Quaint Creatures: Magical & Mundane

Thank you to the author for the audio code for my enjoyment!

If the cover art and title haven’t signified enough for you yet, this is cozy fantasy. A newly popular genre, with releases like Legends and Lattes and Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, however I had yet to dip my toes into it. So Quaint Creatures was a first, and I went in knowing next to nothing other than what the word ‘cozy’ meant. I was pleasantly surprised, and I greatly enjoyed it.

Norrik Softstep is a magical animal veterinarian, oh and a giant…but he’s awfully gentle! With visits from the likes of drakes, chimeras, and gryphons, and a slew of creatures I can only imagine came from the mind of the author, this felt like a much better managed concept of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. And yet I loved how it differentiated itself with a world full of different creatures and beings too. Like Minotaurs, frost fairies, orcs and elves, to even the unlikely with skeletons, zombies and ghosts. It was refreshing and unique, and the author is one hell of a narrator.

I also really liked that the novel features an undertone of a mystery as well. It opens up with the main character being asked to inspect a mysterious and magical crate that was confiscated. Norrik and his wife are also still investigating their home, as the halls and tunnels seem never ending. It’s not without tension, nor is it lacking action, it just has this laidback, friendly approach to its writing that makes it as smooth sailing as it is page turning.

I would highly recommend bumping this up your TBR regardless of if you are new like me, or already a fan of the sub genre.