A review by keepcalmblogon
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

adventurous lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

The Spellshop is a cozy fantasy that ends up with some high stakes at the end, which I was actually really happy with because I’m new to cozy fantasy and I enjoy higher stakes fantasy! The beginning of the book is an ease into a post-revolutionary empire, which sounds exciting, but the lens is narrowed on Kiela and her sentient spider plant assistant, Caz. This narrow lens in a chaotic setting was actually really interesting to me because Kiela has emotionally and physically removed herself from society as a librarian, who seems even less sociable than the other librarians around her, and we find later on that she has already experienced the trauma of loss in her life, which makes her reaction to her government’s overthrow and subsequent executions make a little more sense—essentially Kiela remains numb throughout the fighting until her library is burned, and despite that resulting in her escape, she has an odd calm during the flight. All that is to say that throughout the book Kiela comes to terms with her trauma and PTSD-seeming symptoms as soon as she is safely ensconced in her childhood home. This type of character study may not sound very cozy, but the way it’s written by Sarah Beth Durst is calm and unobtrusive. The political upheaval in the far background of the setting and the focused lens on Kiela and her small island village act as foils in this book and made this cozy fantasy so much deeper than a simple comfort read—truly my type of story!

My favorite part of the story was watching Kiela develop relationships with the other villagers. Like the plants she and Caz cultivate in their garden, Kiela sprouted and bloomed in the safe space she found among new friends and old acquaintances in her childhood cottage—and of course she finds romance!

The Spellshop was a Macmillan Audio pick and is narrated by Caitlin Davies, and it was a cute coincidence I had just listened to another audiobook she narrated—I think she does a great job!