Review: The Royal Academy of Magical Baking: A Cozy Slice-of-Life Fantasy

The Royal Academy of Magical Baking: A Cozy Slice-of-Life Fantasy by Anne Crews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To get into the Academy, the protagonist bakes a relatively simple vanilla cake following a well-known recipe, enhanced with simple spells, that is, nevertheless, well executed and surprisingly enjoyable. I don't know if this is consciously intended as a metaphor for the book, but it certainly works as one.

The editing is decent, for one thing, which is rare. I did have some quibbles with elements of the book, but only four or five were editing issues, all relatively minor.

I wrote down some predictions at the 9% mark about how it would go, and almost half of my predictions were correct, mainly about how particular characters would act. I wasn't right about the order in which people would be eliminated from the course (it's set up kind of like a reality show: twelve bakers take the entrance exam, six pass, of whom one will be eliminated in each of the three terms of the first year, leaving three to progress to the second and third years of the course). But by the time each elimination came up, it was clear who was going - right up to the end, which surprised me.

So it's not just made from box mix, which was a relief. It has enough surprising or fresh elements that it's saved from being completely expected, something for which I've dinged books a star in the past. It is, however, firmly cozy, though I'm not sure it completely qualifies as "slice of life" - it has a bit too much plot for that to be the case. (Not a criticism, just an observation that the subtitle could be slightly misleading.)

Like practically all cozy fantasy, it's weak on worldbuilding. There's barely enough to enable the story to be what it is, and the gaps are filled either from Bland Generic Fantasy Setting #1 or direct ports from our world (days of the week, measuring units, even wanting to have popcorn when watching something entertaining).

I'm used to worldbuilding being a weakness of cozy, though I'm not reconciled to it. But at least it has only one truly jarring intrusion from our world, and it's minor (the popcorn). While the world is thin, it at least doesn't feel like 21st-century Americans cosplaying in front of scenery flats, like a lot of cozy books; it has just enough illusion of being a fantasy world that I could relax into it and enjoy the story.

And I did enjoy it. I liked the characters, I believed their actions (even when they were predictable), I wanted Lyra, the protagonist, to succeed, and I enjoyed the cozy feel of everything, even the (for the characters) high-stakes exam moments. It was fun, and I'd eat... I mean, read another.

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