Review – The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong (3.5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Length: 335 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: November 5, 2024
ASIN: B0CV3V6FLN
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells “small” fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences…
Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a “knead” for adventure, and—of course—a slightly magical cat.
Tao starts down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past close in—and she’ll have to decide whether to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.
Thoughts: This book was cute and had a cozy feel to it. I enjoyed the adventuring aspects of it and the magic. However, the characters felt shallow to me, stereotypical, and hard to engage with. The storyline was predictable and felt…well…uninspired. I had been waiting to read this book for awhile and was super excited to get it from the library (it’s been on hold for awhile), I was just left feeling a bit let down and disappointed. I did finish it because it’s a pretty easy read. I just kept hoping for a bit more from both the characters and the story. This almost comes off as a children’s book because of the simplicity here, but there are parts that are definitely adult as well.
Tao has fled her previous life and is living as a traveling fortune teller. She only tells small fortunes, and a series of events results in her traveling with a couple of ex-thieves, a baker who wants to try traveling baking, and a cat.
This is a book about finding a family for yourself and mending past hurts. There is some magic and some adventuring. It has a cozy feel to it, and things never get too dire or dangerous. There is some here about immigrants and their struggle survival in the story as well. Tao is from a different country, and the current country she is traveling through may go to war with her home country.
My issue with this book is that the characters seem fairly stereotypical and the story is incredibly predictable. Of course the thieves would be benign and join the travel fortune teller…of course the baker would find something special that only she can bake…of course Tao would try to sacrifice everything to save her new “family”. There were no surprises or twists here, and the lack of that made this feel a bit boring and bland.
This was a quick and easy read, but I also found it to be completely forgettable. In fact, even as I write this review a few days after finishing the book, I struggle to remember parts of the story.
My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this was okay. It is a cute and cozy fantasy read that has themes of found family and tackles some issues around immigration and managing great power. I found the story to be incredibly predictable and the characters to be stereotypical. This was a quick and easy read; so if you are looking for a comfy, cozy fantasy this might work for you. The tone of this was a bit odd because it is so simple it comes off as a middle-grade read, but there are some very adult parts to it as well. I was super excited to read this and was left feeling somewhat disappointed. I probably won’t seek out any additional books to read from Leong in the future.
