"The Spellshop" Discussion Post
Jan. 31st, 2026 09:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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bookclub_dwPlease comment to respond to the questions below. You can answer any or all of them - when responding please indicate which question are addressing by using "Q1 Answer - . . . "
If you would like to add a question to this discussion, please comment with "New Question: . . . " and I will add it to the list.
- Q: Who is your favorite character? Why?
- Q: The Spellshop is listed as a cozy fantasy. What themes or elements make a novel a ‘cozy fantasy’ to you? Which of these can be found in The Spellshop?
- Q: What other media do you think influenced this author or that she drew from when writing The Spellshop?
- Q: What other places in the Crescent Island Empire would you like to visit?
- Q: How would you characterize Kiela if you were describing her to someone else?
- Q: The book was written in a tight third person point-of-view. How do you think it affected the presentation of the story?
- Q: Sarah Beth Durst has said that she wrote "The Spellshop" to "feel like a warm hug" and "like drinking a cup of hot chocolate." Did she succeed?
- Q: The next book in the series seems to focus on Caz’s creator – are you interested in reading that? What did you think of her story as it was told in The Spellshop?
- Q: Any quotes you liked from the book?
If you would like to add a question to this discussion, please comment with "New Question: . . . " and I will add it to the list.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-31 04:02 pm (UTC)I liked Caz and Meep.
Q: The Spellshop is listed as a cozy fantasy. What themes or elements make a novel a ‘cozy fantasy’ to you? Which of these can be found in The Spellshop?
I don't usually read cozy or fantasy, so I am not very familiar with the genre, but there was magic and supernatural creatures, and it focused a lot on the theme of 'home' and domestic motifs like making jam and the bakery and baked goods
Q: What other media do you think influenced this author or that she drew from when writing The Spellshop?
I don't know.
Q: What other places in the Crescent Island Empire would you like to visit?
This was enough for me.
Q: How would you characterize Kiela if you were describing her to someone else?
At the beginning of the book, Kiela is a librarian in the city who has led a sheltered existence, living inside the library and focused almost exclusively on books. By the end of the book, she is now more confident, more connected to others, and more aware of the world around her.
Q: The book was written in a tight third person point-of-view. How do you think it affected the presentation of the story?
I think it is good that see the world through Kiela's eyes and mind. It helps the reader understand world-building.
Q: Sarah Beth Durst has said that she wrote "The Spellshop" to "feel like a warm hug" and "like drinking a cup of hot chocolate." Did she succeed?
Maybe? I am not a warm hug kind of person. I do like chocolate, but this wasn't really that for me. There was a lot of flailing about food, specifically jam and baked goods which is fine, and I understand it appeals to many but not my thing.
Q: The next book in the series seems to focus on Caz’s creator – are you interested in reading that? What did you think of her story as it was told in The Spellshop?
No. I liked Caz and Meep but I'm okay without reading more.
Q: Any quotes you liked from the book?
I didn't note any
Note: I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Caitlin Davies (12 hours). I think she did a good job with all the voices she had to differentiate but the voice of Kiela really grated on me, it was high-pitched and young and that's probably why I liked Caz because I liked the voice better. Also I understand why Kiela was so clueless about the romantic overtures of the love interest man but it got old REAL quick for me. I wanted to shake her (I think Caz did too). It makes sense from because of her sheltered life at the library and lack of contact outside of books but it was also supremely annoying.
Thank you for urging me out of my comfort zone!
no subject
Date: 2026-01-31 05:24 pm (UTC)I agree that I'm probably not the audience for 'cozy fantasy' but I also didn't think it felt like a warm hug either. There were too many undercurrents that hinted at how terrible this world is.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-31 05:22 pm (UTC)Q2: The only other cozy fantasy I've ready is Travis Baldree's "Legends and Lattes" series. I would say that cozy fantasy has low stakes, the issues get resolved pretty easily, and the characters don't undergo a whole lot of growth. There is also almost always the one or more of the fanfic AUs - a coffee shop, a bakery, or a bookstore.
Q3: I have to wonder if she was influenced by Earthsea at all, with the fantasy world she drew seeming to be composed of islands. I would love to have had a map of the world included in the book. I think maybe also Avatar? Because there was a mention of floating islands.
Q4: As I said above, I'd like a map to be able to answer this one.
Q5: I would describe as very sheltered and socially awkward, very set in her ways, perhaps on the autism spectrum. She is very poor at reading social cues, but is rigid about her boundaries. I found her change to be more accepting to happen a bit fast.
Q6: I think it had to be written from 3rd POV because otherwise, there would be no dramatic tension whatsoever.
Q7: I think that she inadvertently had too much to say about the state of the world. I found a lot of parallels between 'hoarding the knowledge of magic' and the hoarding of wealth that is currently happening in our world. Maybe I read the book through too cynical of a lens. I did enjoy the book and found it to be a nice journey to an interesting place.
Q8: I would be interested in reading about her. Caz's rant about what happened to her was a bit shocking, but there were definitely indications that the empire ruled brutally.
Q9: “It wasn’t that she didn’t like people. It was only that she liked books more.” Sums up Kiela perfectly.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-31 05:37 pm (UTC)Yeah, the bits of information about the politics, with the empire and the new regime, were in stark contrast to the coziness of jam shop and bakery, but then the former encroached when the red-haired 'inquisitor' showed up on the island. But I really like what you say about the parallel between magic and wealth, that is very interesting. I think having that in mind might have made the book more interesting to me when I listened to it.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-31 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 05:58 pm (UTC)I enjoyed it. It, too, was not what I would usually read. I would have liked it to be less obvious in places, but overall o would read more in the series.
