Rant & Rave- Sweet and Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley

 Hello, Hello!

It's that time again- when I tell you my (almost) spoiler-free thoughts on Adrienne Tooley's Sweet and Bitter Magic!  I say almost because there is a couple minor spoilers in this one.  Don't worry though, I'll give you plenty of warning so you can skip over it if you don't want any information on the book.  I have to be honest, I absolutely loved this book, so my ranting column is going to be a little thin on this one.  I finished the book in about four days, if that's any indication. 

Sweet and Bitter magic is the story of an unlikely pair- Tamsin the witch and Wren the source.  Tamsin is a witch banished from her homeland and cursed to never feel love.  Tamsin's backstory is complicated (and too much of a spoiler to put in here), but she now resides in a small town, making a living performing feats of magic for the townsfolk in exchange for a taste of their love.  Wren is a source, a person made of magic that witches can draw power from, but who, themselves, cannot use magic.  Sources are rare, and Wren has spent her entire life hiding from the world of magic so she can care for her ailing father, who happens to blame witches and all things magic for her brother's and mother's deaths.  The unlikely duo pair up when Wren's father catches a deadly plague caused by dark magic; their goal- stop the spread of the plague by catching the person responsible. 

Lets get to the raving:

I could not get enough of these characters! Throughout the book Wren grows from naivety and compliance to self-prioritizing and recognition of her own strength.  Tamsin is grouchy, snarky, and, in my opinion, hilarious.  She appears cold and spiteful, but that is sort of to be expected from someone who has spent the last half a decade without being able to enjoy any of the best parts of life.  Both characters are likable and relatable on some level.  The side characters are less well-developed, but the plot centers so heavily on Tamsin and Wren that I don't think it deters from the book much.  

Minor Spoiler #1 (Skip this paragraph if you don't want any spoilers.)- This has an LGBT relationship that is completely accepted by society! The relationship is well-written, and doesn't seem like it was just thrown in to be inclusive, like some I've seen.

I think the writing in this book is excellent.  It has the perfect relationship between being straightforward and flowing well.  The vocabulary is fairly simple, but it never fails to get the point across.  I never felt like the author's voice caused me to need to slow down at all, or ever shattered the illusion of being in a fantasy world.

And now the (admittedly short) ranting:

I felt like the plot of this book, while interesting, was poorly developed.  By this, I mean that most of the book's storyline was told to you by one of the characters before you had a chance to be surprised by discovering it "in action."  I just felt like the author revealed their hand too early.  To be fair, this is pretty common in a debut novel, and it didn't severely impact how interesting the book was, but it was a little disappointing in a book I otherwise really enjoyed. 

The only other thing, and this is more of a suggestion than a criticism, is that I wish the worldbuilding included a little more information, as opposed to only what's strictly necessary to the plot. I know that not everyone will agree with this, but the anthropologist in me always wants more culture. This is especially true in a fairly generic high fantasy world seeking to stand out among great settings like Middle Earth, Sitia and Ixia, Oz, Eruvia, Westeros and Essos, and many others. 

So, a question I sometimes get is "do you want to read a sequel?" With Sweet and Bitter Magic, the answer is a resounding YES.  I want to see Tamsin and Wren again; I want to see Adrienne Tooley's plot development improve; I want to see more of the world Tooley has created.

Minor Spoiler #2 (Skip this paragraph if you don't want any spoilers.)- I'm not usually the type to just hope for a happy ending (in fact, I typically prefer darker endings, or at least a solid middle ground), but I spent this entire book wanting what's best for the characters.  I wanted them to be happy, and I was ecstatic when they finally were in the end.  I can't wait to see them face the world fully united in the next book.  (Fingers crossed that there is one!)

So that is my honest(ly raving) review of Sweet and Bitter Magic, Adrienne Tooley's debut novel! Up next is the third book in Vivian Shaw's Dr. Greta Helsing series, Grave Importance.  For those of you that need some background on the series, I have a previous blog post about the first two books.  That post does have spoilers.  As always, feel free to comment your thought about the book or my review! See you soon!

Dana