July 28, 2026 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Seventy-year-old Josephine Lightfoot lives in a cottage in a medievalish forest, content with her knitting and tea. When a Guardian magically appears and tells her that she is a new Champion and must travel to an abandoned castle in the capitol of Fiora, she nonchallantly accepts, and takes the magical axe offered to her. She tries to muster some help in town, and ends up with Roy, a rabbit like creature who had tried to steal her bag. They venture into the forest, only to be beset by spiders, but Josephine manages to elude them by cleverly wielding her knitting needles. The two stop by Ignacia's School of Magic, where Bea transports them to an abandoned building to hide them from the queen. They manage to fall through the floor and continue on their journey. We find out that Josephine's son Tobi was a Champion, but she hasn't heard from him in quite a while. A rag tag band is assembled that includes Delvin, who has a lute fashioned from a magical tree. The queen wants this, so the group has another reason to avoid her. There is a lot going on, with dragons who must be figured out, an animated cat toy, Tabitha, who is helping out, and a secret identity for one of our main characters. I would not be surprised if there is a sequel.
Strengths: Well, this certainly appealed to me. An older woman who knits embarking on an adventure to save the kingdom? Of course. This embraced a lot of fantasy adventure tropes, but gave them a bit of a twist. I loved that a Champion was missing, so his mother was sent on the mission instead. Like many books of this kind, there are a lot of different characters and places to travel. Music is used to good effect, and I rather liked the dragons. There is even a little twist at the end. Acording to the publisher, this is based on an online story, but I can't seem to find it.
Weaknesses: Oh, I wanted to give this the benefit of the doubt on the knitting. The first illustration looked... okay. The second... almost. But later in the book, the knitting embraced the upside down knitting needle scourge that Betsy Bird rails against. I'm just confused as to why one wouldn't investigate proper form if something is so essential to the main character.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed fantasy adventures like Lawrence's The Lionharts #1 or Cacao's The Secret of the Ravens.
Weaknesses: Oh, I wanted to give this the benefit of the doubt on the knitting. The first illustration looked... okay. The second... almost. But later in the book, the knitting embraced the upside down knitting needle scourge that Betsy Bird rails against. I'm just confused as to why one wouldn't investigate proper form if something is so essential to the main character.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed fantasy adventures like Lawrence's The Lionharts #1 or Cacao's The Secret of the Ravens.
No comments:
Post a Comment