The Storyteller - Deborah Hext - ★

AUTHOR: Deborah Hext

GENRE: Middle-grade Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: July 28, 2025

RATING: 1 star.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade fantasy about the magic of storytelling. Had excellent potential, but the execution needs much more finetuning. The story-within-a-story part is somewhat decent, but the plot development, the writing style and the fantastical content could have worked far better for me.

Plot Preview.

Cornwall. Present day (I think... There’s mention of social media.) Thanks to her late Storyteller father, eleven-year-old Tamsyn has always known the power of stories. Living with a foster mom and her other wards isn't the same as being with her own parents, but they are all still a close-knit and loving group. Tamsyn uses her storytelling skills to enthral her foster siblings.

When a stranger arrives at their doorstep claiming that the magic of the world is being destroyed and Tamsyn is the only one who can save them, the young girl learns for the first time that stories contain actual magic, and that all the stories her father told her are based in reality. Thus begins a tough challenge for Tamsyn, when the safety of not just magic but of all she holds dear is at stake.

The story comes to us mostly in Tamsyn’s first-person perspective, with several stories (narrated by Tamsyn) within the main plot.

The above preview makes it clear that this middle-grade fantasy had great potential. What book-loving child wouldn’t enjoy a story about stories, storytelling, magic, adventure, danger, and family? I am so disappointed that none of these elements truly work well in the execution.

The book begins with an intriguing and detailed backstory (written in generic third-person) about ancient magic and three groups called Storytellers, Finders, and Keepers in a magical place called Citadel. Unfortunately, once the main chapters begin, we barely get to see the actual power of these three groups. Also, the prologue feels disjointed with abrupt POV jumps and time jumps. Thankfully, once the narrative shifts to Tamsyn’s first-person perspective, the voice remains somewhat steady.

Given the role that magic plays in the storyline, it’s really disappointing to see minimal magical content. A major chunk of the plot development happens only through conversations. In fact, till about the halfway mark, we don’t see any magic whatsoever nor get to the main threat to magic. There’s just repeated info about the three groups coming through Tamsyn’s interactions in Cornwall.

Even in the second half, there is minimal magic and barely any action. Except for the confrontation scene, which lasts barely a few paragraphs and feels like it is over even before it begins, the pages again comprise mostly of conversations. On that note, the final confrontation is also lacklustre. A girl who doesn't know anything about magic suddenly knows everything about how to catch it and use it?! C’mon!

For a book that goes on and one about the magic of stories and storytelling, it is surprisingly vague about the magic itself. What exactly does the magic do? How is the magic contained in stories? How can anyone destroy stories? How can anyone collect the supposed magic from stories? Nothing is explained well.

The book contains several stories within the main plot. These are basically what young Tamsyn narrates to her foster siblings. The stories, all in folklore style, are quite good, but also very lengthy. For a book that is just about 140 pages long, these apparently unrelated tales feel like a way of padding the plot. Of course, some part of the content is revealed to be relevant later. But I wish the length of these stories would have been limited, and more attention paid to enhancing the main narrative.

Basically, there's a difference between storytelling and rambling. And I'm really sorry to say this, but this novel is almost entirely the latter. The whole book is heavily conversation-dominated, and worse, it barely reveals non-verbal responses, which diminishes the impact of the narrative. For instance, one scene involve the spillage of juice and we don't even get to see the reaction of the person on whom it splashes. It makes the reading experience vacant somehow.

The name of the villain might not bother many readers, but even this relatively minor point raised my hackles. Seriously? ‘Atticus’? Was there no other name available? Atticus Finch from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, one of my absolute favourite characters ever, is such an iconic character and the epitome of honesty and strength. To take his name (and even reference him in the story) and give it to a female villain is almost sinful! And correct me if I am wrong, but Atticus isn't a unisex name, right?

All of the above would definitely have slid my rating downwards, but what took it firmly to the single star level is a couple of references that had absolutely no place in a middle-grade book. One of the foster children has anger issues, and is repeatedly referred to as a ‘psycho’. This isn't even the main problem. When someone suggests he go to a doctor, we get this response from Tamsyn: "I thought back to Mr. Murphy telling me I should see a counsellor and remembered the shame I had felt when he said it. We weren't mad! We didn't need doctors.[...]You are completely normal." I’m sorry, what? “Not mad”? ”Completely normal”? So those children who do need to go to therapists are mad or abnormal? How the heck has this cleared the editor’s desk? The only, and I mean ONLY, way this line would have been justified was if someone (preferably a wise adult character such as Sarah) immediately reprimanded Tamsyn and clarified that anyone can need therapy and there’s nothing abnormal about it. But there’s absolutely no rebuttal of this claim, which is repeated twice in the book. Not done!

The cover is the only thing about which I have nothing negative to say. It is gorgeous, even if the child doesn’t look old enough to be eleven.

This is a debut indie work, which makes me feel even worse about this harsh negative review. But it is what it is. The author’s imagination is evident from the substories. But a novel cannot function on imagination alone.

The ending sets up the foundation for a potential sequel, but I think it will be better for everyone involved if I stop my journey at the first book itself.

My thanks to The Book Guild for providing the DRC of “The Storyteller” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. So sorry this didn’t work out better.

Content Warnings:

Parental death, murder, parental abandonment, spousal abandonment, mental health issues, bullying, abusive teachers.