutiae of their lives as they begin to grow back together. There are semi-frequent time jumps that often seem to skip over this type of development between the two, but more of that minutiae could have really bolstered the 'coziness' of this story (which I think did have quite high stakes for a cozy fantasy).
Thrilled to learn that
Also — PERPETUAL STEW MENTION!!! And more than once! I love soup so much and thought this was such a silly, fun inclusion.