SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

A few questions to get us started:


1. What did you think of the world?
2. What did you think of the characters?
3. What worked or didn't for you?
4. Overall thoughts

1. world = OK
2. characters = OK
3. far, far too cozy for me
4. confirms my usually steering clear of anything cozy tendency

1. The world seemed very relatable.
2. I really liked Tao, liked Silt & Mash ok, though they were a little light on depth, and Kira was loveable, but again not a lot of backstory.
3. I liked the cozy, found family aspects of the book. It was nice that it was tempered with some realistic distrust because she was foreign, so that it wasn't too saccharine. I thought that part with the Phoenix was unnecessary, though I guess it was supposed to further Silt's character. It also wrapped up a little too pattly, but I wanted something cozy to counteract the grimdark I also read lol.
4. Overall I really liked this book, but it could have had a little more realism in the ending. Just a tad. She actually had a fairly good balance for a cozy fantasy, but absolutely everything worked out well for everyone involved. I'm too much of a realist to feel completely happy with that sort of ending.

So I did very much enjoy this and breezed through it quickly. However, there's one thing that's been sticking out that's been bothering me and I need to bring it up. Horses trained for riding and horses trained for cart pulling are not interchangable. You can cross train them, I'm not saying there are no horses who do both, but if you buy riding horses, expecting them to pull a cart (especially in tandum with another untrained horse) is just.... not how it works. That doesn't even take into account that horses are bred differently for those tasks. Look, could you hitch a riding horse up to a wagon in an emergency and have it work? Maybe. If that horse knows you well enough to know what you want, because the signals from a rider and the signals from a driver are not the same, they might be similar but they're coming from different places and you're more likely to end up with a confused horse that isn't going to pull your wagon. And it's not a long term solution. So when the characters hitched up their newly bought riding horses to the large wagon... well, it broke my suspension of disbelief.

This story is about a Shinn (aka China) immigrant girl traveling through Eshtera. She met many people and made three very good friends.

Overall, I enjoyed this heartwarming and cozy fantasy story, especially since it didn’t include any rushed or unrealistic romance. The four-person group is very cute, and I’d love to see more of their interactions. I also appreciated how the book explored the complicated relationship between the country where she was born and the country where she now lives.

One thing that left me a little disappointed was how Tao felt happy and relieved when she foresaw a civil war in Shinn instead of Shinn invading Eshtera. If Tao still had feelings for Shinn, I would expect her to at least feel a bit worried for the people in Shinn rather than simply feeling relieved.

Finished it last night, and I really enjoyed the book.
It was a bit different from the fantasies I usually ready, the cozy vibe is immersive from the start and it was pleasantly.

1. What did you think of the world?
It wasn't super developde but it was explained enough trough out the book to get a sense of it. Enough for me to imerse on it and understand the prejudices and hardships.

2. What did you think of the characters?
Again not super developde but we get some backstories, some hint of why they went trough. I liked stoic Tao, warm and unsure Kina and even Marsh and Silt.

3. What worked or didn't for you?
It took me a while to be content with the small scale adventure but once it was clear that it was what this book was about I embraced. It works well as a cozy read, not so much if you want a fantasy heavy book.
The fantasy elements was light and almost folclore for most of the book. Yes, Tao is a reader of fortunes, but small at first.
The mages only appear and tell about great magic to the end of the story.
(view spoiler)[The most fantastical thing is the phoenix that speak with them. (hide spoiler)]

4. Overall thought
I really liked it. The small adventures, the search for belonging and acceptance, choosed familie and cozy vibe went well for me. It was a reading that I needed right now and didn't know before.
I finished it with a warm feeling and a smile on my lips.

Tina wrote: "This story is about a Shinn (aka China) immigrant girl traveling through Eshtera. She met many people and made three very good friends.

Overall, I enjoyed this heartwarming and cozy fantasy story,..."

I liked both of your points Tina.

I thought it was cute, and it did wrap up warmly... but I also feel like...

Ok, here's the thing. The deal with cozy stories, imo, is that more attention has to be given the the characters. Like, there's less focus on plot, so there has to be more on the world, and the characters, and the vibe. And while the vibe was chill and cozy, overall, it was, maybe, a little too cozy? Low stakes doesn't mean no stakes, and everything was a bit pat, in the end.

But, more than that, the characters needed more development. More interpersonal interactions and relationships. And I don't mean romantic relationships, it was just, Tao is dealing with not trusting people for years, and then Mash has one heart-felt conversation with her, and suddenly everything's better?

So, yeah.

I did like it, overall, but it was a bit thin.