A cup of hot chocolate, I don’t know. Oddly (given that it focuses around a death) I would call ‘a bitter rememdy’ that!)
no subject
Date: 2026-02-03 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-03 08:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-03 11:15 am (UTC)I think Caz and Meep. Caz because he was Just So Done with Kiela's obliviousness about The Guy (whose name I have already forgotten, because he was just The Guy). Also, Meep was adorable.
The Spellshop is listed as a cozy fantasy. What themes or elements make a novel a ‘cozy fantasy’ to you? Which of these can be found in The Spellshop?
My understanding of the difference between "cozy" and "high" fantasy is the stakes. High fantasies are about Saving The World, whereas cozy fantasies are more about domestic issues -- and there were certainly a lot of domestic issues in this book.
What other media do you think influenced this author or that she drew from when writing The Spellshop?
Oh, definitely romance novels. Mythology, I would say. Maybe fairy tales?
What other places in the Crescent Island Empire would you like to visit?
I don't know that I'd like to visit at all. Doesn't seem like a very good place for tourism, especially in the midst of a revolution.
How would you characterize Kiela if you were describing her to someone else?
Introverted. Shy. Intelligent.
The book was written in a tight third person point-of-view. How do you think it affected the presentation of the story?
Well, we didn't have to read about The Guy (OMG, why can't I remember his name?) pining over her, too.
Sarah Beth Durst has said that she wrote "The Spellshop" to "feel like a warm hug" and "like drinking a cup of hot chocolate." Did she succeed?
I suppose. More hot chocolate, maybe, since I can do without hot chocolate.
The next book in the series seems to focus on Caz’s creator – are you interested in reading that? What did you think of her story as it was told in The Spellshop?
I actually am reading it right now. I saw it in the store right after I finished The Spellshop and picked it up assuming it was a sequel. I was rather disappointed that it's not. I'm about halfway through and I'm rather hoping that at some point, Terlu learns that Caz is okay. (Also, "Terlu" is a terrible name for a heroine.)
Any quotes you liked from the book?
Not that I noticed.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 12:28 am (UTC)LOL'ing.
I'm disappointed that the next book isn't a sequel. There was an excerpt at the end of my copy of The Spellshop, and based on that, I thought that she had been rescued from the library and her imprisonment as a statue.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-05 11:14 pm (UTC)Q2: My definition of cozy fantasy (and cozy SFF in general) is that it has a focus on low stakes (high stakes might be in the background like in The Spellshop but they're not the focus) and community-building. (This Medium article from 2024 talks about the variety of definitions and where they meet.) Both of these are seen in The Spellshop.
Q7: I think she mostly succeeded.
Q8: I have it and I'll probably read it at some point. It'll probably be a while unless it ends up being the chosen book one month since I'm not super interested.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-08 02:28 pm (UTC)Q8 - I feel the same way. If I happen across it, or my library has it and it's not on hold, I'll read it.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-08 02:17 pm (UTC)I really liked Bryn, someone capable, practical and down to earth, yet warm and compassionate. And I have a soft spot for anyone who bakes. And I did love like Caz and Meep.
Q2: The Spellshop is listed as a cozy fantasy. What themes or elements make a novel a ‘cozy fantasy’ to you? Which of these can be found in The Spellshop?
This is my first ‘cosy fantasy’ book, and I really enjoyed it. Last year, I started reading The Wheel of Time, and part way into the fourth book, I really needed a break from that huge, plodding tale, and this hit the spot. I liked Kiela making a home for herself, making friends, all be it reluctantly at first, and realising that she did fit into the community, that was (mainly) happy to welcome her in. That’s what made it feel cosy for me.
Q3: What other media do you think influenced this author or that she drew from when writing The Spellshop?
This isn’t something I really thought of.
Q4: What other places in the Crescent Island Empire would you like to visit?
I’d love to find out more about the library and the city, and more of this world in general, both before and after the revolution.
Q5: How would you characterize Kiela if you were describing her to someone else?
Anxious, isolated, socially inept.
Q6: The book was written in a tight third person point-of-view. How do you think it affected the presentation of the story?
I liked that it kept the focus of the book on Kiela and we got to experience everything through her eyes.
Q7: Sarah Beth Durst has said that she wrote "The Spellshop" to "feel like a warm hug" and "like drinking a cup of hot chocolate." Did she succeed?
For me, she did. On a personal level, the idea of Kiela finding her home, from the very first when she was having to clean away the dust and discovering things she had forgotten about is something that resonates with me, and that aspect of the story is what made it feel like a hug in a mug for me.
Q8: The next book in the series seems to focus on Caz’s creator – are you interested in reading that? What did you think of her story as it was told in The Spellshop?
Yes, I want to read it, and I’ve already picked it up 😊
Q9: Any quotes you liked from the book?
“It wasn’t that she didn’t like people. It was only that she liked books more. They didn’t fuss or judge or mock or reject. They invited you in, fluffed up the pillows on the couch, offered you tea and toast, and shared their hearts with no expectation that you’d do anything more than absorb what they had to give.”
I particularly like this because during the course of the book, Kiela comes to realise that people are more like her books than she expects them to be.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-21 03:08 pm (UTC)I can see that the idea of uncovering your past by literally cleaning up would be something that would resonate. I did a lot of that when I was decluttering to prepare to move.
Welcome to the world of cozy fantasy!!