A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic

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After the rapid pace, thrilling tension, and macabre fantasy nightmares of Holy Terrors, I was definitely keen on the idea of a cosy read for my next book. Something cute and comforting with low stakes. A while ago, I came across a children’s trilogy by J. Penner that sounded right up my cosy fantasy alley, so this is what I’ve chosen to settle the nerves and adrenaline from last week’s read with. This week I travelled into the quaint magical world of Adenashire with A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic.

Arleta Starstone is a human with an incredible talent for baking. While she may need to work twice as hard as everyone else because of her lack of magic, her baked treats infused with herbs are her own unique form of magic. While Aleta does not believe she is anything special, her orc neighbours do and to prove it they enter her into the prestigious Langheim Baking Battle. Nervous that her being magicless and competing against the likes of elves, dwarves, and other magical beings will surely work against her, Aleta nevertheless travels to Langheim to compete. But the competition turns out to be a life-changing adventure as Arleta discovers her own self-worth and makes some unique friends along the way.

So admittedly I got a little bit of whiplash in the difference in prose, coming from the more mature writing of Owen and then diving into a book that is definitely aimed at a younger audience. The Adenashire trilogy feels like it’s a bedtime story for that age bracket between childhood and angsty adolescence. The writing is very simple and plain, comfortably building the world and its characters, but not quite doing it with as much flare as one would expect from a fantasy novel.

The events of the novel are then told in very quick and factual succession with a ‘no-muss no-fuss’ attitude. The story itself is very sweet and wholesome, a perfect cosy read when you’re wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea. One thing I would have liked though is a bit more drama and sense of stakes. Our heroine, despite being described as constantly nervous and keeping everyone at arm’s length, doesn’t really have a lot of dept to her. We aren’t given the story as to why she is standoffish and a loner, which I feel would then give her being in the competition – and indeed the competition itself- some stakes. It’s true I was after a low-stakes read, but not a no-stakes read. But in all honesty, this was the only area in which I felt that the book was lacking, and to give credit where it is due, once the supporting characters are established then the pace and the atmosphere of the novel picks up.

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Filled with romance, humour, and a cosy token fantasy world, A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic is a very sweet and cosy afternoon read.

Author: J. Penner, 2023

Published: Originally self-published by J. Penner, 2023. Pictured edition published by Sourcebooks, 2025