The Teller of Small Fortunes - Julie Leong - ★★.¾

AUTHOR: Julie Leong

GENRE: Cozy Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: November 5, 2024

RATING: 2.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A debut cozy fantasy about an immigrant fortune teller running away from her past. Too much ‘cozy’, not enough ‘fantasy’. Good use of the found family trope and great observations on immigrant experiences. Vague world-building, lacklustre character development despite some interesting characters. A decent one-time read, but not a memorable one.

Plot Preview:

Tao is a Shinn fortune teller who travels from village to village with her wagon and her trusty mule. She tells only small fortunes: predications that won't create big consequences. At her latest stop, she bumps into a reformed thief and his semi-reformed mercenary friend. They are looking for a lost child, and Tao feels compelled to offer the services of her wagon. They are soon joined by a young baker woman with big dream and a cat. The adventures of this motley crew and the result of their quest forms the rest of the plot.

The story comes to us in Tao’s third-person perspective.

On paper, this debut novel had plenty to offer. It promised to be a comforting read, with many magical and cherishable moments, loveable characters, and a soul-satisfying storyline. However, the end result felt mostly surface-level, leaving me with the feeling that the potential of the plot was not fulfilled.

Bookish Yays:

🔮 The portrayal of Tao’s immigrant experience of being a Shinn (Chinese?) woman in an Eshteran (European?) land. The xenophobia of the locals and Tao’s always feeling like an “other” or outsider comes out quite well.

🔮 The found family trope, showing four individuals with distinct personalities and one feline coming together in a slow but sure bond.

🔮 No forced romance despite the age eligibility of the FMC. No potential suitor as well. I truly appreciated this. It is getting tiresome to see romance being forced even into non-romance books.

🔮 The covers of both UK and US editions – perfectly and comfortably cozy.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🥠 The title doesn't match the content exactly, even though the storyline is indeed about Tao, the “teller of small fortunes”. Somehow, the title makes the book sound more whimsical and fortune-dominated. But the actual fortunes are more random and only in the background of the main plot.

🥠 Tao as a character is good but has no spark. There was so much more depth possible in her portrayal but her personality doesn’t come across strongly. Her opinions and emotions seem wavery.

🥠 The side characters: Mash the ex-mercenary who is looking for his lost daughter, Silt his thieving companion who doesn’t know how to handle his lovesickness, and Kina the baker with a bright personality whose creations taste much better than they look. Each of these could have been an outstanding character, but their depiction is mostly one-noted. I still liked the trio, but I wish there were more to them. I liked the two animals better: Laohu the mule and Fidelitus the cat.

🥠 The storyline feels somewhat episodic, with the group going from one place to another and facing one adventure after another. The quest for the lost girl and the secret of Tao’s backstory are the only two topics present almost throughout the plot, but mostly in the background. While a few of the encounters were fun to read, the overall end-result felt somewhat disjointed.

🥠 Kina’s baking (mis)adventures are interesting to read. But it was awkward to see her, a white woman from some West-inspired location, getting credit for the invention of the fortune cookie. It would have been okay if these were shown as being Tao’s idea, considering her background better fit an East Asian profile.

Bookish Nays:

😾 In cozy fantasy, there is “relaxed” and there is “too relaxed.” This book is clearly the latter, with most of the content lacking a punch. Like, when the characters weren’t even consistently bothered about a missing child, how would the reader feel their concern? The emotions are mostly shallow.

😾 Though there are a couple of interesting fantastical creatures and “small fortunes”, the fantasy part of the book is very weak. It doesn’t even feel like a fantasy for the most part.

😾 Why not mention the age of the main character directly? Why refer to a character as a “twentysomething-year-old” twice in the same book without ever making the number precise?

😾 How can four adult humans not know whether a cat is male or female even weeks after owning it? Weird!

😾 While there are place names scattered throughout the plot, the world-building itself is quite hazy, with an eclectic mix of people (from various professions) and fantastical beings and geographical features mentioned in passing but none explored in detail.

😾 The ending is too smooth and quick.

Overall, while this book has some entertaining moments, it stuck too closely to the formula, and that too, a basic Cozy Fantasy 101 formula. I enjoy cozy fantasies, but with this book having a truckload of cozy and only half a wagon of fantasy, the end result was just about okay. It might have worked better as a middle-grade or teen book with a little editing, but as an adult offering, it was bland.

This is a debut work. The author’s next book appears to be set in the same world even though it isn't a sequel. As of now, I'm undecided about it. But it does seem to have a lot more magic than this one, so who knows! I might just succumb to the lure in future!

Recommended but not with gusto. This was a decent read but not memorable for me. However, if you want something easy on the mind, it would serve the purpose.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Hodderscape for providing the DRC of “The Teller of Small Fortunes” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.